On one side of the street in Coventry, Texas, J.T. Tucker owns and runs a livery. On the other side of the street, seamstress Hannah Richards arrives to fulfill her dream of owning a dress shop.

Right from the get-go, Hannah has a strike against her as far as J.T. is concerned. Her shop is in the building he planned to buy for a widow and her young children. After all, J.T. is not simply a man of faith, he’s a man who lives his faith through helping others. Which is why when he discovers Hannah is a dressmaker, he resolves to have nothing to do with her. As far as he’s concerned, her frivolous creations don’t help women, they encourage vanity and fuel temptation. The absolute last thing he wants is to be attracted to the pretty little dressmaker—but lately what J.T. wants doesn’t seem to matter.

Hannah can’t understand J.T.’s grumpy, arrogant, opinionated behavior anymore than she can fathom why she is so undeniably attracted to the man. He won’t even agree that the beauty she treasures has as much value as the practicality he prizes. He doesn’t seem to realize that beauty, for her, extends beyond fabrics, ribbons, and lace to the world around her and the people in her new-found community. While she strives to make her business a success, she discovers unexpected ways to share her talent and help others. She also discovers she’s falling in love with J.T.—an unhappy discovery because she is convinced he can never love her in return.

All of which adds up to a romance that kept me wondering how and when—and sometimes if—Hannah and J.T. would ever find common ground.

In A Tailor-Made Bride, Karen Witemeyer presents a well-paced story of evolving insight, loving acceptance, and a humor that takes the reader from knowing chuckles to out-and-out laughter. The endearing heroine and hero engage in a classic attraction-aggravation conflict. When J.T. accepts Hannah’s challenge to match her accomplishments in her daily calisthenics workout, the scene is a witty “anything you can do, I can do better.”

Plots interweave, such as when Hannah agrees to help J.T.’s younger sister Cordelia catch the eye of the man she loves. Cordelia achieves her potential physically in part by shedding extra weight. J.T. ultimately achieves his potential emotionally by freeing himself from the weight of the past.

Subtle placement of historical accuracy anchors the story in the1880s. The action scenes, one of which is a vivid flash flood, have a page-turning sense of immediacy. And the secondary characters round out a believable, diverse, community.

I enjoyed visiting Coventry, Texas, and getting to know Hannah and J.T. I think you will, too.