Christian Contemporary Romance Review

May 5, 2025July 1, 2025 Eliza Noel2 Comments

The Cul-de-Sac War by Melissa Ferguson was such a sweet and clean Christian contemporary romance novel. Like The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley, it made me laugh out loud several times. I just found this one on a shelf at the library, but I’ll definitely be reading more of Melissa Fergusons books in the future!

Audience

Women. I’d say it’s appropriate for older teenagers and up. Nothing inappropriate, just the fact that it is a romance would make me lean towards older.

Genre

Christian Contemporary Romance

Author

Melissa Ferguson

Bree Leake has spent her adult life jumping from job to job. When one doesn’t work, she just tries a new one. Her latest venture is being an actress in one of the oldest theaters. One of the few steady things in her life has been her Nana’s house and all the memories it holds. Her dream is to own it one day. Over dinner one night, her parents offer it to her, with one condition. One very big condition. She has to hold down the same job for a full year. This is complicated by the fact that the theater she works at has decided to switch to musicals (Bree can’t dance) and they’re going to have to cut back on the amount of actors they employ. To make matters worse, Bree has a new neighbor with a ferocious dog. Handsome Chip Mcbride has been on her nerves since the moment he moved in next door. What would any mature young woman do in a situation like this? Declare a prank war of course!

A few of my favorite things…

The pranks. Hilarious! Kept me laughing all throughout. My favorite was when Bree put up trees to block Chip’s view of the Appalachian mountains.
Russel, the dog who appears ferocious to Bree, but is really quite sweet.
Seeing Chip’s deep side come out as he talks about grief and points towards an eternal perspective to help deal with hard things now.

I didn’t care for…

The fact that Bree and Chip were each seeing other people as they fell for each other. In real life, I don’t think this would turn out so well and it definitely wouldn’t be kind for them to treat the people they’re dating this way.

Know that…

There’s a brief mention of a man (not Chip) touching Bree inappropriately.
A child in the book has cancer.
It is a romance so there’s attraction (Bree noticing Chip’s muscles) and kissing, but nothing inappropriate.

Perfect for…

Any woman looking for a light, happy, cute and clean Christian contemporary romance!

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The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh//Christian Contemporary Review

April 21, 2025July 1, 2025 Eliza Noel5 Comments

The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh is the cutest clean Christian contemporary novel. I bought it with a Barnes and Noble gift card knowing nothing about it. I’m so glad I did! It had me laughing and crying and smiling. I often couldn’t put it down! It reminded me a little bit of “A Man Called Otto” since it’s also about a lonely person finding friends. I’ll definitely be reading more of Courtney Walsh’s cute contemporary romances in the future!

Audience

Women. I’d say it’s appropriate for older teenagers and up.

Genre

Contemporary Fiction

Author

Courtney Walsh

On Isadora Bentley’s 30^th birthday she realizes how unhappy and alone she is. She decides to conduct a research project on happiness. For research she follows a list of “things to make you happy” found in a magazine. She’s determined to prove those things don’t actually work, but some small part of her hopes they will. As she pushes past her comfort zone by smiling at a stranger, attending a workout class, and many other things she collects a group of friends. Her first ever group of friends that truly loves her and cares about her. Getting to know them helps her unpack baggage from having a mother who was never pleased and a boyfriend who only used her for her research skills.

A few of my favorite things…

The whole idea of basically having a bucket list of things to do and seeing if they can bring happiness. In a roundabout way they do, because doing the things brings friends into Isadora’s life.
Isadora’s inner voice. Her inner voice sounds like a narrator from Animal Planet and made me laugh many times.
Darby, the chaotic mother of 4 who lives across the hall from hermit Isadora and quickly becomes her best friend.
Delilah, Darby’s daughter who’s just a little girl with an old soul.
Marty, the old man Isadora meets in the park. I teared up every time he talked about his dear wife who had passed.
Dr. Cal Baxter’s sweet welcoming family.

Know that…

There are mentions of a previous bad relationship.
Isadora thinks a character is really attractive and sometimes thinks about kissing him.
…and there’s kissing.

Bottom line- it’s a clean contemporary romance. I appreciated how the focus wasn’t solely on the romance, but on friendships and pushing past fears as well. It definitely could have gone deeper if faith aspects had been weaved in, but I’m just happy to find a clean book that made me laugh!