It Had To Be You by Susan May Warren

Here's another Christian romance. And, due to my heightened sensitivity to reformed rakes (a la Candice Horn), I can't help but observe that our hero in this story, Jace Jacobsen, is a reformed rake. Yup. There's that element again, and this time in a Christian romance. Of course, in Christian romances, the hero can "find Christ" (and I don't meant to sound cynical here, because I do believe in repentance and God's forgiveness, through the atonement of Christ) and be all cleaned up. As long as he can forgive himself.

Which is our Jace's challenge in this book. He feels trapped by the image that he's inadvertently created for himself. He's a hockey player, a star hockey player--a violent star hockey player. He's an "enforcer", in fact which means (I gathered) that he's a particularly violent hockey player. But his health and his personal peace of mind, his honorable manhood is in danger if he persists in his current lifestyle. Can he really change?

And, by the way, can he hang onto our likeable but self-effacing Eden Christiansen's love? I liked Eden too. She was interesting and had her own misconceptions to overcome.

There are many other characters that have stories to tell in this novel--it's one in a series about the Christiansen family and we get to meet many of their friends along the way. They have their own struggles.

This was an engaging novel with some substantial messages to share. It's clearly a religious book, but not too heavy-handed. It also didn't skate over Christian principles with facile conclusions and catchy sayings. Well, not too many catchy sayings, anyway. Hm. It was not the best, nor the most memorable book I've read, but it was sweet in many ways and I enjoyed reading it.

Bad language: nope
Sex: nope