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A June Bride
A June Bride
A June Bride
Ebook105 pages1 hour

A June Bride

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

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The reality show ended with an engagement, so why doesn’t this feel like the fairy tale she thought it would be?

The Rejection Connection hardly sounds like the place to fall in love, but Wynne Hardy walked off the reality-TV set with an engagement ring. And in the whirlwind of publicity and preparation that follows a TV-bride-to-be in her fifteen minutes of fame, Wynne barely has time to consider how she really feels about her new fiancé . . . to say nothing of how she still feels about her ex.

As the wedding plans develop, so too do Wynne’s doubts: Is she in love with Andy? Or is this really about Callum—the ex-boyfriend who sent her onto Rejection Connection in the first place? A nationally televised snub might be the best revenge . . . but is it a good reason to get married?

When Callum resurfaces at the worst possible moment, Wynne can’t help wondering if she’s made a huge mistake. Is her marriage a publicity stunt? And what happens when the cameras stop rolling, and she has a husband she barely knows?

LanguageEnglish
PublisherZondervan
Release dateMay 27, 2014
ISBN9780310339137
Author

Marybeth Mayhew Whalen

Marybeth Mayhew Whalen is the author of the forthcoming novel Every Moment Since (out fall of 2024) and nine previous novels. Marybeth received a BA degree in English with a concentration in Writing and Editing from NC State University a long time ago and has been writing ever since. She is the co-founder of The Book Tide, an online community of readers where "a rising tide raises all books." Marybeth and her husband Curt are the parents of six children, with only one left at home. A native of Charlotte, NC, Marybeth now calls Sunset Beach, NC home. Visit her online at: https://linktr.ee/Marybethwhalen  

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Rating: 3.10000002 out of 5 stars
3/5

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Disappointing, especially the ending.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A sweet romance about a woman who is swept up in a reality TV show after a heart wrenching break up with her fiance. The story takes us on a journey of self analysis and self doubt and finally self awareness. Entertaining read.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    June BrideMarybeth WhalenBook Summary: Wynne Hardy never thought she'd get engaged on a reality TV show., but when she met Andy on The Rejection Connection, the two of them hit it off. Now he's asked her to marry him, much to the public's delight and fascination. They're all set to wed on live TV in a seaside ceremony at the height of the wedding season.But just as Wynne thinks all her dreams are coming true, her ex-boyfriend walks back into her life at the worst possible time. Steve broke her heart years ago, and she's still sorting through her feelings for him. Her heart isn't as clear as her head that it's past time to move on - even though she's engaged to Andy.At a local TV talk show appearance, Wynne meets Meredith, who won another reality TV show - Marathon Mom - proving herself nothing of a superhero. As Wynne's beach wedding plans spin out of control, Meredith offers to help, unknowingly stepping on Wynne's secret feelings . . and exposing some secrets Meredith has been keeping to herself. Can these two reality stars get real about their feelings? Will Wynne go through with her televised wedding and be the perfect June bride the network is looking for?Review: The story premise was solid. The characters not so clear or concise. I did not like Meredith or Andy. I did not feel much excitement for Wynne or Callum. I kept waiting for the story to pick up and before it ever did it ended. That is what bothered me the most. It had and ultra women’s lib mentality at the end. No one can not find themselves in a man by also being a couple is part of a man or woman’s identity when they are married. So there is this relationship that every woman searches for that will connect her to that man who is hers. It is as deep a mystery as our relationship in Christ. too difficult to explain and yet everyone yearns for something more…. That is what I did not find in this story. Christ is the greatest love story but when the characters are no longer seeking that with the other person than for me it is not a favorite.

Book preview

A June Bride - Marybeth Mayhew Whalen

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to the other authors of A Year of Weddings. I’m honored to be counted among you.

FEBRUARY 14, 2009

She stands on the veranda overlooking a beautiful outdoor complex featuring infinity pools, cushy lounge chairs, waterfalls cascading into unnaturally blue water, and swim-up refreshment areas. The place has been cleared of onlookers and lit with an abundance of tiki torches, the smoke dancing in the air above them. Beyond the pool area, the ocean crashes in and recedes. She draws a breath and holds it for a moment, steadying herself, centering her thoughts on this moment, and not others. All around her the crew works steadily and stealthily. Pretend we’re not here, they say. And yet each time someone arranges a stray hair or puffs her nose with powder, their presence is undeniable. She hears one of the crew make a remark and another crew member laugh. She can’t help but suspect they are joking about what is about to happen, taking bets over who she will choose.

She has wondered the same thing herself.

In a moment the group of men will come in dressed in tuxes, each one more handsome than the last. They will face her with looks of expectation, their skin shining with bronze toner that has been applied to them like it has been applied to her. Their teeth will appear even whiter against the dark night. Their hope will be evident for all—especially the millions of viewers—to see. They want to be picked. By her. This fact is still unreal. And that is when the thought she has been banishing creeps in.

