Review: Temporary Bridesmaid by Lu Ann Brobst Staheli

 

Temporary Bridesmaid (A Gateway Romance) by Lu Ann Brobst Staheli

ebook, 242 pages

Published August 20th 2014 by Back Yard Press
Source: I received a copy in exchange for an honest review

Description:
Jenny Grant has given up on men, and therefore her dream of ever getting married. But when James Cox comes to work in her building as a temp, she has to convince herself to stay true to her new conviction. All around her, everything is falling apart in her life. She’s been asked to be the Maid of Honor for her best friend’s wedding—leaving Jenny the last single in her group—her mother’s forgetfulness has progressed to a level that might prove dangerous, and the raise and promotion Jenny longs for may not be within her reach. When a man who looks like James steals her wallet her distrust of men rests on his shoulders.

James Cox has no idea why he has given up his position as a California CEO to move to Salt Lake City, but he’s certain it isn’t to find a bride. When the call comes for a temp position at a computer programming company, he figures this must be why. But his co-workers are not always easy to get along with, especially the fiery-tempered woman named Jenny Grant. If he didn’t find her so beautiful and interesting, it might not matter. Except that it does. 

My Review:
I did enjoy this story, but I had a couple of problems with it. I'll get those out of the way first. There were several parts that were repetitious. As a reader, I already knew certain details, having read them, and I didn't feel that I needed to read the same details several times to understand what was going on. My other problem was I wanted more romance. I can't understand how declarations of love can be given when there's little interaction, aside from accusations and brief encounters. I wanted to see more of how that developed. There were a few loose ends with Jenny's mother, as well. She's getting more and more forgetful and tests were ran, but no results were shared with the reader. I was left wondering what was going on.

There were some things that I really enjoyed a lot. My first thought was, "The grass is always greener on the other side." The story jumps back and forth between 39 year old, single Jenny and her slightly younger, newly married friend, Stephie. Jenny would give anything to be married and has finally resigned herself to being single forever when James walks in. James is good at what he does and is very kind and hard working. He really puts Jenny in a tizzy. The reader also gets some of the story from  his point of view, which was fun.

However, when the reader sees Stephie's side of married life, it's clear that it's not always "Happily Ever After." Stephie envies Jenny and thinks she's so smart to avoid marriage. I liked the friendship she made with her neighbor and the courage Stephie developed to do something hard.  

I also enjoyed the friendships these girls shared, although we didn't get more than a glimpse of some of them. Jenny was able to be there for so many of them and forget about her woes in doing so.

Great potential--I just wanted a little more.

Content: some religious content (LDS); very mild romance; glimpses of emotional abuse; Clean.

 

Amazon  *  Goodreads

About the Author:

 

Lu Ann Brobst Staheli got her start as a celebrity paparazzi-stalker-chick, which led to her award-winning career as a ghostwriter for celebrity memoirs. A masochist at heart, she taught junior high school English for 33 years, and once spent two weeks of summer vacation backpacking through Europe with 15 of her students. She has won three Utah Best of State Medals—two for writing and one for teaching—but refuses to wear them all at the same time because she’d hate to be known as a show-off. She is the true bibliophile, with something in excess of 1,000 books in her personal home library. After having donated the nearly 1,000 books in her classroom library to the other English teachers in her department, Lu Ann moves this year to a new position as the school librarian, where she can be surrounded by books and share her passion for reading with the entire group of students and faculty. Her published works include A Note Worth Taking, a MG/YA novel; When Hearts Conjoin, the story of the conjoined Herrin twins; Psychic Madman about mentalist Jim Karol; One Day at a Time: Teaching Secondary Language Arts; Books, Books, and More Books: A Parent and Teacher's Guide to Adolescent Literature, as well as numerous newspaper and magazine articles. Lu Ann is a Senior Editor with Precision Editing Group, where she works with clients on both fiction and non-fiction manuscripts.

Twitter  *  Goodreads  *  Website