Saturday, October 12, 2013

By Proxy by Katy Regnery....Review by Kathy

~blurb-

Sometimes love finds you.

Stubbornly small-town Jenny Lindstrom has misgivings when she promises to stand proxy in her best friend’s wedding—misgivings that are fulfilled when tall, handsome Sam Kelley walks into the courthouse an hour late. In order to keep her promise, an afternoon favor turns into a weekend of startling but undeniable attraction, threatening the well-ordered world that keeps her heart at arm’s length from any more pain.

Sam’s plan is to fly to Livingston, Montana, take vows for his favorite cousin, and return to Chicago as quickly as possible. But his plan is turned upside-down when he must spend a weekend with Jenny in Gardiner to keep his word. He doesn’t want to fall for the prim, proper schoolteacher whose small-town life seems to him like selling out, but the more time he spends with her, the harder it is to say good-bye.

When city and country come together for Christmas, the unexpected gift is true love.

This is the story of two people who are trying to do the right thing to help a friend and family member. Their friend and cousin are in the Military and are in two separate countries. In Montana you can legally get married with a two person proxy. Sam the hero had looked it up on Wikipedia after getting an email from his cousin Kristian.

 After he read Kristian's e-mail, he had consulted Wikipedia to confirm "Double Proxy Marriage" actually existed. It sounded like the implausible ploy of a bad movie: two people who couldn't bat the same place at the same time could be married legally if they designated two other people--Proxies--to take their bows for them.
 Sure enough, all-knowing Wikipedia had confirmed it was true, and San re-read the article twice to understand. Apparently it was completely legitimate, little-known legal loophole that existed only in Montana, almost exclusively utilized by servicemen and women--like Kristian and his fiancee Ingrid--deployed to different parts of the world. With Kristan in active service in Afghanistan and Ingrid serving at an Army hospital in Germany, their only option for an expedited marriage would be a double proxy ceremony in Montana.


So Sam and Jenny will be saying the vows for them. Their first meeting is memorable. Sam is late and Jenny is upset.

"You're Jenny!" he said, beaming at her.
"Sam?" she asked, bright blue eyes trained on him, cheeks flaming red.
 He nodded. For no good reason in particular, he had been expecting some thick -waisted, Brunhilde-type, big-boned Scandinavian country gal. Jenny's cheeks had the fresh color of a country girl, all right, but that's where the similarities ended. She wasn't a conventional knockout, but there was certainly something about her.
 Cute girl.Huh. Kristian hadn't mentioned that...
"You're very late," she said. She turned sharply and crossed the lobby with hurried steps, stopping at a bench beside the stairs to pick up her coat.
He had no choice but to follow behind her and rushed to keep up. "Yes. I'm late. Sorry about that. But,wow, that was --uh-- quite a welcome!"
"I didn't mean to bump into you. I slipped." Click, clack, click, clack. Her shoes echoed up the stairs."I've been waiting over and hour. "
Do to Sam being late they are not able to do the vows until Monday. He must stay in Gardiner. This is the small town that Jenny lives in. He is from Chicago and Jenny is expecting him to throw a fit about having to stay. When he doesn't she is pleasantly surprised. I liked both Sam and Jenny.

What worked for me....
  It was a very sweet and charming love that occurred with Sam and Jenny. He wanted her and let her know. There is no heavy sex theme with the book. There were some good kissing scenes in the book. The author did bring the Montana environment alive for me. Jenny and Sam did "fall" in love very quickly. When Sam had to leave he did ask Jenny to come to Chicago to be with him. She declined but, the time Sam had spent with her in Gardiner had already started reminding him who he really was. Sam had been kind of a player before Montana.There are also some intriguing secondary characters that we will get to know in her future books.

What didn't work for me...
  I was not expecting the strong Christian theme in the book. I did find that for me, I would just skim those parts of the book. For others it may be fine.

I am giving this book 31/2 clocks. Overall it was a good read and I would recommend.
 
Review by Kathy Lee Herbst
 

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