(I do have issues with the ‘inspirational’ label, but this is not the time nor the place for that discussion.) such physical descriptions aren’t exactly normal in inspirational aka Christian fiction. She refers to him as Tall, Dark and Brooding, and feels a “delectable heat” when she’s close to him. Whether Lyndie acknowledges it or not, she’s half in love with Jake from the first time they met as adults. Now she’s back in Holley, Texas, looking for a job as an exercise rider, and gets a job working for Jake. Lyndie is an artist and rider, and Jake’s childhood best friend. He’s now back on the family ranch, and has carved out a successful career training Thoroughbred racehorses (which is capitalised consistently throughout the book, which seemed odd to me. He’s also lost his childhood Christian faith, unable to reconcile what he saw in Afghanistan with a loving God.

Jake is the tortured hero, still suffering from PTSD eight years after leaving the Marines, mostly because he refuses to get help. It has been a while, so I did the novel again and found it stood up well to rereading-although I’m not sure it would have made my list of the top five ‘Inspirational’ romance novels for 2015, which is what being a RITA finalist implies. It was good, but it takes a lot to get five stars out of me on Goodreads). I read and reviewed A Love Like Ours by Becky Wade when it was first released, and gave it five stars on my Amazon review (but only four on Goodreads. Will Jake ever be able to love Lyndie like she deserves, or is his heart too shattered to mend? A glimmer of the hope he’d thought he’d lost returns, but fears and regrets still plague him. Against Jake’s will, Lyndie’s sparkling, optimistic personality begins to tear down the walls he’s built around his heart. Though Jake and Lyndie have grown into very different adults, the bond that existed during their childhood still ties them together.

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.

Lyndie is tender-hearted, fiercely determined, and afraid of nothing, just like she was as a child. When Lyndie James, Jake’s childhood best friend, lands back in Holley, Texas, Jake cautiously hires her to exercise his Thoroughbreds. He struggles with symptoms of PTSD, lives a solitary life, and avoids relationships. Former Marine Jake Porter has far deeper scars than the one that marks his face.