Hurricane Allie, a cute romantic novella by Rachel Hauck, seems to be a title that reveals a bit of a pun where the story is concerned. There is an actual hurricane named Allie, which appears in the book, and there is our female protagonist, Allie Seton, who turns into a bit of a furious hurricane herself when unexpected obstacles such as the genuine Hurricane Allie pop up and threaten to scuttle her wedding.
The story is set in Florida, which faces the seasonal threat of hurricanes. Allie and Kyle, her groom, wait with baited breath to find out whether the hurricane's path will bring it towards their location, or if it will head elsewhere, but no plans are made to postpone the wedding to a later date. On top of that, Kyle's architectural office is offered a big break; a firm in New York is interested in Kyle's designs for a development, and it wants Kyle to fly up to New York to represent his company. Unfortunately, this trip is to take place on the week before the wedding.
Disaster strikes and Hurricane Allie (the storm) becomes a very real threat in keeping the wedding from taking place. As people in Florida begin to take measures to take shelter or flee from its path, our heroine loses access to her dress, the caterers and the venue. Allie is confronted with the situation of letting go of the wedding that she had carefully planned for. In addition to losing the trappings of the wedding celebration, havoc in flight schedules results with grounded, redirected, and delayed flights. Will Kyle be able to fly back to Florida in time for the wedding?
The question that runs through the story is whether Allie simply wants the wedding of her dreams, or if she wants to be married to Kyle himself. He is determined to return to Florida by the date of the wedding, but will there be a wedding taking place at all?
I found it interesting to read of Allie's struggles in accepting the situation that was unfolding before her eyes. I could imagine how difficult it was for her to let go of all the hard work that she did in putting together her dream. I also could also feel her distress in trying to figure out whether she really wanted to get married or if she really wanted to marry Kyle. On Kyle's part, he is dying to know if Allie truly wants him, or just the wedding, since all he can hear from her is that they might lose the vendors and the venue because of Hurricane Allie.
I liked that the characters prayed. I also enjoyed reading about how one of the characters felt the pleasure of the Lord after a decision was made in accepting a gift from someone who wanted to help in this wedding disaster. The story reminded me of Proverbs 16:9 which says, "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." This was certainly the case for Allie Seton in Hurricane Allie.
