A Billion Reasons Why

A Billion Reasons Why
Kristin Billerbeck
299 pages
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Source: Won on Goodreads!
★★★★☆

The first chapter of A Billion Reasons Why finds our heroine, Katie, at work when suddenly her millionaire ex, Luc, shows up begging her to attend her brother's wedding to which she has already RSVP'd no.  Why does Luc want her to attend?  It seems he wants her to attend because the wedding is 1940's themed and Katie knows to how swing dance very well and his mother would approve of her on his arm as opposed to his other floozy LA girlfriends.  To be blunt, it absolutely appalled me that Luc wanted to use Katie.  Quite frankly, I began to worry that Katie would give in and allow herself to be used, but, thankfully, by the second chapter, she was defending herself pretty well.  Still, Luc is not a character I found myself liking in the beginning.  As the book wore on, his redeeming qualities came out and I didn't feel quite so resentful that Katie ended up agreeing to attend the wedding.

As the novel moves along it becomes obvious that Katie must make a choice - stay with her current boyfriend, who is safe and stable though not very romantic or passionate, or choose her ex, Luc, who is portrayed as a little bit dangerous, spontaneous and definitely passionate - not passionate in a sexual way, but passionate for life, for his work, and for Katie.  It's a traditional plot line in chick-lit novels, but this one had some interesting twists along the way.

There was an underlying and forced Christian theme that permeated throughout the novel, like so many Christian romance novels.  For example, Katie kept a "courtship diary" for herself and her boyfriend, Dex.  She also tried to explain to her roommate why her singing 1940s love ballads in a nightclub made her feel closer to God - something I couldn't quite wrap my head around.  Don't get me wrong, I'm a Lutheran and I have my own relationship with God, but I find these themes in Chick-Lit to be forced to a fault.

Aside from the forced theme and the all too convenient ending (I can't give it away!) I ended up really enjoying this book.  The writing style of the author is smooth and descriptive and I enjoyed the recent pop culture references she used, such as Glee and Kindle.  The story overall is very sweet and it was a light, enjoyable read.

ETA:  Though this book was given to me through a giveaway by the publisher, it has not affected my review.