When Love Blooms by Robin Lee Hatcher

About the Book:

Rachel Harris, single, beautiful and in want of adventure applies for and recieves a job as a governess for a family. Two young girls, a father and a mother is who Miss. Harris will be living with. Dru, the mother is dying and there is nothing she can do about it and only through her faith alone can she bear the thought of leaving her children. A marriage of convenience, Dru and Gavin, live together in name only so that when she is gone Gavin can be dad to her two girls. Unbeknownst to Gavin and Rachel, what Dru wants is for them to find love and for Rachel to lead Gavin to what he needs above all else.

My opinion:

When Love Bloons is a great book with one big caution, at least for me. It is evident what the mom of the family wants, she wants Gavin and Rachel to fall in love and marry. To me, even if a marriage is in name only and one of the spouses is going to die soon, the marriage needs to be honored. No interference from anyone, period. Even if that interference is arranged by the wife who is dying. When Rachel begins having romantic thoughts toward Gavin she immediately prays to ask God to help her, even going so far as to agree to a marriage in which the love given is not returned. Gavin to begins to have feelings toward Rachel even though he tries to push them aside. This all rubbed me the wrong way from the start. Had the love blossomed after Dru died I would have been okay with it but not while she was alive and not while the marriage was still a marriage in God's eyes.

I try not to throw the baby out with the bathwater and overall the book wasn't bad but I think that Robin Lee Hatcher could have come up with a better scenario without alluding to something that to me, is akin to emotional adultery. With that being said the end result is that the two do marry and even being their own family, adding to Dru's two daughters. Gavin does turn his life over to Christ. Everyone lives happily ever after.

Overall, it was a quick read and one that makes you think about happenings you wouldn't normally think on. If you'd like more information on how to purchase this book visit Zondervan.

**Picture of book cover taken from Zondervan's website.