The Accidental Bride

Title: THE ACCIDENTAL BRIDE
Author: Dennis Hunter
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
January 2012
ISBN: 9781595548023
Genre: Inspirational/contemporary romance

Shay Brandenberger is raising her twelve year old daughter in Moose Creek, Montana, on her childhood ranch, but that is soon to be a distant dream. She’s behind on all her bills, her husband—make that ex-husband—is dead and she has no hopes of hanging on to her home. She agrees to play the part of a bride in a reenactment the town is doing, but the groom is safe, the boyfriend of another woman in town.

Travis McCoy is Shay’s high school sweetheart. When they were eighteen they ran away to get married, but Travis lost his nerve and abandoned Shay on the courthouse steps. He went on to win numerous rodeo awards, but he never stopped loving Shay. He never returned home because he heard Shay married another man on the rebound. But now, she was free—and he was full of hope.

When Travis is asked to play the part of the groom in the reenactment he agrees, but somehow the whole reenactment becomes very real when he gets the marriage license that he and Shay signed fourteen years ago in the mail and learns that is valid. Are the events orchestrated by God or is it just a preacher’s blunder? Will Shay learn to trust the man who’s already hurt her more than he knows?

THE ACCIDENTAL BRIDE is the second book in Ms. Hunter’s A Big Sky Romance series, but it easily stands alone. I wasn’t too sure what I thought of Shay in the first book A Cowboy’s Touch but I quickly fell in love with her in this book. I’m looking forward to the third book in this series.

Travis, oh my, he is a dream come true. No wonder Shay fell in love with him as a teenager. I would have too! He is very real, very giving, making it very plain from day one that he was still in love with her—even though she was less than forgiving. I highly recommend this book and this series. Discussion questions are included at the end of the book. $15.99. 320 pages.