Title: Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Beth K. Vogt
Destination Wedding Series Book One
Publisher: Howard Books
Genre: Contemporary, Christian, Romance
Length: 368 pages
Book Rating: B
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley
Summary:
Wedding bells and storm clouds collide in the first engaging novel in a brand-new series about destination weddings, the power of love, and the possible mishaps and missteps that happen on a couple’s journey down the aisle to “I do.”
Paramedic Vanessa Hollister has put her adolescence behind her, including the unwanted label of being the new kid in town over and over again, thanks to her father’s military career. She’s overcome what her mother called “the biggest mistake of her life” and is planning an elegant destination wedding in Destin, Florida with her new fiancé. But will the reappearance of her first husband from her what-were-you-thinking teenage elopement disrupt her dream of an idyllic beach wedding?
As a professional storm chaser, Logan Hollister is used to taking risks. However, a reckless decision during the last tornado season has him questioning the future of his team, the Stormmeisters. Coming face to face with his ex-wife eight years after their divorce compels him to confront his greatest regret: losing Vanessa. Does their past give him the right to interfere with her future?
A fast-moving, powerful hurricane throws Vanessa and Logan together as they evacuate to a storm shelter along with other residents of the Florida Gulf Coast. Forced to spend time together, the pair battles unexpected renewed feelings for each other.
Vanessa and Logan are faced with a choice: Should they accept, once and for all, their teenage marital mistake? Or is God offering them a second chance at happily ever after?
Review:
Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Beth K. Vogt is a wonderful second chance at love romance. This faith based love story is the first installment in the unique and appealing Destination Wedding series and it is a sweet novel that is heartfelt and touching.
After moving frequently for her father’s military career, Vanessa Hollister learned the hard way that relationships are temporary. She is a little jaded and based on her previous experiences, she is reluctant to make friends with classmates she is only going to have to say goodbye to in the not too distant future. But Mindy and Logan sneak past her defenses and they become close friends. Soon after, she and Logan begin dating but when their plans for attending college together are threatened, they make an impetus decision to marry over spring break. However, when Logan accepts a scholarship to a college in OK, she refuses to leave FL and they try to make their long distance marriage work. But immaturity, an inability to see the other person’s point of view and a lack of communication take their toll and the two divorce.
Fast forward eight years and Vanessa is planning her second wedding when her practical fiancé Ted Topliff convinces her to combine their nuptials with a medical conference in Destin, FL. Although she has NO desire to return to the town where she met and married Logan, she reluctantly agrees to his suggestion. After she arrives in town, Vanessa reconnects with her best friend Mindy and the two are soon immersed in wedding plans. With many of preliminary details taken care of, Vanessa is about to return home when a hurricane makes landfall. While at a local shelter waiting out the storm, she is dismayed to run into Logan. They are thrown together both during and after the storm and as they reminisce about their shared past, they are surprised to discover they each have a few regrets about their failed marriage. Logan asks Vanessa to give him a second chance, but will she agree?
On the surface, Vanessa and Logan still appear to be the same two people they were eight years earlier. Vanessa still has troubling forming relationships while Logan stubbornly makes decisions that affect other people without discussing his plans with them first. However, Vanessa is finally beginning to realize that she wants a more from her life than just work but it takes much of the story for her to reconcile this need with her upcoming marriage to a man who continually makes his career a priority instead of her.
An error in judgment while chasing a tornado causes Logan to doubt his ability to keep his team members safe. With the funding for his storm chasing team in jeopardy and haunted by fears of endangering his crew again, he is convinced it is time to change careers. However, after insight from an impartial observer, Logan finally makes an effort to discuss the reasons behind his decisions with his team members and he learns the importance of compromise in relationships.
Logan and Vanessa spend much of the novel apart as they work through their individual issues. Their past is revealed through flashbacks and this provides valuable information about why their marriage ended. As they look back on their relationship, they begin to understand how they contributed to the problems in their marriage, but, most importantly, they learn from their mistakes.
Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Beth K. Vogt is a wonderful romance between two imperfect but sympathetic protagonists. The storyline is well developed and delightfully unique. The premise of the Destination Wedding series is unusual but this adds to the story’s charm. All in all, a beautiful love story that fans of Christian fiction are sure to love.
