Now and Forever by Mary Connealy is the second book in the Wild at Heart series. I have not read the first book, but that didn’t seem to really matter for the second book.
Shannon Wilde literally sweeps Matthew Tucker away – right off a cliff and into a raging river, which no one has ever survived. Pulling them into a cave on the edge of the river, Shannon suddenly finds herself with a man she barely knows with no apparent way out.
Matthew Tucker has never been the marrying type. He likes being alone. But when a bear chases him through the woods, he suddenly finds himself hurtling off a cliff with a woman, who has been disguising herself as a man.
After spending several days together in a cave, Tucker and Shannon find themselves in quite a predicament of reputation, and so they marry. But neither one really knows what they are getting when they agree to live as one.
In addition, there seems to be a series of arson attempts on neighboring farms, which are now coming to rest at Shannon’s. Can they find the person who is causing the fires without getting hurt themselves? And can two really live as one?
I did enjoy the fact that Connealy throws the reader right into adventure without a lot of stuff beforehand. But I do think that there are a lot of allusions to “bedroom scenes,” which seemed a little inappropriate for a Christian fiction book. Connealy seems to go one step further in entering the bedroom than most Christian authors – albeit under the protection of marriage.
The ending is also a little abrupt and seems a bit simplified compared to the rest of the book.
I enjoyed reading this book, but I don’t think I will continue the series.
*This book was given to me by Bethany House in exchange for my honest review.
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