The Best Laid Wedding Plans by Lynette Austin – a Review

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Description:
Jenni Beth Beaumont thought she left her broken heart in Chance, Georgia, when she moved away. But when she suddenly inherits her family’s beautiful, antebellum home, her dream of turning the residence into a wedding destination calls her back.

Cole Bryson, an architectural salvager and Jenni Beth’s former flame, intends to purchase and deconstruct the Beaumont family’s down-at-the-heels estate. To his surprise, Jenni Beth is more of a stubborn Southern girl than he thought. Cole will have to use all his sultry, steamy tricks to test more than the resolve of his sexy competition…

Review:

The Best Laid Wedding Plans by Lynette Austin is the 1^st book in her new Magnolia Brides series. This was a fun and very nice small town romance, though a bit long.

Jenni Beth Beaumont gives up the job she loves as a wedding planner in Savannah to return home to be with her parents, who have not recovered from the death of her brother. Jenni Beth plans to fix up their home, and turn it into a wedding planning business. Her family’s financial situation, due to bad loans, forces her to ask for a loan to rebuild the house and start the business. The town is slowly falling apart, and Jenni Beth plans could be just the right thing to bring things back to the way they were.

Cole Bryson was Jenni Beth’s late brother’s best friend, whom she also had a crush as a teenager. Cole has sworn to protect Jenni Beth, though she wants nothing to do with him, especially after he stood her up at the prom years before. Cole enjoys his life, with his choice of many women, but he finds himself becoming deeply invested into Jenni Beth’s life.

It is Cole who will accidently discover that the banker offering the loan to Jenni Beth has plans of his own, which will hurt Jenni Beth and her family. Cole is determined to find out more about the land, and protect her. I do enjoy these small town and family oriented romances, and it was nice to see old friends of both Jenni Beth and Cole come and help. I also enjoyed how Jenni Beth worked on helping her parents get back on their feet, and become active again. Nice touch.

The story also becomes a mystery as to who is behind the sabotage as Jenni Beth plans her first small wedding. She races against time with Cole and other friends helping to fix the things destroyed in time for the wedding. But most of all this story is a sweet romance between Jenni Beth and Cole, which is slow to build. Jenni Beth finds herself falling for Cole again, but she cannot allow herself to trust him, and get hurt again. Cole doesn’t want to become serious, but he finds himself thinking about Jenni Beth all the time. Will they be able to open their heart to love each other?

The Best Laid Wedding Plans was a very nice story, with a little of everything….romance, family, friendship, small town, sorrow and mystery. I enjoyed this book, but did feel it could have been a bit shorter. Overall, this really was a fun read.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher