Average Girl Reads

Genre: Christian, prairie romance

On my TBR list?: no

Summary, from Goodreads:

Sixteen Civil War widows living in St. Louis respond to a series of meetings conducted by a land speculator who lures them west by promising "prime homesteads" in a "booming community." Unbeknownst to them, the speculator's true motive is to find an excuse to bring women to the fledging community of Plum Grove, Nebraska, in hopes they will accept marriage proposals shortly after their arrival!

Sparks fly when these unsuspecting widows meet the men who are waiting for them. These women are going to need all the courage and faith they can muster to survive these unwanted circumstances--especially when they begin to discover that none of them is exactly who she appears to be.

The fact that I read this book in its entirety in a single day is a testament to how engaging it is, especially since it wasn't even in large print! At first I thought that I would have trouble keeping up with all the characters, but the author does a good job of quickly winnowing down the list to a manageable number and I had no problem remembering who was who. Whitson's writing style managed to keep frontier life from sounding monotonous by showing the characters engaging in all different kinds of activities. She avoided the trap of describing one quilting bee or harvest supper after another -- passages that fill pages without pushing the plot forward. I didn't find myself skimming over long descriptive passages of the color of someone's dress, either. This novel was 300-odd pages of solid writing that kept me turning page after page until I finished it at 1:30a.

Although this book was published by Bethany House, it was a bit more earthy that other Christian romances I've read. Don't get me wrong -- it doesn't cross the line into vulgarity. However, there are a couple characters who make no secret about enjoying physical closeness with a man. For instance, when one character asks her mother what she would like, her mother responds thusly:

Now Mama is one of the most devout women in the book. This quote along with others shows that she is also a women who is vibrant and loving life. Whitson has created characters that are far from one-dimensional and it is refreshing to see.

Another thing that was different was how this book approached Christianity. My first exposure to Christian fiction was with the authors Lori Wick and Janette Oke, so I am accustomed to having a mini sermon coming out of one of the characters' mouths every few pages. The characters in this book all have more than a passing familiarity with the Bible but their faith is shown in a more matter-of-fact manner. There aren't long passages detailing church services, as you would find in a book by Wick or Lauraine Snelling. There is one character who turns directly to the Bible and finds guidance to turn his life around, but most of the characters change their ways and live by the principles of the Good Book without quoting it directly.

All in all, Stephanie Grace Whitson presented readers with a solid Christian romance and a quick read. I will definitely seek out more of her books.



View all my reviews

Genre: romance, novel+

On the TBR list?: yes, since Mar 2011

Book 2 of an ongoing series, Cypress Hollow Yarn

Summary, from Goodreads:

Lucy Harrison sells books by day and volunteers with the Cypress Hollow fire department by night. Her life is just the way she likes it—full, even-keeled, and smooth—until bad-boy ex-cop Owen Bancroft comes back to town. Lucy has always been fearless, never scared about diving in to help others. When it comes to risking her heart, however, she realizes she's absolutely terrified.

How to Knit a Heart Back Home has a different feel than Rachael Herron's first book in the series, How to Knit a Love Song. While the vibe of that book was more isolated and focused mainly on the hero and heroine, in this new book the presence of the entire town of Cypress Hollow is more strongly felt. Herron moves the action away from the fringes of Cypress Hollow and smack dab into the middle of town with all of its quirky residents. She introduces the readers to more of the townsfolk in a way that suggests we will be meeting them again in future books, although I could be wrong about that. Characters from the the first book did not figure prominently in this book, other than the almost otherworldly presence of the late Eliza Carpenter. She may be the one thing that ties the books together, moreso than any living character.

Who Lucy is going to end up with is a foregone conclusion, but Herron makes the journey to that ending a pleasure trip.

Why did I do this? Well, I was afraid if I turned on the computer to blog, I would get distracted and not get back to reading. Another thing that happens is that I get so caught up in getting my facts right (like date of publication) that I start looking them up and then my review ends up feeling disjointed. I know that successful writers say to avoid editing until after you finish writing the first draft, but it is difficult to avoid fact-checking when I'm typing my blog post right in the browser. The other day I was even considering writing my reviews in longhand first so I could keep the computer turned off.

Do you ever feel that technology makes it more difficult to write? What distracts you the most from updating your blog?