Blind-Date Bride by Jillian Hart

I'm not sure this author has ever been to Bozeman, MT. I lived there for three years, and I've got to say, considering this book supposedly takes place there, it just doesn't feel like Bozeman to me. Except for the tater tots at the Mexican restaurant, that was authentic.

Brianna gets stood up again. This blind dating business isn't obviously for her. But then, Max Decker is also stood up. He wasn't really ready to date anyway, just felt pressured into it, but as he and Brianna strike up a conversation about their failed dating experiences, he feels drawn to her. But they've both got some issues from their past aside from the dating. Brianna has PTSD from a robbery and Max too has been caught in the line of fire, being that he's a cop. It makes both of them have some serious trust issues.

Brianna was very very timid. Every page you expected her to break. Now granted she had been through a very traumatic experience, so she had reason to be, but she just seemed like she'd blow away in the wind. And then there's Max, who is the exact opposite, except for his worries. He was a little too tough. Actually I think about the worst character in the book was Max's half brother who lived with him. For a kid that went to getting into trouble in L.A. to this squeaky clean do good kid in Bozeman, it just didn't seem realistic. Frankly I can't consider most kids acting the way this one did.

The plot was kind of feeble. And it was way too rushed. Everything happened so fast that it seemed the couple had barely gone out on a few dates before they loved each other so deeply. It takes time to get to know someone, more than a week or two. And aside from them dating and a few minor issues, nothing really happened in the book. It was just them going places with each other. And considering those places were in Bozeman, it didn't even ring authentic for me. I kept picturing real places and the book's just didn't line up. This was a Love Inspired romance, and unlike the other by this author that I read, this one was very preachy. Scripture quoted everywhere and faith turned too outrightly. Granted, its my fault for reading this book knowing what type it was, but the author's other one wasn't this way.

I wasn't a fan. I liked the author's other book about a soldier, but this one was just a little too sappy and fast-paced to take.

Blind-Date Bride
Copyright 2009
208 pages