​ Buying Love is a contemporary marriage of convenience Christian Romance. I was excited to see this premise in a contemporary as it is not that common and it is one of my favorite scenarios in historical fiction, where I do most of my reading.
 
Ms. Shiloh is a new author for me, and I must say that I was very pleased with this story. While some parts of the book are serious, there is a lot of humor as well that makes the characters more relatable. The book opens with the meeting between the main characters, and we quickly learn Dwight answered Nina’s advertisement for a husband because she offered money if they married, and his family’s restaurant is failing and is desperately in need of some cash.
 
Nina grew up in orphanages after being abandoned as a baby and is determined to follow her specific and highly organized life plan, which is to have a husband quickly so she can have a child before she’s thirty-five. She is analytical and precise and approaches her personal life using those characteristics. And while I am none of those things, I had no trouble relating to Nina’s desires for a family of her own. I also appreciated her interactions with Kandi, who is an orphaned teenage girl that Nina mentors.
 
Dwight owns a restaurant with his family and I could envision it clearly and wanted to eat there! His family is interesting and each of them feel like real people and have motivations that makes sense for who they are. I want to meet this family!
 
Ms. Shiloh sets the scene wonderfully and each place felt very different from each other with the supporting characters behaving exactly how you’d expect from a rural/city divide. The theme of what constitutes a family is handled delicately and the resolution of that feels very natural for both characters.
 
The Christian message of Buying Love was evident from the beginning of the book, and it is very prevalent. If you like your inspirational romances with a strong and clear message, you will enjoy that aspect of the book. If you prefer a simpler or subtler approach, it may be too much for you.
 
I would recommend this book to anyone seeking a clean Christian romance with relatable characters, an intriguing and uncommon contemporary premise, interesting discussions about family, and a strong message of what exactly God is to us and what he does for us. I give this book 4/5 stars.
 
**I received a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.**

Hi, Reader Friends!! I’m so excited to be here at Celebrate Lit for the kick off of my new release, Buying Love. I wrote this book last year for National November Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). In one month, I managed to write a little over 50,000 words. However, that’s not why this book holds a special place in my heart. No, it’s the message in the story.

Nina Warrenton has struggled with being alone in life. Thus, she decides to take matters into her own hand and places an ad for a husband, complete with a monetary offer. What seemed like an intelligent and simplistic way to get a husband, soon proves to have a multitude of complications. Not only that, but Nina has to discover who God is in her life and the body of Christ fits into that.

Y’all have you ever felt alone in a room full of people? Or felt isolated? Or maybe you’re an orphan…whatever your background, I hope that this book shows you that God loves you. He loves you so much, He’s adopted you into the body of Christ. So if you’re a believer, we’re family. As a person who always wanted a friend and lots of family, that’s music to my soul. It’s what I wanted Nina to discover and what I hope the readers discover.

​Ephesians 1:4-6, “According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved” (KJV).

October 27: Bibliophile Reviews
October 27: Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations
October 28: Reading Is My SuperPower
October 29: Moments Dipped in Ink
October 30: Reviewing Novels Online
October 30: Artistic Nobody
October 31: A Baker’s Perspective
November 1: blogging it out
November 2: Christian Author: A.M. Heath
November 3: autism mom
November 3: Simple Harvest Reads (Spotlight)
November 4: Chas Ray’s Book Nerd Corner
November 5: inklings and notions
November 6: just the write escape
November 7: Carpe Diem
November 8: Quiet Quilter
November 9: Bukwurmzzz
November 9: The Power of Words

This is one of my favorite historical romances ever. I read, on average, 75-100 books a year and I've been reading historical romance for almost twenty years, and this one has remained near the top of my list. It’s the book I give to friends who are interested in reading historical romances.  
 
First off, I adore the hero, Kit. He is my favorite type—a “happy-go-lucky” façade covering deep emotional hurt. Kit is charming, yes, but he is also deeply scarred from his time as a soldier and his guilt over his brother’s death (no spoilers about what happened between them, as it’s an important part of Kit’s story in the books).
 
I spent four years in the US Army and deployed to Iraq. Kit has a quote near the end of the book that perfectly encapsulates my own feelings about what happens after war and it remains one of my favorite pieces of dialogue. I’m not going to quote it below as it’s rather long and I think a bit of a spoiler regarding Kit’s actions for much of the book, but it occurs near the end.
 
It took me a little longer to warm up to Lauren, but once I did, she is perfectly wonderful character as well. She had an embarrassing encounter in the previous book in front of the entire ton (her fiancé’s presumed dead wife shows up on the wedding day) and she is scared that she will never find love. Her composure after these events plays nicely off Kit’s charm and humor. Of course, Lauren’s humor and “fun” side of her personality is exposed as she spends more time with Kit and his family, who are at odds with each other.
 
The premise of the book is that Kit and Lauren agree to pretend to be engaged for the benefit of both of both. Kit’s parents are trying to arrange a marriage for him with Freyja Bedwyn, a next-door neighbor who he previously engaged in a relationship with even though she was promised to his (now dead) brother. Lauren wants to escape society and live a quiet life, and having two failed engagements will make her scandalously unmarriageable and she’ll retire to a country cottage.
 
Watching the relationship turn into friends and then as they fall in love is a delight. They complement each other perfectly and I fully believe the feelings between them. Kit falls for her quickly and it takes Lauren longer but the resolution between them is wonderful. Lauren is also an integral reason why Kit and his family begin to repair what had fractured with his brother’s death and his younger brother’s injuries from war.
 
I would recommend this story to anyone who wants a quiet, character-driven romance with a few surprises as the couple fall in love. The amount of outer conflict is minimal (though there are some attempts by other people to break the engagement) and this is a story that features real internal conflict for both of our main characters. But it never seemed to drag despite all the introspection, and in fact, that is one of the reasons I enjoy this book and this author.
 
Mary Balogh is one of my favorite authors and she is one of the few I automatically buy new releases for. I haven’t liked everything she has written but I believe this is one of her best and give this book 5/5 stars.