A Sweet Misfortune, by Maggie Brendan
Book 2 in the Virtues and Vices of the Old West series
Genre: Historical Romance
Rating: Three Hearts ♥♥♥
About:
Rachel Matthews is determined to make a living without help. Becoming a dance hall girl is one of the few jobs available during a time when women have few ways to earn a living. Her brother is concerned for her safety and sends his friend John McIntyre who is a local businessman and landowner to rescue her. She does not get along well with John. Does she want to be rescued? Will these unlikely two find a connection?
Description from www.christianbook.com
My Review:
First of all this is another book in which I've never read anything by this author before. Here's what I thought about it:
I liked the characters and thought that the author did a good job in slowly developing their characters and problems. Although I wasn't a big fan of John at all at first, you weren't supposed to agree with his feelings and thoughts, which were kind of selfish. I liked him later, though, and Rachel and John made a good couple. I enjoyed all the other minor characters as well, and think Ms. Brendan did a good job at giving each a different personality. The story line was excellent as well, and although (as with other books I've read) I couldn't get into it at first, I eventually did and found myself finishing the book much sooner than I'd thought. It was an entertaining read!
However, while A Sweet Misfortune was written well, I did think the text and descriptions tended to get a bit overly dramatic. Certain serious parts were hard to get into because of this. And a paragraph-long description of the main character (in detail) can be found a few chapters in, and I thought it got a little dramatic and very unsubtle in putting in a characters looks. That's just me, though- I prefer the author to subtly let you know what the character looks like, not obviously. Also with the writing, I thought that the text and who was talking were put in odd places, such as:
Sarah shook her head, glancing at Father. This was unexpected! "No, Peter. My daughter would rather you leave." (Sentence not from the book- I made it up as an example although there are sentences like that in the novel). This just tended to confuse me about who was talking, for in most other books I've read, the above sentence would indicate that Sarah was about to speak, not Father.
I thought the cover looked good, except that the model looked the exact opposite of what Rachel was supposed to look like. And there was even that big description of her that I mentioned earlier! She was supposed to have wheat-colored hair and golden eyes, whereas the cover depicts her with brown hair and blue-gray or green eyes. This isn't a big deal, but tends to bug me in all the books I've read when they do that.
Don't get me wrong- while A Sweet Misfortune has its faults, it was a good book and I enjoyed it. It had its good points- lovable characters, a good story line, trust in God, and happy endings.
Sorry if my thoughts sounded mixed-up and confused! Thanks for sticking with me and reading.
Note: I got this book free from Revell in exchange for doing a review. All opinions are my own.
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