"Happily Ever Ashten" by Erynn Mangum

About this book:

  “Ashten Wadeley is ready for life to settle back down. She spends her school years teaching and her summers waitressing at her grandparents' diner to try and save up money for a down payment on a house and now, she's also helping her two best friends, Katie and Eliza, plan their weddings. She only has a few spare hours to sleep, much less do anything else. When Eliza starts to get the matchmaking bug, Ashten is anything but pleased, especially since Eliza is dead set on someone whom Ashten can barely tolerate. And then, Ashten's old boyfriend suddenly resurfaces, her past heartbreak is opened back up, and this new guy is hanging around more and more. Her first response is always to retreat, ignore and hope the problems go away on their own. Can God use the pain of the past for the good of the future? Will Ashten ever be able to completely forgive? And when love looks very different than she ever imagined, will she be willing to risk her heart for it?”


Series: Book #3 in the “Carrington Springs” series. Reviews of Book #1 Here! and Book #2 Here!


Spiritual Content- Scriptures are read, quoted, mentioned, & thought over; Bible reading & Devotionals; Church going & a sermon; Prayers & Blessings over food; Many talks about God, Bible verses, & confidence; Most ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; Mentions of God & Jesus; Mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, Bible studies, & Devotionals; Mentions of prayers & blessings over food; Mentions of churches, church going, sermons, songs, worship, & a pastor; Mentions of Christians & faiths; Mentions of blessings; A few mentions of people & events in the Bible; A couple mentions of praising God; A couple mentions of the rapture; A couple mentions of sins; A mention of a Biblical principle; A mention of a Christian radio station;

             *Note: A mention of a superstitions; A mention of the devil.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘duh’, a ‘holy cow’, an ‘idiot’, a ‘stupid’, a ‘what the heck’, three forms of ‘crap’, three ‘dumb’s, three ‘sheesh’s, and six ‘oh my gosh’s; Sarcasm & Eye rolling; Mentions of lies; A few mentions of what a nurse sees (blood, vomit, & anything coming out the back end of people); A few mentions of a (possible) murder & murderer; A few mentions of throwing up; A couple mentions of a (possible) car accident & a medically induced coma; A mention of domestic violence; A mention of (possible) being held hostage; A mention of heroin;

             *Note: Many mentions of singers, songs, movies, shows, actors/actresses, & fictional characters; Mentions of & going to Starbucks; Mentions of TV channels & shows (Hallmark, PBS, BBC, & HGTV); A few mentions of social media & Netflix; A couple mentions of a restaurant; A mention of Buzz Feed; A couple mentions of brand name shoes; A mention of Boy Scouts; A couple mentions of yoga; A mention of vampire.

Sexual Content- an almost kiss and a not-detailed kiss; Seeing a couple give kisses (not-detailed); Noticing (only noticing cuteness); Blushes; A couple Touches (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of boyfriends, dating, & dates; A few mentions of kissing & an almost kiss; A few mentions of cheek kisses & blushes; A couple mentions of flirting; Some love, falling in love, & the emotions;

             *Note: A few mentions of labor pains & a show featuring midwifes; A few mentions of menopause; A couple mentions of flashing everyone when climbing into a car; A couple mentions of sitting on a tush all day; A mention of a person’s buns (play on the words for yeast rolls).

-Ashten Wadeley, age 31
                                1^st person P.O.V. of Ashten
                                                        325 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

I’ve known since reading the first book that I would be sad to finish this trilogy. That’s probably why I’ve stretched out reading the other two books for so long.

While not my favorite of the trilogy, I did like Ashten and found myself nodding along at some of her quirks and thoughts. (Pretty sure I’m directly related to Eliza, though.) I was enjoying this novel until the epilogue where I started sniffling. This is such a wonderful series!  

Great Spiritual content per usual and I loved Ashten’s connection with her grandparents. The main Scripture discussed in this novel is one I love so those parts meant a lot to me. I did miss some of the movie and TV show references and since it took a while for me to warm up to Mike, the rating isn’t as high as the previous books in the trilogy.

See y’all on Wednesday with a new review!

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.