Talk of the Town by Lisa Wingate

This was a cute, feel-good book. I wasn't expecting a love story element, but there was one of those too. A bonus. :)

It's about a big city girl who visits small-town Texas in the course of her job and rediscovers herself and her values.

It's Christian fiction in the best way--with the principles well-integrated into the story and no heavy-handedness. The characters observe, experience, soul search, learn and alter. My favorite kind of book, actually.

From a cynical point of view, one might complain that the ending is just a bit too perfect. But I like happy endings, so I won't be making that complaint.

I liked how the narration in the book came from two different characters and how both of those characters made some personal discoveries over the course of the story. I enjoyed the age variation between the two--one was a new widow (whose reflections on her mourning I found touching), one an unmarried, hard-working 30-something.

Every story, I maintain, could not be possible without a miscommunication. I've perhaps said this before in book reviews. It is almost universally true. There is no conflict that is unconnected to miscommunication. But when those miscommunications are contrived or illogical (like The Silent Governess by Julie Klassen, which drove me nutty) the story feels frustrating and kicks the reader right out of belonging to it. This story wasn't like this. I felt drawn in almost from the beginning.

I liked being able to find myself in some of the introspective ideas that the main characters mulled over. I liked the little romance that one of our narrators had. I liked the town of Daily. I was glad that the idealism of the sweet little country singer was left intact. I appreciated the ideas of redemption and change that were illustrated in a few of the secondary characters. I liked that it was squeaky clean.

It was a sweet book that I really enjoyed.