In the style of the Mitford series, this was a Christian story (the first of a trilogy, I believe), focusing on the people of a small town, peppered with references to prayer and bathed in a feel-good glow. It is historical fiction, set in a canal town in mid-19th century New York.
I liked so many things about this book. I liked the small town, I liked our main character, I liked the very subtle romantic hints, I liked everyone we met in Candlewood. I liked how pleasant--uplifting even--it was and how clean it was.
But, I found the story a little bit thin on plot. It was really a series of events loosely tied together, with promises of an overarching theme (or two) to be completed in future books. I guess the main plot in this one book would be the troubles of the run-away widow that our main character, Emma, adopts into her household. A bigger conflict having to do with her ownership of her boarding house was introduced, but obviously will be resolved in later stories. The reader, meanwhile, has to suffer through constant fearful references to this complication without enjoying even a bit of resolution. That was kind of irritating.
All in all it was a pleasant book that gently engaged my attention for a few days and left me with no interest in reading further about Emma, her suitors or her boarders. Nice, but not addicting.
Sex: none
Bad language: none
No comments:
Post a Comment