"Comedic Inspirational Romance at its best!!!"

As the Romance Industry expands to incorporate even more sub-genres one of the fastest growing is Inspirational Romances and Multnomah Press is one of the industry's leaders with quality reads produced by some of Romance's well-loved authors. Is it any wonder best selling author Linda Windsor has chosen to be published by the best Romantic Inspirational publisher. Her latest is a bit of a departure of past works, (historical Ireland or the jungles of South America) as she take a comedic turn on a cruise in IT HAD TO BE YOU. Is the fiction imitating life, one wonders?

Sunny Elders has lost her parents to cancer, but her sister, Melinda, needs her strength now and must put her own needs aside. After all Sunny is a nurse and isn't that what nurses do...nurture. It seems in an effort to save their marriage her sister and brother-in-law decide to take a cruise with Auntie Sunny along to entertain the kids. Sunny is more than just a name, it is her disposition, as she enjoys some wonderfully funny misadventures with her sister's kids as well as an unsuspecting hero; a hero who really just wants to return to his ranch and the dull life he has carved out for himself. However, fate has other ideas and the reader will cheer.

Dan Jarrett, a rancher, is on this trip against his will. Seems his mother has been taken into a con of the heart and her money. Or so Dan believes when his mother meets a gentleman on a cruise after his father's death. Dan is further shocked to find she has even gone out and married the man. To make matter's even worse the newlyweds decide to take the whole Jarrett family (Dan, his sister and brother-in-law) on a cruise and they charge it on his mother's credit card. Sending red flags of concern Dan has a credit check on his new stepfather and is dismayed at what he finds. So against his will he decides to go along to watch out for his mother's interest as his sister sees nothing wrong, but what he finds is a perky little go- getter and a couple of kids who turn his life upside down. Soon it isn't his mother's money that is in danger but his heart.

From the moment they meet, even before the cruise begins, both Sunny and Dan are drawn to each other. Yet, each is there not to fall in love but to help a family member who may just not need nor want the help being offered. In turn they get their non-existent love life turned inside out. To outsiders, especially their own families, there is something very special going on between our couple, and the funny antics are sure to keep the reader roaring with delight. But as our couple comes to grips with what they want out of life there are some very poignant life lessons to be learned; the greatest is trusting God's love to protect each of us.

What makes this book so special is the romantic journey our couple takes, albeit funny most of the time, it is timeless, as they trust in God's love to show them the way. The reader won't be disappointed as Ms. Windsor provides superbly plotted elements for that all-important satisfied sigh, especially when Dan and Sunny find a love so uniquely theirs. Whether the reader is Christian or not is not important, because the uniquely Windsor elements of romance touch the very soul of even the most skeptical romance reader. Ms Windsor has outdone herself with IT HAD TO BE YOU, sure to be one of the best comedic romances this season and finding itself on many a keeper shelf.

Reviewed by Jody Allen
Posted September 28, 2001