Title:  Picture Perfect Wedding
Series:  Magnolia Brides #3
Author:  Lynnette Austin
Genre:  Contemporary Romance
Published:  November 1, 2016
Publisher:  Sourcebooks Casablanca
My Rating:  4 stars
Source:  NetGalley
Cover Description:

One mistake can change everything…forever

Beck Elliot and Tansy Calhoun were inseparable-until Tansy left Misty Bottoms, Georgia, promising to come back after she finished school. Beck stayed behind to save the family business, dreaming of the day when Tansy would return. Instead, his trust and his heart were broken when she inexplicably married another man and bore his child.

Five years later, Tansy comes home, a sadder and wiser woman. Despite his anger, Beck finds it hard to avoid her and her adorable little daughter-especially with all the busybodies of Misty Bottoms going out of their way to throw him and Tansy together, hoping a lingering spark will reignite their enduring flame…

Titles in this series include:  The Best Laid Wedding Plans – Every Bride Has Her Day – Picture Perfect Wedding

Picture Perfect Wedding is an emotional story about a deep love, forgiveness and letting go of the past in order to celebrate the future – it’s more than simply a second chance romance.

Tansy made a mistake during a very difficult moment.  She couldn’t regret the result, her precious daughter Gracie, but she could regret marrying the father.  After a divorce that left her practically broke, she’s returned home to Misty Bottoms to raise her daughter as she had been raised in the wonderful community of a small town.  Yes, everyone knew your business but it was the best place for them to be and for Tansy to make a new beginning.  Her decision to open a bakery and join in with the wedding destination plans of Jenni Beth and Cricket will put her in closer contact with the man she’d promised to marry before going away to school – and all that happened in between.  It’s the house of Beck’s grandfather that she’s decided would be perfect for her bakery shop and even though she tried, Tansy could not avoid him forever.

To say that Beck had been devastated when Tansy married another man would be an understatement.  To know that they had a child, once a dream of his own, well that just drove the pain deeper.  In the years that she was gone, Beck had tried to date other women and move on with his life – but that was impossible.  He was a man who would love once, and regret forever.  His anger, feelings of betrayal and admittedly so much confusion are understandable.  Yet as much as he tries to avoid Tansy, and sidestep the matchmaking efforts of friends and it seemed the entire town, Beck began to wonder if it was possible to ever get beyond the hurt of their past.   Was it possible to create their own future that might be different than he’d envisioned so long ago, but a life with the woman he still loved?

Sometimes a second chance romance is so much more.  And that is how I viewed Picture Perfect Wedding.  Yes, two former lovers have a chance to reconnect and still live out the dream.  Yet there is so much pain and regret in both Beck and Tansy’s lives.  Choices made, even if they seemed right at the time have long flung repercussions.  I understood both characters, got that their pain was very real and not easily put aside.  My own grandfather once said “You can easily forgive someone for their actions, real forgiveness comes when you forget what needed forgiving.”  A wise pastor was my Poppa, but his words stick with me to this day.  And that’s what I feel Beck and Tansy had to eventually do, and they did.  They had to forgive and move on without looking back every other moment.  That wouldn’t be easy for Beck as Gracie was there in his life front and center now.  Yet when love pushes aside the pain, the result can be simply amazing.

I’ve enjoyed the Magnolia Brides series, and this addition to the series was and amazing tale of forgiveness and love.  I’d definitely recommend this story and this series to anyone who enjoys a good love story.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley. That does not change what I think of this novel. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this story.*

Available in paperback and for the Kindle