Review: A Tailor-Made Bride by Karen Witemeyer

Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: Bethany House
Released: June 1, 2010
352 pages

About the Book:

Jericho "J.T." Tucker wants nothing to do with Coventry, Texas's new dressmaker. He's all too familiar with her kind--shallow women more devoted to fashion than true beauty. Yet, except for her well-tailored clothing, this seamstress is not at all what he expected.

Hannah Richards is confounded by the man who runs the livery. The unsmiling fellow riles her with his arrogant assumptions and gruff manner while at the same time stirring her heart with unexpected acts of kindness. Which side of Jericho Tucker reflects the real man?

When Hannah decides to help Jericho's sister catch a beau--leading to uproarious consequences for the whole town--will Jericho and Hannah find a way to bridge the gap between them?

  

My Rating & Thoughts:    ⭐⭐⭐

This book did not hold my interest until near the very end. I liked the character of Hannah with her truly giving and caring heart, but it took me a long time to warm up to J.T. He could be nice to Hannah one minute and then judge her and treat her bad the next. My favourite scenes were ones with Hannah and Delia or Hannah and Ezra together. Hannah befriends Ezra, an older gentleman who recently lost his wife and is struggling with day-to-day activities in the midst of his grief. Hannah accepts him as he is and through her kindness he is able to connect with the townspeople again and carry on. J.T. was so judgemental and opinionated about Hannah and her profession because of a bad experience with his mom. Yes I understand that this experience scarred him, but shouldn’t he at least try to get to know Hannah before putting her in the same category as his mom’s actions? I loved how both his sister, Delia and Hannah confronted him about his feelings and challenged him to search the Bible for answers. I especially enjoyed the Bible teaching in this story. Turning to the Scriptures for answers was spoken about several times. After this soul searching J.T.’s attitude toward Hannah changed and I find myself warming up to him and enjoy his scenes. By the last few chapters I wanted things to work out between these two. I did not particularly like the addition of the ‘bad guy’ scenes as I don’t feel like this added much to the story. This is the second time I read this book and while I remember enjoying it the first-time round, I found myself more frustrated with J.T. this time than I remember being the first time. I feel Ms. Witemeyer has written better books with deeper characters than this one. 

Favourite Quotes: 

“Hardships are sure to find their way to your doorstep. Confidence is the only way to combat them - confidence in yourself and in the God who equips you to overcome. Never forget that.”

“It doesn't matter how long you've been away, Ezra. God is always ready to welcome a child of his back into his house.”

(I purchased my copy of this book; opinions expressed 

in this review are my honest opinion and completely my own.)

Other books from this author that I have reviewed:   

   

Heart on the Line - Ladies of Harper's Station #2

More Than Meets the Eye - Patchwork Family #1

More Than Words Can Say - Patchwork Family #2

A Worthy Pursuit

Full Steam Ahead

To Win Her Heart