Religion Makes For Boring Chick Lit

And... Number 2! Don't know if I'll have time to finish this b/4 I get off the bus, or failing that, before Shabbos starts, followed by Shavuos, but I will do my best... and that's all that can be expected of me.  A fitting segue into the next on our list, another Robin Lee Hatcher.  Her best books were the ones written not as Christian romances.  I kind of like that short series from last year / two years ago... but this latest series, of which I now review the second (it's called... um... Where The Heart Is? I think? nope that's something else, this on is heart of gold)  is just too... Christian for me.  I mean, put in all the religion you want, but give us something else too!

Here, if there's something else (well there is) it's civil war politics.  Yeah, that doesn't exactly make me do jumping jacks either.  I mean it's not crazy tense of course, the war is far away in the east for the most part, but it doesn't make for a fun romp when the heroine is concerned for her beloved Virginia, and rightfully too.  And what else? What about the romance? Sigh... I'm not saying it wasn't there at all... but at one point I found myself getting a little excited about its potential... and even that potential didn't realize materialize.  It was one of those that just moved along with no angst, no tension, no fun.. just gradual realization on the part of each of their being in love, followed by an engagement (there was a short break-up, but that's the potential I mean didn't materialize, it was just kind of blah).

So overall, not much to recommend the book.  Pretty vanilla, nothing distasteful, but where's the fun? I just get no kicks out of following along with people's religious growth and whatnot, and there just wasn't much else accompanying it.  Oh well.

Verdict: 2.3/5

Going Through the Motions of Romance

Whoop! Moving right along - who's that other author whose constant strem of new books I continue to read, though they are sometimes less than crazy exciting? You can get it, I know you can... Okay, it's Robin Lee Hatcher, the queen of Christian romance herself - just counted and this will be my fifth review of one of her books - not bad, not bad for around a year and a half.  This one is, I think, a new series (or at least not the same one as the last few of her books I've read).  It's the usual - turn of the century small-town Idaho, gruff man meets sweet and faithful woman.  This was gruff widower meets schoolteacher, which I think she's done before (at least gruff widower meets governess).  I'm not sure why she finds this particular matchup so compelling, but I suppose it's as good as any.  Gives a girl a good reason to come out West, and gives a man a good reason (his kids) to get to know the pretty newcomer.

I think I've said everything there is to say about the plot of this book.  What about the more important elements, like the romance? Well it was there, I don't think there was anything I can complain about - no getting together too early or breaking up for stupid reasons.  But at the same time... it just wasn't.  The little heartaches, the breathless moments, the unexpected longing - they happened, but only because they had to.  I just felt like the book was moving along, progressing now and then, regressing now and then, but really biding time between the "real" moments.  And in this book, more than in any other RLH so far, I think, the reality was all about religion.  Well you know I don't have anything against religion per se - but I don't even want to read about it when it's my own and you can bet not when it's someone else's :)  The best Robin Lee Hatchers were those apparently adapted from the time before she was born-again.  It seems like the worst are those influenced most by her time since.  This book did have a little more substance than the Bethlehem Springs books, which I think allowed it to go on longer without seeming dragged out.   But it never really had a place to fall from - it just never got that exciting.  Not that it was that bad or anything, but maybe I need a *little* more than the bare bones of an RLH Idaho cowboy romance.

Verdict: 2.5/5

Man, Men Just Can't Write (chic lit)

After some delay, here's the third of those P&P books that I mentioned were on the agenda - Pemberley Ranch, by Jack Caldwell.  Jack, you say? Would that be Jack as in John, an undoubtedly male appellation? That's what I said too, which is why I was initially not really interested in this book.  It's a retelling of P&P, which I never object to, in the Old West, which is a familiar and well-enough beloved setting, but I approach all male-authored books with a deep sense of caution, if not one of suspicion (and with good reason, as there are at least two previous examples on this blog of men writing books the way men do... and that means not in a way I enjoy.  Anyway, I didn't really pay attention to the review on Austenprose, but then Sarah Sp. emailed me a link, and since she seemed interesting and the library had it, I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Laurel Ann on Austenprose had mentioned that this book is only *very* loosely based on P&P... I'd say it's loose to the point that P&P is more of an inspiration than a basis.  The characters have similar names... Beth Bennet, Will Darcy... and some of the same relationships (though not all... Colonel Fitzwilliam is Darcy's employee, not his cousin).  Their personalities... some follow as closely as is reasonable, while with others no attempt is even made.  As for the plot... well there was hate-at-first-sight , two proposals, and Darcy saves the day... but I have to say, that was about it.  My point is, this was *not* P&P... but who cares? It's not like it would have been P&P done right anyway.  The front cover had a quote saying it was P&P crosses Gone With the Wind... it does take place in the aftermath of the civil war, but I'm not sure how much they have in common other than that.  It was closer to Harvey Girls than to either of those two, I'd say, or to the Virginian.  It feels wrong to compare those classics in any way with this book, but hey, if it's P&P crosses anything...

