Wedding Bell Blues is the first book in a new inspirational imprint by Avon and is the first in a series called The Piper Cove Chronicles. Nothing in Windsor’s book particularly grabbed me, making it a less than auspicious launch. That’s not to say that it was a bad story, but it wasn’t great either.

Alex Butler, a resident of Piper Cove, is a successful decorator whose life revolves around her faith, family, and career. Until, that is, her younger sister decides to get married and Alex and her mother plan the festivities. At one of the pre-wedding events, her sister asks Alex to be the maid of honor, while also telling her who the best man is to be – non other than Alex’s ex-husband, Josh Turner, who abandoned her without an explanation sixteen years earlier to make it big in the music industry.

Josh gained fame and wealth in the music world, but with the fame came drugs, alcohol, and groupies. After a near fatal accident leaves him unable to play his music anymore, he finds his way back to religion and home to a place he left sixteen years ago with no goodbyes and many mistakes. One of those mistakes was leaving his eighteen-year-old bride Alex.

Alex thinks that she can handle Josh’s reappearance in town, but she quickly learns that seeing him brings back all the old memories – good and bad. She is able to face Josh with the help of her close group of friends who have been close since high school. However, Josh’s reentry into her life isn’t her only problem. Through all her trials, she finds that God and Josh are where she finds her true strength to overcome.

Windsor’s story is sweetly romantic and Alex is a likable and sympathetic character. It took a while longer for me to warm up to Josh’s character since I felt as though he blamed Alex far more than he should for the breakup of their marriage. While he did try to make amends during the course of the story, he never groveled as much as I felt he should have. He did, after all, leave an eighteen-year-old without explanation.

The book simply didn’t have enough going for it to maintain my interest. Not only did I find Josh and his behavior lacking, the interwoven subplots didn’t create additional depth and richness to the story. And some of the secondary characters were too cliched.

While Wedding Bell Blues wasn’t bad, it might be one of those to wait for at the local library. I may be willing to give this series a second chance; the next installment follows Ellen, one of Alex’s friends. I’ll let you know if I do.