“Despite the complexities [of] this tale, Finding Faith reads like the honeymoon stage of a relationship. It’s filled with laughter, an idealized reality, and an endless craving for the story to continue. Luke’s and Mary’s love offers a temporary euphoria that shows romance is sometimes found where it is least expected.” –Publisher’s Weekly
★ Like mother, like daughter? Mary sure hopes not. ★
… daughter? Mary sure hopes not. ★
Two decades ago, Mary’s mom walked out. A few days later, her dad started drinking. He never stopped. Mary swore off alcohol. She also decided she’d never have kids, just in case she took after her parents.
A year ago, Mary’s boyfriend dumped her because she didn’t want to have any children.
Yesterday, for the first time in a year, Mary met someone. Someone hunky. Someone smart. Someone who made her goofy smile. Someone who sent a shiver up her spine.
Tomorrow she’s going on a first date.
She won’t find out he’s a widower with two kids for at least two more days. Can she overcome her fear and find the faith to trust someone else. . .and herself?
**Author’s Note: Titles are really hard! I struggled to find a good one for this book, and I’ve discovered that some readers think this book is Christian fiction. It’s free of bad language and adult content, but it’s not religious in nature. Make your choices accordingly.
Trade Reviews and Author Recommendations
“With an opening line that is both assertive and striking, the book begins with a strong narrator who claims her own story. As Mary tells her past, she becomes vulnerable with those in her life and her readers.
Baker’s dialogue has the capacity to reflect the diction of a thirty-year-old and a five-year-old, encompassing a wide range of perspectives. Amy’s and Chase’s imperfect sputters and continual deviance paint an authentic picture of children’s behavior.
The Christmas setting nearly typecasts this book with all the novelistic qualities of a Hallmark movie. The honeyed beginning and equally passionate ending provide a childish delight that kindles the spirit of a hopeless romantic.
Despite the complexities littered throughout this tale, Finding Faith reads like the honeymoon stage of a relationship. It’s filled with laughter, an idealized reality, and an endless craving for the story to continue. Luke’s and Mary’s love offers a temporary euphoria that shows romance is sometimes found where it is least expected.” Publisher’s Weekly
”Finding Faith is a heartwarming and brilliant story about love, loss, and learning what you really want.” USA Today Bestselling author, Elana Johnson
“A fun romance! I highly enjoyed it. Bridget knows how to tug at your heartstrings. A fantastic read!” NYT Bestselling Author, Victorine E. Lieske
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I laughed out loud so many times while reading this great story. Once again, Baker’s writing has captured the true essence of romance and brought it to life through Mary and Luke’s story. It wasn’t ever about the money, as the characters point out several times. It wasn’t even about the past, although that kept them locked into some bad habits. It was all about having faith that someone could love you just the way you are.
I wanted this story to just keep going. I felt like I was one of their friends, hanging around just for the fun of it all. If you’re looking for a wonderful story, with cute little kids who aren’t annoying in the least bit, then this is definitely the sweet and clean romance you need to start reading right now. I highly recommend this book and am off to read book two right now! Every Girl Needs a Luke In Her Life!
Bridget Baker has done it again, another well written story. Mary is a sworn career woman who doesn’t think she can be a good mother. She doesn’t want kids or so she thinks until she meets Luke and his two adorable kids. Will she change her mind?
I highly recommend.
Love
Mary decided that she couldn’t be a mom because she didn’t have a good example of one. She likes kids but worked hard and didn’t think she could do it right. Like is a single dad raising his two children alone and always traveling with them doing his job. When they meet my accident one night they have a bunch of hurdles to jump.
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Mary vowed never to have children, and Luke has two. He’s almost a billionaire, but lives in a travel trailer. Are they doomed from the start?
MY TAKE
I read this when it was titled Finding Santa and loved it then. When I saw it’d been retitled and made into an audiobook, I had to grab it. I loved it even more this time.
I loved Luke right away, and his kids are fun with a lot of personality. Mary really has issues from her childhood and refuses to be a mother because she says she won’t be placed in a situation where she has to choose her career that she loves over her family–she’s sure she’ll be terrible just like her own mother and won’t do that do kids.
Her character arc is enjoyable as she falls for Luke and his kids. The kids are adorable, especially Amy who decides she’s going to stay with Mary when Luke moves on to his next job because Amy is tired of living in a house with wheels.
I enjoyed that Luke didn’t live like an almost-billionaire. That didn’t even show up until the end of the book. And what a lovely ending it was.
The narrator Jennifer Jill Araya did a great job!
A holiday story that touches on several problems that families suffer from that seem to be worse at Christmas. We have Mary, single and determined to be a career woman and not a mother. Trudy, her sister that has married a loser that once they had a child he decided she is no longer “fun” and leaves her for a girl that was “fun”. Troy, the 3 year old little boy of Trudys that gets very sick. Luke, a widower with 2 small children. A charity called Sub-for-Santa where people get children’s names to give presents for Christmas. Foster, ex-boyfriend that had been dating a girl just a few months and is getting married as she has played her trump card to catch her a trust fund man. Paisley, who is the assistant of Mary that is also a best friend and constant advisor for Marys relationship issues. And a Christmas wish for a mom.
This story has more twist and turns than a peppermint stick on Christmas morning. Full of humor, sadness, lost, hurt feelings, and misunderstandings. There is also tremendous amount of love and joy that changes the lives of everyone. Sometimes what we think we want may not be what we need and what we need we may not know until we see it. A must read for the holiday season.
Single woman who doesn’t want children falls in love with widower with 2 children.
I really like this series. Very easy to read, and the characters are very likable.
I could not put this book down. It was amazing.
Enjoyed the characters and the book.
I just didn’t connect with the writing although the premise and characters are interesting.
A. Dry touching story.
Loved it!
Rather slow and hated the sudden stop for an ending!
This is a children’s book designed to be a relaxing before bedtime book. The artwork is nice although the presentation is not too creative. It’s kind of like here’s a picture here’s another picture. There is no storyline or characters or attempt to make it more appealing to children.
Love that I found this author through a free book offer from BookBub! This story is such a quick read as I got so wrapped up in the lives of Mary and Luke. Their banter was so fun to keep up with. It was a clean book with a great story and I’ve already started on book 2 in the series and bought the rest of the series.
Loved this story! I didn’t want to put it down!
I absolutely loved the author’s development of the characters–especially the children whom I just wanted to hug. But this delightful portrayal of characters was overwhelmed by a repetition of the problem stated on almost every page as though the reader couldn’t remember from page to page or to extend the number of pages in the book. Also the grammatical errors were atrocious. With grammar check on computers, it seems irresponsible for writers to allow such numerous, blatant errors to remain.
Wonderful summer read!
Author’s comment warned to be concerned about plot. I have been a research study participant twice and my bro-in-law was a long time heart transplant. I have never ever heard of participants having to pay $50k to participate in a study. As a researcher that would potentially bias the study results. I have been a Santa’s helper, adopting a family for Thanksgiving and/or Christmas several different years. I highly recommend doing it if you can afford to do it. But, every time I have done it the church I contact is doing it, no need for a separate UWay group.
Other than those two elements, I really liked the story. I really liked the struggles. Some timeline issues.
Bridget Baker is a new author to me. This can be a stand alone but is the 1st book in a series. This is a really good clean romance. I love the characters, Mary and Luke are wonderful and enjoyable. Mary’s last boyfriend left her because he wanted to start a family and Mary does not want to have kids. Mary then meets Luke and learns he is moving soon and also has 2 adorable kids. Mary doesn’t want to get involved for those reasons. This is enjoyable read and you will definitely want to read the rest of the series. Enjoy!