My Review of With This Ring?: A Novella Collection of Proposals Gone Awry

About the Book

Sometimes Love is Found in the Most Unexpected Places! 

Love isn't always a fairy tale, and it doesn't always go as planned. Sometimes the best stories, though, are the ones that are the most unexpected. Join Karen Witemeyer, Mary Connealy, Regina Jennings, and Melissa Jagears for novellas that celebrate the power of love to triumph . . . even when circumstances go awry!

The Husband Maneuver
When ranch foreman Daniel Barrett seems ready to leave her life forever, Marietta Hawkins decides to grab the reins on their relationship. But to have any hope of maneuvering him into a proposal, she has to act fast or risk losing him completely.

Her Dearly Unintended
Josiah Huckabee just wanted to make sure Katie Ellen Watson was safe, but when the only bridge to her farm is washed out, the two find themselves alone. Alone, that is, until a menacing stranger appears. Maybe by pretending to be newlyweds, they'll save their reputations - but can pretending to be in love turn into the real thing? 

Runaway Bride 
Hired to help Carrie Halsey escape from a dangerous man intent on making her his wife, Big John Conroy never expected the job to interrupt his solitary Texas Ranger life. But now that he's promised to keep Carrie safe, he discovers he may just want to make a few more promises.

Engaging the Competition
Harrison Gray and tomboy Charlotte Andrews have been rivals for years. With Charlotte intended for someone else, it seems they'll never settle their differences until an accident changes things completely. When Charlotte breaks Harrison's glasses - without which he's nearly blind - she must help with his teaching position, and working together forces these former adversaries to reconsider everything.

Releases January 5, 2016!

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My Rating

Spring/Summer

My Review

This novella collection will make you LOL with the cute and ridiculous situations these couples find themselves in! These stories are a lot of fun, and I especially enjoyed the first two.

The Husband Maneuever by Karen Witemeyer: 5 stars and pure Western romance bliss! Such a cute story about true romantic heroes, cleverly told by the talented Karen Witemeyer. I enjoyed the fiction-within-fiction excerpts from the dime novel Dead-Eye Dan and the Outlaws of Devil's Canyon, which start out each chapter. And the ending - the proper one - is priceless. This is such a sweet novella with some fun romantic tension between a girl with a very relatable crush and a guy with a protective streak as wide as Devil's Canyon. *swoon*

Her Dearly Unintended by Regina Jennings: This was my second favorite story in the collection. It's a little odd and quirky, but pretty darn adorable! I really loved the sass between Josiah and Katie Ellen, and I appreciated the way Josiah matured and Katie Ellen opened up to some important life lessons.

Runaway Bride by Mary Connealy: Fans of Mary's work will certainly enjoy this novella, especially since they'll recognize this vast cast of characters. This was probably my least favorite of the collection, but it was still a lot of fun. It's trademark Mary: lots of spunk and sass, and characters on the run, fighting enemies together, getting into arguments, speaking their minds, and denying inevitable attraction.

Engaging the Competition by Melissa Jagears: The unique hero in this story stood out to me, with his weak eyesight and strength of mind. There's some good chemistry and sweet romance between the female rancher and male schoolteacher. I admit that the heroine wasn't my favorite (got on my nerves a bit), and the competitive theme felt a bit much at times, but still a nice novella to round out this enjoyable and heartwarming collection.

*With thanks to NetGalley and Bethany House for providing me with an e-ARC of the book in exchange for my honest opinion.*