A Love Like Ours By Becky Wade

Former Marine Jake Porter has far deeper scars than the one that marks his face. He struggles with symptoms of PTSD, lives a solitary life, and avoids relationships. 

When Lyndie James, Jake's childhood best friend, lands back in Holley, Texas, Jake cautiously hires her to exercise his Thoroughbreds. Lyndie is tender-hearted, fiercely determined, and afraid of nothing, just like she was as a child. Jake pairs her with Silver Leaf, a horse full of promise but lacking in results, hoping she can solve the mystery of the stallion's reluctance to run. 

Though Jake and Lyndie have grown into very different adults, the bond that existed during their childhood still ties them together. Against Jake's will, Lyndie's sparkling, optimistic personality begins to tear down the walls he's built around his heart. A glimmer of the hope he'd thought he'd lost returns, but fears and regrets still plague him. Will Jake ever be able to love Lyndie like she deserves, or is his heart too shattered to mend? 

My take:

This is the first of Becky Wades books that I've read. It's the third book in the series the Porter family novels. Even though it was the third book it wasn't confusing. 

What I liked:

- The setting: i've always loved horses and horse racing so I loved the storys setting.

- The complex characters. I like that Becky Wade didn't treat PTSD as an "easy fix" where Jake finds love and suddenly has no issues. I also really liked Lyndie. 

What I didn't like: 

Ty is described in this book and  throughout the series as very good-looking. However, in this book, he is married. Yet, Lyndie's friend gets flustered around him because he's so hot and comments/notices his good looks a few too many times. It thought it had an uncomfortable feel to it. 

Missionary dating:

Lyndie starts dating Jake fully aware of the fact that he's not a Christian/committed to the things of God. And then prays that she won't fall in love with him! Well, for 1 that's not logical and 2, does that mean that it would be okay for him to fall in love with her!? This bothered me so much that I put the book down for a while. I finally did pick it up again just to see if it would have a good ending. Thankfully it did. 

Overall this was an okay book. I won't go out of my way to read the rest of the books in the series but if I happen to stumble across one I might read it.