I enjoyed Susan May Warren’s writing when I had snagged one of her novels. So when I encountered several others at the library I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for more magic. Tying the Knot did not disappoint.

This is not a new novel. It was published  ten years ago. The fact that it is an earlier work can be seen in the style of her writing. It’s still Susan’s voice, but it is not as layered as more recent offerings by this author and in some places a bit redundant. In spite of that, it was a delight to read.

Anne Lundstrom is running from her past as a former EMT as well as a pastor’s kid living in the inner  city of Minneapolis. Having suffered a near-fatal gunshot wound a year before she has purposefully taken an internship as a community nurse in a small northern town, Deep Haven (future Warren novels take place here).

The last thing she anticipated was that the man who sang a hymn to her in her darkest hour would be the tool that God uses to help her face her fears. Noah Standing Bear was there  that fateful day and  felt like he had failed that EMT as well as the boy who shot her. As a youth pastor struggling to reach young kids before the gangs did in the inner city, he has come to Deep Haven to run a camp that could help bring those kids to Christ. Unfortunately the one thing he needs to get his funding, is a nurse, and Anne has been assigned the job.

Misunderstandings, fears and attraction all complicate things in the woods as Anne and Noah flirt with the potential of a relationship. As truths become revealed, however, could they actually form a partnership.  Can Anne accept God’s gift of the same man who would in more ways than one, rescue her from her past?