Susan May Warren: Always on My Mind

By Kelly Bridgewater

Back Cover Copy:

After a failed dig in Honduras, aspiring archaeologist Casper Christiansen heads home to Minnesota to face his unresolved feelings for Raina Beaumont, the woman of his dreams. But when he arrives unannounced on her doorstep, he receives the shock of a lifetime: Raina is pregnant with someone else’s baby.

Heartbroken, especially when he discovers the identity of the baby’s father, Casper tables his dreams and determines to be dependable for once, helping his older brother, Darek, prepare the family resort for its grand reopening. Casper longs to be the hero of at least one family story, but a never-ending Deep Haven winter and costly repairs threaten their efforts—and the future of the resort.

Worse, one of Casper’s new jobs constantly brings him into contact with Raina, whom he can’t seem to forget. A tentative friendship begins to heal fresh wounds, but can they possibly overcome past mistakes and current choices to discover a future together?

My Review:

As an avid fan of Susan May Warren’s writing, I always come away smiling when I read her books. I don’t like to read a lot of contemporary romance books, but Susan May Warren drags me in and keeps me interested to the last page. Her newest book, Always on My Mind, continues the Christiansen Family saga. This time we get the story of Casper with the sprinkling of all the other members of the family, minus Owen who has disappeared.

If you haven’t read the first four books in the series, I suggest you go buy them. Each one of them is a moving tale of God and humanities love. The books in the series are titled in order of publication: Take a Chance on Me, It Had to Be You, When I Fall in Love, and Evergreen. Coming in July 2015, is The Wonder of You, which is baby sister, Amelia’s story.

As usual, Warren’s writing is excellent. The story is told from Casper and Raina’s perspective. All the emotions, fears, uncertainties, and struggles come from their view on the current dilemmas affecting their lives. There was no point of view shifts or head hopping. The story moved along seamlessly. My favorite part of Susan May Warren’s writing is her description of the setting where the characters populate the story. Warren describes the setting well that as the reader, I feel like I’m standing knee deep in the snow with the wind blowing through my jacket looking out at Lake Superior. As a writer, I have tried to study how Warren does it and hope it affects my readers the same way.

The pace and tension of the story was wonderful. As the back cover copy states, Casper was a treasure hunter, so Warren weaves a hunt for historical treasure into the plot line, which allows a lover of mysteries like me, to be engrossed and wrapped in the plot while swooning over the love between Casper and Raina. Warren does a good job at dragging out the romantic tension, even paralleling the struggle with the historical element. I loved the story and kept anxiously turning the pages wanting to know how the historical mystery would be solved and would Casper and Raina learn to love each other.

Susan May Warren adds to her Christiansens’ Family saga with mysterious, swoon-worthy romance in her latest book. Returning to the family we have all come to love, Warren captures the readers with realistic characterization, family ties, and heart-thumping romance. I will keep on recommending Susan May Warren to all my friends.  Thank you, Susan for writing another book I can’t wait to return to and read again.

I received a complimentary copy of Always on My Mind from Tyndale Publishing and the above opinions are all my own.

How to connect with Susan May Warren:

Amazon’s author’s page: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&field-author=Susan+May+Warren&search-alias=books&text=Susan+May+Warren&sort=relevancerank

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SusanMayWarrenFiction

Author’s Website: www.susanmaywarren.com

Where you can find her books:

Amazon

Christianbook.com

Barnes and Nobles

Wherever books are sold.