Mine to Cherish

In Mine to Cherish book three of the Southern Wedding series, Madison gives her readers a story of another wedding coming to an abrupt halt. This time around its Clarabella’s time to walk down the aisle. However, a devastating secret will have her running on her wedding day straight into the arms of the man who owned her heart. Mine to Cherish features Clarabella and Luke. Clarabella made appearances in the previous books, so it was nice to get her story and follow her on the journey from a disastrous almost wedding to a satisfying happily ever after. Clarabella co-owns a wedding planning event company with her sisters. After the disaster that followed her brother and sister’s initial wedding plans, she didn’t expect to marry soon. However, when her boyfriend sprung a surprise proposal at her thirtieth birthday party, she suddenly finds herself in the middle of major wedding plans. There is one problem: a massive case of pre-wedding jitters, made worse by the shocking revelation, would derail all plans.Our hero, Luke, is a chef. Now as a chef he has done work with Clarabella’s company. Their interactions, however, went beyond business. Then, after one mind blowing night, which he declared a mistake, he left town without a word. Now he’s back, only to discover that the woman who owned him was engaged to marry another man. It hurt to stand aside and watched the woman he loved marry someone else. So when the opportunity came for him to prove to her she was his to cherish forever, he seized it.Luke and Clarabella complemented each other. They shared a lot of fun and sexy times. I loved how Luke treated Clarabella throughout the story. There were times, however, when her reaction to some of those moments revealed her insecurities. Her insecurities made her real and relatable. She displayed confidence in her professional life, but matters of the heart was whole different ball game. Despite it all, Luke never wavered in the way he treated her.Luke also had his share of doubts and insecure moments. However, with the revelation of his past, one can relate to the reasoning behind his actions. It was great to see there wasn’t a lot of conflict between them. It made me happy to see them work through their issues to gain their happily ever after, which they both deserve. The secondary characters added layers to the story. Clarabella’s relationship with her siblings was a treasure. They were so open with each other. However, sometimes it felt they were a bit too open. Nothing was off limits. Now for Clarabella’s ex, she sure dodged a bullet where he was concerned. Sad to say, men like him exist in reality. Pretend to be nice, but beneath it all a first-class jerk.The story flowed well, and there were several laugh out loud moments. Mine to Cherish delivered all the elements I enjoy in a romance. A swoon worthy hero, a confident heroine and a sexy, heartwarming romance, which kept reading into the early morning hours. This review was originally posted on Totally Addicted to Reading