Book Description:
This is absolutely not how they pictured their summer going.
McKenna Boston is feeling stuck. She’s spent years growing her photography skills only for her career to hit a wall. She’s ready to move on, and she will, just as soon as she helps her sister’s boyfriend stage the perfect proposal. But when her best laid plans go awry and a handsome stranger accidentally ends up with the heirloom ring, McKenna hops on a flight to retrieve it. Piece of cake, right?
Nate Lambert was hoping to enjoy a relaxing summer before starting his new job as a literature professor, but he arrives in Tennessee to discover his mom’s bed and breakfast is struggling and there’s a long list of repairs to be tackled. The last thing he needs is a gorgeous, determined photographer searching for a ring he doesn’t have since the airline lost his luggage somewhere on his route from Nebraska.
With the ring nowhere to be found, all McKenna can do is wait and use the time to build her portfolio and plan her next career move. But she also can’t help getting swept up in Nate’s bed and breakfast renovations and in planning a community concert with the townsfolk. As both await news of Nate’s suitcase, it begins to seem their serendipitous meeting, and the proposal gone wrong, could actually be everything going right . . . and that this may be their chance at a love neither could have pictured.
Narelle’s Thoughts:
I enjoyed reading Not What We Pictured, a delightful romcom set in small town Nebraska and Tennessee. McKenna is a photographer with an overdeveloped sense of responsibility who’s bored with her job and can’t leave her Nebraska small town until her younger sister is engaged. A trail of failed wedding proposals has inspired McKenna to assist her sister’s boyfriend by setting up the perfect location in a park outside of town.
Nate is a teacher and poet from New York who visited Nebraska to attend his mentor’s funeral. He’s driving to the airport and his destination is Tennessee where he’ll visit his mother at her B&B during his summer break. Nate has a terrible headache and needs to take a break from driving. He discovers a park by a river where he can nap on a bench.
McKenna is horrified to discover a strange man sleeping on the park bench where she needs to set up the wedding proposal. A hilarious string of mishaps, and a few minor injuries, lead to another LOL disastrous wedding proposal failure and the heirloom ring accidentally travelling with Nate to Tennessee. McKenna manages to locate Nate at the B&B and she’s horrified to discover his luggage is missing.
A charming romance unfolds as Nate and McKenna navigate a number of issues, including the quirky side characters who create mayhem and misunderstandings. I loved journeying with the ensemble cast of characters and I wanted to see McKenna and Nate overcome the obstacles in their path to happily-ever-after.
I recommend Not What We Pictured to contemporary romance readers who like situational romcoms with mistaken identity, fake dating, a missing ring, quirky small town drama, and relevant faith elements in the story.
Many thanks to Tyndale and NetGalley for the advance reader copy.
