It Had To Be You by Susan May Warren

Overview: Eden Christiansen never imagined her role as her younger brother Owen’s cheerleader would keep her on the sidelines of her own life. Sure, it feels good to be needed, but looking after the reckless NHL rookie leaves little time for Eden to focus on her own career. She dreamed of making a name for herself as a reporter, but is stuck writing obits—and starting to fear she doesn’t have the chops to land a major story. If only someone would step up to mentor Owen . . . but she knows better than to expect help from team veteran and bad-boy enforcer Jace Jacobsen.

Jace has built his career on the infamous reputation of his aggressive behavior—on and off the ice. Now at a crossroads about his future in hockey, that reputation has him trapped. And the guilt-trip he’s getting from Eden Christiansen isn’t making things any easier. But when Owen’s carelessness leads to a career-threatening injury and Eden stumbles upon a story that could be her big break, she and Jace are thrown together . . . and begin to wonder if they belong on the same team after all.

ISBN-13: 9781414378428 | Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers

Publication date: 1/17/2014 | Series: Christiansen Family Series, #2

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My Review: I'm so glad I picked up the Christiansen Family Series. Susan May Warren is an amazing writer. It takes skill to pack such emotionally charged characters into a story that is compelling and interesting. It Had to be You makes you examine your own life and the relationships in it. I was invested in Eden's story from page one, and couldn't wait to see how it would end.

I can relate a lot to Eden. There was a time in my life where I put my hopes, dreams, and future on hold to help my sister until I realized I was on the sidelines of my own life. That's why I like Eden so much. She is kind, caring, compassionate, fiery, and loyal. Jace Jacobsen comes off to me as a first class jerk in the beginning. Throughout the story, however, I learned to love him as a normal guy with normal issues hiding behind a tough exterior. For Eden, it had to be Jace who could help her realize her potential as a writer and reach into the recesses of her heart. For Jace, it had to be Eden who made him see that God loves him despite his faults or failures and break the tough-guy, bad boy barrier to see the real him.

The message of the story, as I learned in researching the book for review, is about letting go. Sometimes, the best way to help someone is to let them go. Let them make their own mistakes, so you can make yours. I think that's why God allows situations to come into our lives. If we let go of ourselves and stop trying to fix it on our own, then God can step in.

Overall, It Had to be You was the perfect addition to the Christiansen Family series and I'm super excited to start the next book. 

About the Author: Susan May Warren is the RITA award-winning novelist of over thirty novels. A five-time Christy award finalist, a two-time RITA Finalist, she’s also a multi-winner of the Inspirational Readers Choice award, and the ACFW Carol Award.

A seasoned women’s events speaker, she’s a popular writing teacher at conferences around the nation and the author of the beginning writer’s workbook: From the Inside-Out: discover, create and publish the novel in you!.

She is also the founder of www.MyBookTherapy.com, a story-crafting service that helps authors discover their voice. You can find her online atwww.susanmaywarren.com.

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