There’s always a slight twinge inside with a friend asks you to read and review her debut novel, but I have absolutely no reservations in recommending Beth K. Vogt’s, Wish You Were Here. Capturing my attention on the first page, this quick read kept me engaged to the end.

I instantly cared about the main characters, Allie and Daniel, and cheered them on as they faced a sticky situation to dig deeper into what was simmering beneath the surface.

Though the story had humor and great romantic tension, it wasn’t cheesy. Readers are invited into a journey of a young woman discovering herself, and a young man facing owning up to who he already is. As Allie and Daniel wrestle with the obstacles they face inside and out, their journey connects with real life experience, but still offers readers the happy ending we crave.

This is one of those pure fun kind of books, but even though the reading is light and moves well, it doesn’t sacrifice take-away value. The novel releases May 1st from Howard Publishing, and is available in both paperback and Kindle versions. Here’s the tag line: “Kissing the wrong guy days before her scheduled wedding leads Allison to become a runaway bride. But can it also lead to happily every after?”

A little about my friend, Beth. I met her eleven years ago at a one-day writing seminar. We hit it off immediately and decided to room together at my first ever writing conference, the Colorado Christian Writer’s Conference in Estes Park.

Beth and I quickly went deep, sharing hearts and stories. She was a non-fiction writer and, like the newbie I was, I showed up at the conference with ream of paper containing all 100,000 words of my first novel. She remembers that I also took pretty china and tea cups to give us something beautiful to escape to when the nerves became too much. I remember filling our little room with colored note-cards, full of Bible verses and my favorite sayings to help me get over that overwhelming fear of admitting I was a writer and showing my work for the first time. It wasn’t too long after that conference that Beth published her first non-fiction book, but thankfully she’s been convinced to come to the “dark side” and enter the make-believe world of the fiction writer. Below is her official bio:

Novelist Beth K. Vogt is a nonfiction author and editor who said she’d never write fiction. She’s the wife of an Air Force physician (now in solo practice) who said she’d never marry a doctor — or anyone in the military. She’s a mom of four who said she’d never have kids. She’s discovered that God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “Never.” Beth writes inspirational contemporary romance because she believes there’s more to the happily ever after than the fairy tales tell us. She lives in Colorado with her husband and their 10-year-old “caboose kiddo.” She and her husband enjoy any time their adult children come by for game nights, BBQs or just to hang out.