Once Upon a Groom

Once Upon a Groom

Karen Rose Smith

ISBN: 978-0373656288

Publisher: HQN

Excerpt: Click Here

Source: Pump Up Your Book Tour

About the Book:

Zack and Jenny fell in love in high school. But Zack intended to escape the Rocky D while Jenny craved the roots she’d found on his parents’ ranch. With resentment and bitterness toward his father, blaming him for his mother’s death, Zack left for California to find a life as a movie director with wealth, fame and privilege. Now when he returns to Miners Bluff, his father isn’t the man he once was. And Jenny has a secret she has never divulged.

As old fires reignite, Zack and Jenny fall in love all over again. A rescued horse becomes a bond that helps them revisit the good times in their past. Due to Jenny’s passion for the holidays and her insistence that they visit with friends, Zack begins to remember the meaning of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Will their differences push them apart once more? Or is Jenny truly Zack’s Cinderella and he will be able to whisk her away into their happily-ever after?

My Thoughts:

I love romance and happily ever after stories.  I especially love when a title keeps you wondering if happily ever after will happen for the hero and heroine.  Once upon a groom was wonderful, it gives you that “dreams do come true” feeling.  It is a romance that picks up on the essence of the genre, happily ever after, while also keeping realistic expectations alive.  The truth?  Love is hard.  Two people always have to work together in order to keep a relationship working.  If you love someone, this can be done.

This book was well written, flowed easily, intrigued me and had great family subplots and relationship issues that made the book realistic.  I was left wanting more from the author.  I will read more books from her.  The story is on the shorter side, since it is a HQN thin novel.  It doesn’t lack due to its page count.  I was fully satisfied at the end of the story. 

I enjoyed the characters in this story.  Zack and Jenny find out how to take care of their responsibilities, make their relationship work and what love is all about in the midst of putting their dreams on hold and taking care of Zack’s ailing father.  Zack is given the chance to see his father in a new light, realizing everything he thought was truth, was not all together true.  Zack always found his father disapproving of him.  The characters are given a chance to re-evaluate what is important and openly communicate with each other.

Overall, this was a fun, realistic romance and I enjoyed it.  It had good characters, a great flow, intrigue and of course, the chance for happily ever after.  I would recommend it.

About the Author:

Karen Rose Smith was born in Pennsylvania in the Susquehanna Valley. In college, she began writing poetry and also met her husband to be. They both started married life as teachers, but when their son was born, Karen decided to try her hand at a home decorating business. She returned to teaching for a while but changes in her life led her to writing romance fiction. Now she writes full time. Her first romance was published in 1992; her 74th novel will be published in 2011 with Harlequin Special Edition. A winner of New Jersey’s Golden Leaf Award in Short Contemporary Romance, Colorado Romance Writers Award Of Excellence for short contemporary, as well as the Phoenix Desert Rose Chapter’s Golden Quill for Traditional Romance, she has also been honored with Cataromance.com’s award for Best Special Edition. Her romances have made both the USA TODAY list and the Waldenbooks Bestseller list for Series Romance.

Married to her college sweetheart, believing in the power of love and commitment, she envisions herself writing relationship novels for a long time to come!

Readers can visit Karen for info and excerpts at: www.karenrosesmith.com