Bridegrooms by Allison Pittman

  It Only Takes an Instant for Love to Strike

Tragedy hits the Allenhouse family on a hot summer night in Ohio when a mother of four vanished. Eight-year-old Vada virtually grew up overnight and raised her three younger sisters while her father lost himself in his medical practice in the basement of their home.

Now, Vada is a grown woman, still making her home with her father and sisters. Her days are spent serving as an errand girl for Cleveland’s fledgling amateur orchestra; her evenings with Garrison Walker, her devoted, if passionless, beau.

Dizzying change occurs the day the Brooklyn Bridegrooms come to town to play the Cleveland Spiders and a line drive wallops the head of a spectator. The fan is whisked to the Allenhouse parlor, and questions swirl about the anonymous, unconscious man.

Suddenly, the subdued house is filled with visitors, from a flirtatious, would-be sports writer to the Bridegrooms’ handsome star hitter to the guilt-ridden ballplayer who should have caught the stray shot. The medical case brings Dr. Allenhouse a frustration and helplessness he hasn’t felt since his wife’s disappearance. Vada’s sisters are giddy at the bevy of possible suitors. And Vada’s life is awakened amid the super-charged atmosphere of romantic opportunity.

Allison Pittman is the author of Stealing Home, the Crossroads of Grace series, and her nonfiction debut, Saturdays With Stella. A former high-school English teacher, she serves as director of the theater arts group at her church. Allison makes her home in Texas with her husband and their three boys. Learn more about the author at www.allisonpittman.com.

This was the first of Allison’s fiction books that I have had opportunity to read.  I previously read (and reviewed) Saturdays with Stella (which I really enjoyed).  I enjoyed Bridegrooms.  I loved meeting and getting to know the Allenhouse sisters.  Their story is touching. The fact that their mother left them when they were all so young is sad; but it also played a large part in shaping the characters that they have become as adults/young adults.  I was quickly pulled into the world of Vada and her younger sisters.  At no point in the story did  I feel that it was predictable – I honestly didn’t know how the story would end until the last page!  (I like that!)  I will definitely be picking up more books by this author!

This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.