Author - Rachel Hauck
Title - The Wedding Chapel
Format - ebook, paper, audio
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A wedding chapel that has never seen a wedding. The football coach who built the chapel stone by stone as a tribute to his lost, but never forgotten, love. The elderly actress with past regrets. A newlywed couple with communication problems. "Coach" Jimmy Westbrook poured his heart and soul into building a chapel for the wedding he hoped to have with his high school sweetheart, Collette Greer. For over sixty years, the chapel has stood vacant. It's a place where Jimmy's memories live. Photographer Taylor Branson left her hometown of Heart's Bend, Tennessee to make a name for herself in New York. She doesn't believe in love based on the track record of her family's failed marriages. When she's swept off of her feet by Jack Forester, also from Heart's Bend, Taylor opens her heart a bit to love. Jack's got his own demons that are hurting his relationship with Taylor. Despite his very real and deep love for Taylor, he struggles to share his heart. When Taylor is asked to photograph a wedding chapel in the hills of Tennessee, she reluctantly returns home. The beauty of the chapel, and Coach's obvious love for the woman he built it for, touch something deep inside Taylor. The longer she's in town, the more she discovers that she doesn't want to give up on her marriage. She's captivated by the beauty of the chapel and Coach's story. Yet Taylor also discovers that her own family is connected to both Jimmy and the chapel in a way that she never imagined. Will Jimmy live in the past or be willing to move on? And can Jack and Taylor build a strong marriage despite their rocky beginnings? And for Taylor's elderly aunt, Collette Greer, will she be able to finally gain the peace she longs for from the past that haunts her?
Wow. That's really all I can say about this book. Having read several others of Rachel's books including The Wedding Dress, I had a good idea as to what to expect with this one.
She has seamlessly woven the past with the present and four differing viewpoints to make this a novel I really couldn't put down. Even though the book is told from Taylor, Jack, Jimmy, and Collette's perspectives, I wasn't lost at all. Each piece just peeled back another layer of this remarkable story.
Why did it capture me so much? First of all, the story telling. My heart hurt for Jimmy and for Collette. I wanted Jack and Taylor to talk to each other. Needless to say, I was enthralled by the characters and their lives.
While this one is very different than the Royal Wedding Series, I still loved it. It was similar in style to the Wedding Dress.
I received this book for free from BookLook Bloggers for the purpose of reviewing. My thoughts and opinions are my own.
Recommended to fans of women's fiction, Rachel Hauck, Julie Lessman, Karen Kingsbury, Jody Hedlund, Denise Hunter, Irene Hannon, Susan May Warren, contemporary fiction.
Rating - 5 stars
Note - The review will be posted on Amazon on or around November 17, 2015.
This IS a beautiful story! It's nearing time for me to finish my review and get a post scheduled. :)
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