In remembering the girl she used to be, she remembers the boy that girl went with. She sees his face, sans bronze toner, void of bleached teeth. She thinks of his lopsided grin, his cocky demeanor that has nothing to do with cameras and demographics and ratings. His was born of an inner knowing, a confidence. And when she was with him, that confidence rubbed off on her. Her heart clenches at the thought of him watching this. Would he? Did she want him to?

We’re about to bring the guys in and go live, Wynne. You ready? the producer, Donna, asks, her voice soft and even.

She nods and watches as the men file in, looking exactly as she suspected. She grips the oversized gold key they gave her, the one she is supposed to hand to the guy she has chosen. She sees him come in, third from the last, and tries not to let anything register on her face that might give it away to the viewers. She grips the key harder, the ridges pressing into her flesh. It is, as they’ve touted on national television for weeks, the key to her heart. And yet, as she surveys the group of men—men she’s learned to surf with and climbed mountains with, walked hand in hand with and, yes, even kissed over the last few whirlwind weeks—she doesn’t see the one face she wants most to see. The lopsided grin is missing, his teeth crooked and off-white from a serious sweet tea habit. She wants that smile to be the smile she sees at this moment.

She still wants to give the key to her heart to the one person who no longer wants it at all. She scans the faces once more, but the one she longs to see isn’t there.

1

3 MONTHS LATER

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to a very special edition of Charlotte Live! We have got such a treat in store for you. An exclusive! You are not going to believe who we have live and in person in our studio today! Some local girls who’ve achieved national fame!" Karen Dodd, the bubbly, down-home southern host of Charlotte Live, arranged her face in what Wynne guessed was supposed to be a look of surprise. Wynne thought it came out more like a look of gastric distress. She tamped down the urge to laugh and tried to remember she was about to have the cameras turned on her.

She was grateful she didn’t have Karen Dodd’s job, with cameras on her every day at precisely 11:30, just before the noon news. She’d had her fill of cameras for the rest of her life. Unfortunately, the cameras weren’t quite through with her yet. She just had The Wedding to get through and then they would go away, their rabid attention aimed at some other poor, unsuspecting innocent who foolishly believed all of this would be fun. She twisted the diamond around on her left hand, thinking of Andy, counting down the days until she said I do. After the cameras went away, she could focus on married life, catch her breath as she set up housekeeping with this man she had chosen.

Finished with her opening monologue, Karen turned her attention to the woman sitting beside Wynne. Wynne had met her briefly that morning in the green room, such as it was. (The room was actually a bland beige with two folding chairs and a pot of coffee that looked and smelled like it had been made first thing that morning and left to char for hours.) Stuck in the tiny room with Meredith, it had taken Wynne all of two seconds to surmise that the two of them had little in common beyond their hometown and reality TV show success.

Now Meredith Welsh seemed to hum with a barely suppressed compulsion to leap into action. Her eyes danced, her face beamed as she soaked up Karen’s long introduction of her and all her accomplishments. Photos flashed of Meredith in all her many forms—wife, mom, activist, athlete, adrenaline junkie and, most recently, reality TV star. As the camera turned on her, Meredith leaned into it, her smile widening as Karen introduced her as the current winner of the popular reality TV show, Marathon Mom. On the show, uber-moms completed superhuman tasks in order to be crowned the Marathon Mom.

Meredith had used, Wynne assumed, the same bleaching procedure on her teeth as those guys who courted her. Wynne wanted to shield her eyes from the brightness. Instead she tucked her hands under her knees as Karen turned her attention to her and launched into her intro. She felt the familiar redness creep across her cheeks as they played the tired old audition video that had become a viral hit and earned her a spot on The Rejection Connection, a dating show that paired recently dumped women with a host of eligible bachelors. Wynne’s video had featured her honest, heartfelt tale of her recent breakup with her high school sweetheart and fiancé. She’d been a little too vulnerable, a little too open in that video, using the camera her best friend Picky aimed at her as a sort of confessional. In a spectacularly weak moment, she’d let Picky enter it to be considered. No one had been more surprised than she when the video struck a chord with women everywhere, their own tears mingling with her cyber ones. Her most embarrassing moment was captured forever, then celebrated as she not only got picked for the show, but then went on to have, as the promos for the show had said, A second chance at love.

In truth, no matter what it had earned her, Wynne still wished she could find that video and burn every form of it, eradicating it. It never got easy to see her heartbreak splashed across the screen, never became passé to see herself spilling her guts and wiping her nose. Because the truth was, in spite of the fame and perks and second chance at love, that hurting girl now sobbing openly on the screen

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