Wildflower Wedding
Author: Luann McLane
Reviewer: Ang
Rating: B
What I’m Talking About:
Let me start by saying I love Cricket Creek. I love the quaintness of the small town and the southern charm it exudes. I love picking up one of the Cricket Creek novels because I know it will be like going home to the small southern towns I grew up in. I can picture myself walking down Wedding Row, enjoying the sights and smells of the river-walk, enjoying a friendly and fantastic meal at Wine and Diner, and can even picture myself hanging with friends on karaoke night at Sully’s. All of these things are why, despite a major issue I have with every novel, I keep coming back to Cricket Creek.
I was truly hoping that in this novel Ms. McLane would finally fix my issue with her books, but alas it didn’t happen, and true to her style ,we are introduced to two great couples with only one getting their happily-ever-after at the novel’s close. This makes me insane. Ms. McLane makes it look like if you are over 40 you can’t find love, redemption, happiness again. Which seems like a HUGE oversight on her part since a lot of the people reading her novels are over 40 and looking for the love they maybe didn’t find the first time around. Just like Tony and Trisha, two middle-aged divorcees who learn that sometimes second chances are exactly what every fairytale needs. At least that is what I’m hoping they learn, but we never really know since their ending is cut short for Gabby and Reese’s story. But I’m getting ahead of myself, let me start at the beginning.
Wildflower Wedding is a sweet, steamy, sexy story with great, solid characters. It contains two wonderful love stories where the characters learn about redemption, love after betrayal, and second chances. Gabby and Reese, our twenty-somethings, find their second chance with one another after years of being apart. They learn that what we see is not always what we get, which can be a very good thing. For Gabby she learns that strong and steady doesn’t need to wear a tie, and for Reese, he learns that sometimes jumping in with both feet is exactly the course of action one needs to find closure with the past. Ms. McLane does a great job with these two characters. Their story is strong, steamy and full of fun and chemistry.
Our second couple, Tony and Trisha, are also a strong, chemistry-filled, steamy couple, with great banter and lots of baggage to work through. Perfect second storyline, and until the very end Ms. McLane does a great job with them as well. But then she leaves us hanging. She tries to tie up loose ends at the Wildflower Wedding that takes place in the epilogue, but we are never give a clear picture. Do they or don’t they live happily every after? In other cricket creek novels the endings for both couples weren’t always easy to tie up, and so I let them slide. However, that wasn’t the case in this book. A double wedding would have been a perfect way to end things, but no such luck. Instead we are left wondering about our over-40 couple again.
This issue has aggravated with every one of Ms. McLane’s books that I have read. Please stop giving us more than one love story if no one over 40 is going to find any closure. I realize that in later novels, I will likely get a glimpse that Tony and Trisha did in fact get married and find love with one another, but I’m so frustrated I’m not sure I want to pick up another Cricket Creek novel. And that makes me sad because I love going there. Right now I’m taking a break, and when the next story comes out I will, like any good southern girl, go home again and likely read it. But I can say if this issue doesn’t get resolved I’m not likely to visit Cricket Creek again.
Rating: B Liked It, recommend
About the Book:
Growing up on the wrong side of the tracks, Gabby Goodwin had more to prove than the rest of Cricket Creek. Even now, as the successful owner of the local flower shop, she hasn’t forgotten her humble beginnings. So when her high school crush, the former class bad boy, walks back into her life, she keeps him at arm’s length, protecting her heart—and her pride.
Reese Marino gave up most of his wild ways years ago, graduating from college and becoming part owner of his uncle’s pizza parlor. The fact that Gabby still treats him like a troubled teenager drives him mad, but that’s not the only thing about the sassy florist driving him to distraction. Despite Gabby’s reluctant attitude, Reese is determined to win her over and show her that love often blooms right where you least expect it.
Release Date: April 1, 2014
Publisher: Signet
Series: Cricket Creek #6
ISBN: #978-0451415592
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Format(s): Paperback (304 pages), e-book
Book Source: Publisher/NetGalley
Purchase Info:
Wildflower Wedding (Cricket Creek #6)
Reviews in the Series:
Whisper’s Edge by LuAnn McLane (Cricket Creek #4)
Moonlight Kiss by LuAnn McLane (Cricket Creek #5)