A Love Like Ours

by Becky Wade

April 28, 2015 · Bethany House Publishers

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This RITA® Reader Challenge 2016 review was written by Iola. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Inspirational Romance category.

Here is Iola's review:

I read and reviewed A Love Like Ours by Becky Wade when it was first released, and gave it five stars on my Amazon review (but only four on Goodreads. It was good, but it takes a lot to get five stars out of me on Goodreads). It has been a while, so I did the novel again and found it stood up well to rereading—although I’m not sure it would have made my list of the top five ‘Inspirational’ romance novels for 2015, which is what being a RITA finalist implies.

Jake is the tortured hero, still suffering from PTSD eight years after leaving the Marines, mostly because he refuses to get help. He’s also lost his childhood Christian faith, unable to reconcile what he saw in Afghanistan with a loving God. He’s now back on the family ranch, and has carved out a successful career training Thoroughbred racehorses (which is capitalised consistently throughout the book, which seemed odd to me. Horsey people: is that correct?). [NB from RHG: Yes. It’s a breed and a proper name.]

Lyndie is an artist and rider, and Jake’s childhood best friend. Now she’s back in Holley, Texas, looking for a job as an exercise rider, and gets a job working for Jake. Whether Lyndie acknowledges it or not, she’s half in love with Jake from the first time they met as adults. She refers to him as Tall, Dark and Brooding, and feels a “delectable heat” when she’s close to him . . . such physical descriptions aren’t exactly normal in inspirational aka Christian fiction. (I do have issues with the ‘inspirational’ label, but this is not the time nor the place for that discussion.)

It doesn’t take long before Lyndie wants to rescue and heal Jake and bring him to his full potential, in much the same way as she wants to rescue and heal Silver Leaf, the Whispering Creek stallion who has never quite lived up to the potential Jake and others saw in him. The developing relationship between Lyndie and Silver Leaf was echoed in the developing relationship between Lyndie and Jake (and, this being a romance novel, the lady falls in love with both beasts and they with her). I’m not a horsey person, but even I thought Silver Leaf stole the show—which he would consider only right and proper.

There was an excellent subplot around Mollie, Lyndie’s disabled younger sister, who Lyndie believes has some strange ability to heal others. She might and she might not, but it’s touching to see Lyndie’s close relationship with Mollie and with her family, and encouraging to see her unfailing belief that God is good, in both the good times and the bad.

It was also fascinating to see Lyndie’s other occupation: writing children’s stories that can be personalised for children by customising the character names and the fonts—including using the dyslexie font for dyslexic readers. This was skillfully woven into main plot, with Lyndie’s art providing a creative outlet for her—her own form of healing.

I wasn’t sure about the reference to the Christian characters betting on horse races. It’s gambling, which is something most Christian fiction avoids (along with sex, lustful feelings and desire, and alcohol). But Becky Wade courted controversy by using the word “crap” in her first novel, and she continues to skirt the lines of what’s acceptable in the genre—not necessarily a bad thing.

Christian fiction normally steers clear of doctrinal issues, but Lyndie quotes John 10:38 and is clearly of the “once saved, always saved” brigade. While I don’t favour inappropriate quoting of Bible verses in fiction—even Christian fiction—and I don’t necessarily agree with her interpretation of the verse, it was introduced without coming across as preachy, and it was relevant. Lyndie’s faith came across as real. Yes, it’s possible she’s too perfect and didn’t experience much character growth, but I think Jake did, and that was the focus of the story.

I like the cover, but it doesn’t truly reflect the novel. Lyndie is a thirty-year-old jockey, (whereas that cover model looks all of seventeen). And Jake is supposed to be a thirty-two year-old, muscle-bound ex-Marine, not a skinny nineteen-year-old who is still waiting to grow into his height. Don’t get me wrong: they’re a lovely couple and it’s a lovely cover. But they’re not Jake and Lyndie (on the other hand, this cover is better than the next in the series, which is supposed to feature Jake’s much younger sister, yet the model looks like she’s in her thirties). I also wasn’t entirely impressed with the editing—there were rather too many instances of “she stated,” which sounded awkward to me, and while there were some great lines there were also some which could have been great but weren’t.

But some of the writing was outstanding (which is what makes me think the rest of it could have been). I liked lines like:

Silver Leaf [the horse] behaved as if he had more royal blood coursing through his veins than Prince William himself.

Or

The next afternoon Lyndie pressed her Jeep’s gas pedal hard enough to make the speed limit frown.

I did think there was a little too much emphasis on Lyndie’s neighbour, Amber, and her search for love. Sure, it fit within the larger story arc but it didn’t add to it and could have been cut—especially as it’s never fully resolved. I also wasn’t convinced some of the early focus on Lyndie’s physical reaction to Jake was necessary—I wanted to see them connecting on a personal level . . . although that was never going to be easy with monosyllabic Jake.

I very much enjoyed A Love Like Ours and it’s a worthy RITA Inspirational finalist. But it’s not the only finalist I’ve read, and I actually think the other book (A Noble Masquerade) I read was better.