Monday, January 4, 2016

At Love's Bidding by Regina Jennings


About the Book:
At Love’s Bidding (Bethany House, December 2015)

She sells priceless antiques. He sells livestock by the pound. Is he really the man to make a bid for her heart?

After helping her grandfather at their Boston auction house, Miranda Wimplegate discovers she's accidentally sold a powerful family's prized portrait to an anonymous bidder. Desperate to appease the people who could ruin them forever, they track it to the Missouri Ozarks and make an outlandish offer to buy the local auction house and all its holdings before the painting can move again.

Upon crossing the country, however, Miranda and her grandfather discover their new auction house doesn't deal in fine antiques, but in livestock. And its frustratingly handsome manager, Wyatt Ballentine, is annoyed to discover his fussy new bosses don't know a thing about the business he's single-handedly kept afloat. Faced with more heads of cattle than they can count---but no mysterious painting---Miranda and Wyatt form an unlikely but charged partnership to try and prevent a bad situation from getting worse.

Purchase a copy: http://bit.ly/1QJGxOK

About the Author:
Regina Jennings is a graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University with a degree in English and a history minor. She is the author of A Most Inconvenient Marriage, Sixty Acres and a Bride, and Caught in the Middle, and contributed a novella to A Match Made in Texas. Regina has worked at the Mustang News and First Baptist Church of Mustang, along with time at the Oklahoma National Stockyards and various livestock shows. She now lives outside Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, with her husband and four children.

Connect with Regina: website, Twitter, Facebook


Margie’s Comments: What better way to start the New Year than with a Regina Jennings historical romance! I was first attracted to the book when I read that a good portion of the book was set in the Missouri Ozarks—where I live. The premise of the book (in the story blurb) also intrigued me. Auctions are a big deal in the Ozarks, even today, nearly 150 years after At Love’s Bidding was set. 

And I wasn’t disappointed at all. At Love’s Bidding is a fun read, full of quirky yet lovable characters and some not-so-loveable characters. We see Miranda in the first chapter as a young woman who wants to help those less fortunate than herself, shy, unsure of herself, and yet showing a “violent streak” when the underdog is threatened. And we meet Wyatt at his “worst,” but then we’re totally drawn in when we see what has provoked him. The story takes a hilarious turn when Miranda and her grandfather realize they have bought a livestock auction house. There are several laugh out loud moments when they try to make their first sale more like their elegant antiques auction house in Boston, even with their smelly wares. The romance between Wyatt and Miranda is done well, fun to follow, and comes to a satisfying conclusion.

If you’re looking for a good book to read at the beginning of a new year, you won’t be disappointed with At Love’s Bidding.