*I received a free copy of The Bride Wore Denim from Avon Impulse via Edelweiss. This has in no way influenced my voluntary review, which is honest and unbiased *
The Bride Wore Denim by Lizbeth Selvig Series: Seven Brides for Seven Cowboys #1
Published by Avon Impulse on 1 September 2015
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 496
Format: eARC
When Harper Lee Crockett returns home to Paradise Ranch, Wyoming, the last thing she expects is to fall head-over-heels in lust for Cole, childhood neighbor and her older sister's long-time boyfriend. The spirited and artistic Crockett sister has finally learned to resist her craziest impulses, but this latest trip home and Cole's rough-and-tough appeal might be too much for her fading self-control.
Cole Wainwright has long been fascinated by the sister who's always stood out from the crowd. His relationship with Amelia, the eldest Crockett sister, isn't as perfect as it seems, and with Harper back in town, he sees everything he's been missing. Cole knows they have no future together—he's tied to the land and she's created a successful life in the big city—but neither of them can escape their growing attraction or inconvenient feelings.
As Harper struggles to come to grips with new family responsibilities and her forbidden feelings for Cole, she must decide whether to listen to her head or to give her heart what it wants.
The story in The Bride Wore Denim was very sweet and at times heart-breaking. I enjoyed the characters and the story overall, however, there were both typos and grammatical errors, and sometimes some continuity problems as well, which took my attention away from the story trying to figure out exactly what was going on.
My The Bride Wore Denim review:
Harper was a whimsical character I thought I’d love more than I did… it took her a long time to grow up and actually do something constructive instead of complaining about the ideas her mother, her sisters and Cole came up with to save the ranch after her father’s sudden death. And while the story involved a trope I absolutely love in romances, friends to lovers, it was not all that easy to get attached to Harper and Cole as a couple. I did enjoy the interactions between Harper and Skylar, though. That was a relationship that felt very real and honest to me.
I think one of the things about The Bride Wore Denim that made it not work so well for me was the slow pace, and the mere length of the novel. It could have been a bit shorter and still tell the same story, at least that’s the feeling I got. And while I enjoyed the characters and especially the different dynamics between the sisters, I still felt like those could be explored more thoroughly.
Dealing with the aftermath of her father’s death, and somehow getting to know him all over again through other characters, Harper had to ask herself some important questions about her own preconceptions when it came to him, as well as the relationship between him and her mother. And as if one tragedy wasn’t enough, they also had to deal with maybe losing the ranch, and a terrible car accident that left someone close to them in dire straits.
Overall, the story in The Bride Wore Denim appealed to me enough that I will probably pick up the next in the series at one point, and I’m sure the sweetness, as well as how both Harper and Cole had to figure out what was really important in their lives will be enjoyed by other readers.
Some of my favorite The Bride Wore Denim quotes:
Yeah, she thought as she deposited the rooster back in the chicken yard, her father had no choice but to glower at the bedlam from heaven. He was the one who’d left the dang birds behind.
Something about handling this alone, however, fed her need to dredge whatever good memories she could from the day. She’d chased an awful lot of chickens throughout her youth. The memories served her sadness, and she didn’t want to share them.
“I do admit, your father was the nicest asshole I’ve ever known.” The accurate oxymoron drew rueful laughter form Harper, and the tension dissipated. “Yeah. And nobody said that out loud at the service, did they?” “Funerals aren’t for honesty. You know that. And Sam was a good man. He wasn’t cruel”
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms
Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.
Hmm. I’m not sure I would enjoy this. I feel weird that Cole is with Harper’s sister. That seems kind of creepy.
In a way, that didn’t really bother me, Quinn, because all three of them talked about it… I agree it’s kind of creepy anyway, though.
Twitter: talksupeblog
Can’t beat a feel good novel.
Happy holidays, Lexxie!
🙂 I hope you had a great holiday, Braine!
I noticed right away the page length of 496, but a book that long that tends to be slow probably would have a hard time keeping my interest. Loved your review! Merry Christmas!
Yeah, especially because the story itself was very slow, but the character development wasn’t as deep as I would have liked.
Thanks for stopping by, Ro!
Wow that is one heck of a long romance novel! I don’t generally read very many adult romance novels, so I’d probably have a hard time getting through one that is really long and slow-paced. It sounds like the MC is a little bit hard to get used to but it seems like a great self-development kind of book.
I don’t mind long romance novels, usually, if there’s a lot going on. That wasn’t really the case here, though, and I didn’t really get to know the characters as well as I like to get to know them.
Thanks for stopping by, Jenna!
Great review! I do have to agree with you regarding the length of this book. Since you say that the story slows down, it really sounds like some of those pages should have been cut out! I am not sure that this would be the right book for me but I am glad that you enjoyed it.
Or, the pages could have been used a little differently… Thanks for stopping by, Carole.
I’m not sure it would be for me – I hear people complaining all day long at work, so complaining in my books also ? No thanks. But the part about the death of her father and how other people saw him is interesting 🙂
LOL, complaining is not fun to listen to, that’s for sure, Iza 🙂 The fact that other people saw her father so differently from the way she saw him was very interesting, but also a little sad… it was too late for her to see him that way now.
Wow, it seems as though Selvig could have used the length to provide more character development, huh? It seems like more character development would have made the story more – well, I don’t know the word. But you said the story could have been told in fewer pages but you wanted more on the characters, so… Anyway, I’m glad that you enjoyed enough overall that you’d continue the series. That does say something good about it. 🙂 Great review!
I hope your trip home goes well and I can’t wait to hear how the surprise goes over. 😀 **BIG HUGS**
Yes! That would have made this book a complete winner for me, Brandee. The story could have showed some deeper connections, and would have made more of an emotional impact on me if there was more character development.
*BIG HUGS*
Twitter: Mollykatie112
I saw the length before I read your review and wondered at it. A romance this long should be something epic like The Thorn Birds or something. Also, I wondered about a sister falling for her sister’s boyfriend. Cheating? I don’t know, probably not for me 🙂
Yeah, it was long and slow, Lorna. There were interesting things happening, but it just took a long time to get there 🙁 The sister and the guy hadn’t been together for a long while, but yeah… still weird.