If I Loved You Less

Austen in Austin #1.1

by Gina Welborn

The first novella in the Austen in Austin collection, based on Jane Austen's Emma

Hotel heiress Emmeline Travis knows true love. After all, thanks to her, her former governess is now happily married to the livery owner who works next to her father’s hotel. Austin banker Noah Whitley knows Emmeline. He has no qualms with insisting that his best friend’s matchmaking skills are more coincidence than reality. While Emmeline is determined to prove him wrong by matching her lovelorn protégé with someone besides the local beet farmer, Noah realizes telling her to do something is one thing. Stopping her is another. When Emmeline’s schemes implode and her own heart is broken, Noah knows confiding the depth of his feelings to her would be far easier . . . if he loved her less.

Genres: Fiction

85 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

Bestselling author Gina Welborn is a lifetime member of the National Corvette Museum. She is also graduate of the Ron Fellows Performance Driving School at Spring Mountain Motor Resort in Pahrump, Nevada, and she bought fabric (for her mother) at The Quilted Dragon. Should you not be a fan of the premier American Sports Car or of doing sewingy stuff with fabric, know Gina has actual writing credits.

Gina Welborn is the co-author of the new Montana Brides Series (Kensington Publishing). A longtime member of Romance Writers of America, she once served at president of the RWA-FHL chapter. Her manuscripts finaled in numerous contests, including the RWA Golden Heart© and ACFW Genesis. A few of her books are ECPA bestsellers. Gina currently serves on the ACFW Foundation Board, where she helps organize the silent auction which provides scholarships for ACFW members. Find more about her books at www.ginawelborn.com!

Reviews

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded to 4.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is from Volume 1 of the Austen in Austin Collection which contains the first 4 of 8 retellings of Jane Austen's books, set in Austin, Texas, in the 1880s. Each one is a sweet Christian romance written by a different author. But the authors must have talked when they put the collection together, because many of the characters between the different stories know each other. Also, many of the characters have a connection to a finishing school called Jeannette C. Austen Academy for Young Ladies.

If I Loved You Less by Gina Welborn is based on Emma. In spite of Noah's warnings, Emmeline is determined to match-make one of her friends, but things don't go as planned.

This story was the first in the collection. It was short, and it probably could have been done much better if it was longer, but this book was supposed to be a novella, and it was a very good novella. The story was clean, and the romance was very sweet and adorable. What I enjoyed most was the growing that Emmeline did as a character.

I received a complementary copy of this book from the publisher. I was not compensated to review it, and all opinions are entirely my own.