At Love’s Bidding

He took the broken lamp from her, left it in the office, then waved her outside. Swinging the heavy door closed, he wrapped the chain in the handles and held out his hand to her. “Give me your key.” Miranda slid it off her wrist, but not until he’d palmed it did she realize her mistake. “You don’t need a key to lock a padlock.” He dropped the key into his pocket. “But I need this key to keep you out of trouble.” He snapped the padlock closed. “Now, let’s both be pondering how to get you back where you belong.”

Book:At Love's Bidding (Ozark Mountain Romance Book #2) by Regina Jennings, Bethany House Publishers, 2015

Genre: Historical Fiction

Target Audience: Adult Women

Subjects: Family Relationships, Prejudices, Identity, Dating Relationships

Summary: One little mistake. Just one. She let it go so she didn’t embarrass her Grandfather. And look what it led to. The wrong painting got sold and now the owners are furious. They are threatening to destroy Miranda’s family’s business and whole reputation. It’s up to Miranda to fix this mess. The problem is that it’s not simply a matter of going and picking up the painting. For one thing, it’s not where it was supposedly sent. For another, she’s not alone on this journey to reclaim the painting. Her grandfather is with her and he’s quickly losing some of his mental capacities! And if that wasn’t trouble enough, it seems that the auction house the painting was sent to is rather different than the one she and her family run back in Boston. This one doesn’t deal in painting and valuables. It deals in livestock. Stinky, smelly, messy animals! And in their attempt to reclaim the painting, Miranda’s family purchased this auction house – making those stinky, smelly, messy animals the responsibility of… well… Miranda! Surely nothing else can go wrong? Or can it. Enter auction house manager: Wyatt Ballentine, the man determined to keep her and her grandfather out of his auction house. Wyatt has a secret, a reason he needs to keep them away. That secret could change everything for Miranda.

Notes: At Love’s Bidding is set in 1873 in Boston and the Missouri Ozarks. It’s a time of strong focus on social classes – Miranda is from a wealthy, somewhat powerful family and Wyatt is a nobody living in the middle of nowhere. Yet the attraction they feel refuses to accept their differences. Wyatt is attracted to Miranda due to her gentle treatment of her mentally ill grandfather. Miranda is attracted to Wyatt due to his responsibility, trustworthiness and encouragement of her.

Wyatt is a very spiritually strong character. Miranda is a Christian, but caught up more in what everyone’s expectations of her are. Some of the spiritual elements in the story are as follows: Wyatt gives “the whole situation to God”, telling of his desire and trying to accept God’s will, even if it differs from his own. He recognizes that God’s desire is the shaping of his character, rather than filling Wyatt’s ambitions. Wyatt challenges Miranda to use the courage and strength he believes she has to be who God wants her to be rather than who her family or society wants her to be.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 4/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Exodus 15:2 - “The LORD is my strength and my defense ; He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.
Thank you to the publishers for providing me with a free review copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion!