I like the strong female character working in what's considered a man's profession. I like that she owns her own business and is building it from the ground up. I also like that she has character flaws and fears that she needs to confront on both professional and personal levels to grow within the confines of this story. ( )

This book was really, really good. I so wanted to give it five stars. The story was about a young widow who had come from an abused relationship. She had been physically scarred, but her physical scars were nothing compared to the emotional scars.

And then there was Nick. Nick fell in love with this woman, and though he tried to stay away from women who had a lot of baggage, Nick couldn't walk away from this one. There was something about her...

The storyline was great. The drama was great. It was very romantic, and sweet. BUT...

The author really pushed this Christian romance thing to the MAX...I'm a bit shocked that this book made it into the Christian romance. I'm still not sure how it happened...

First of all, there is alcohol in this story, and though I'm not opposed to a drink every now and then, Love Inspired books for the most part has stayed away from this. I think the champaign to celebrate their wedding night was fine, but when they started talking about Nick drinking several glasses, and when it talked about "Needing something stronger," I was a bet leery...

Second of all, the feelings Nick had for Laura seemed very...physical at times. For some reason, the author concentrated on the physical aspects of the relationship. There seemed to be a lot of talk about Nick's desires to make love to Laura outside of marriage. Nick didn't want to keep his hands off of her. Though I don't have a problem with kissing and holding and stuff, I thought he should have concentrated more on her mental state - what she had to offer in the non-physical sense than what she had to offer in the physical sense...

Third, there is one scene that takes place on Nick's bed that was a bit over the top for me. I'm sorry, but in a Christian romance this was a BIG NO-NO! I understood Nick taking Laura back to his apartment after the attack and letting her sleep there for a couple days. I even understood Nick helping her undress because she couldn't. I EVEN overlooked Laura's needing Nick to hold her when he laid on the bed. But that scene when they started kissing as he laid her down on the bed and the description of his hand and the desires...I'm sorry, but NO NO NO NO NO!!!

I believe that the right thing to do would have been to call Laura's best friend (or mother) and have them stay with her. Descrition, please...or maybe this showed why Nick's taking her into his apartment was a bad idea! And as fearful as Laura was, would she have really allowed such a thing?

Oh, and there's an issue about Nick's salvation. It always talked about Laura's faith in God and Nick's respect of it. There was mention that Nick may try to attend his church more regularly, but there was absolutely no mention of Nick's being a Christian. In a Christian romance, I think that was just not right...

And the fact that Laura suggested they live together instead? As fearful as she is of intimacy, I was a bit taken aback by that. And I thought Nick was being a jerk when he just gave her the option "All or Nothing." I'm sorry, but he's the one who had told Laura he'd take it as slow as he needed to. A couple months was NOT long enough! No wonder Laura was deeply hurt. He should have come crawling back to her, not vice versa!

And from the mention of Nick's past, it's apparent that sex played a role in Nick's past relationships...

With all this said, I must admit that it's still a good read. It's one of those book you'll want to read through in one day (though it took me three). But don't expect a lot of spiritual stuff in it because it just barely made it into the Christian fiction genre, and I'm STILL not sure how that happened...

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the author's intent...perhaps the things I found wrong in this book were done on purpose...perhaps there was an underlying meaning I was supposed to pick up...

Oh, and keep in mind there are a couple curse words buried in the book. I could live with one of them, but God's name in vain was unacceptable...

Hopefully the next book in the series will be a bit less provocative, seeing as how it's about a preacher and Laura's best friend falling in love... ( )