So let me evaluate this book without reference to P&P, or GWtW, or whatever else... yes, it was stupid.  It's published by Sourcebooks, which seems to be the premier source for Austen paraliterature of all varieties of fluffiness and junk.  Huvi pointed out a few rather infelicitous phrases, but nothing I hadn't seen before... non-sequiters, overly dramatic flights of fancy... but I found it rather easy to ignore.  The truth is, I think I knew right away this book was going to be stupid, so I didn't bother investing.  It moved pretty slowly, but actually picked up speed whenever it veered from P&P, maybe because I didn't actually know the story already :) And the western drama was... western drama.  Guns, cowboys, and lots of blustery speech.  So... well, so male.

In the end of the day, that's what amused me most about this book.  How utterly male it was.  First of all, the women are totally less sympathetic than usual, more sappy and idiotic.  And the men are strong, wise and brave.  Oh and the guns.  A lot of threats and a fair smattering of violence too.  And then there's the male perspective of romance... really it almost takes all the fun out of it.  Just so much less subtle.  But you know, almost funny in a way, at least in this book.  When I first read the author blurb, I'm like who is this guy? What kind of guy writes a Jane Austen inspired novel? But after reading, my conclusion is that whatever inspiration Ms. Austen offered Jack Caldwell, it's not exactly what she intended or what we would necessarily expect.  And I guess it worked for him, because he certainly had fun with his fairly unrealistic but very faithful-to-form cowboy romp (is that word too sissy? sorry 'bout that, I reckon :)) It sure was funny to see Darcy in jeans and hear the uncouth syllables of Texas emanating from that silver-spooned filled mouth.

So yeah this book was dumb, don't get me wrong.  But I don't actually care, since I never thought it was going to be decent.  And I was of course, proud to be right was again... men just can't write books I want to read (except English comic writers, of course :))

Verdict: 2/5

Surprisingly, Junk Can Be Really Good

I think I mentioned that I had three P&P inspired books to read and review, meaning I've got one more left.  And though I haven't mentioned it yet, I acquired quite an exciting next-on-list on Thursday (more on that sometime soon, I promise :)).  And yet, neither of those two anticipated readings is tonight's topic.  Why? On Friday, I went to the library to pick up one of the many new books I put on reserve.  This one was Susan Elizabeth Phillips's latest.  Who's she? I'd say that of the authors whose books I read regularly, she's just about the... well trashiest, to put it bluntly (actually, there's one trashier, whom I have mentioned here previously... 10 points if you can find the post :)) She writes contemporary romance, pretty much chic lit, but without the urban setting or nasal twittering common to a lot of books answering to that genre.  But you know, we're talking stories that are unabashedly about two people getting together, without much else going on.  Nothing I'm complaining about, you understand, but anything that should make me drop everything and read? I wouldn't think so...

But on the train on the way home, I did not continue reading the P&P western (yup, no joke :)) I need to get through so I can get to the good stuff.  After reading the inside cover the new SEP, Call Me Irresistible, and noting that she uses characters from some of her other books, I remembered how much I love the dumb things... and I just couldn't put it down.  I started it on the train and on Friday night, instead of picking up either of the two books that were ahead of it on the line in my head... I let this one jump ahead.  And not only, I did *not* fall asleep three chapters in, like I often do on Friday night; I read the *entire* thing - straight.  So what gives? Am I that shallow? Well, yes.  Not that I didn't know it before, but clearly that is really all I care about in a book - good solid romance :).  But still... if there's anything this blog has taught me (wow, I learn from myself :)), it's that I actually do care about decent writing.  And as important as plot and characters are, I can't enjoy them if I'm disturbed by clumsy phrasing, by ridiculous and implausible speeches / behavior, or by a whole lot of irrelevant who knows what.  The point is, there are a lot things that make it hard to enjoy a really trashy book, even if the premise is everything I could ask for (not that it often is).  So clearly... that is not the case here! I can be snobby about Susan Elizabeth Phillips, but she knows her stuff.

Yes, in order to enjoy her books, you need to buy into whatever she's selling 100%.  Chava was flipping through the book last night, and she was like, I don't get it why does she like this guy... or some such thing.  And I was like Chava, whatever, just go with, clearly he's a good guy because that's the entire point of the book.  Just suspend your disbelief and enjoy.  Because seriously, these are books are really just here to entertain.  Almost everyone is perfect in their own way, except for the obligatory villain of course.  But everyone else is really nice and fun once you get to know them.  And everything works out for everyone too.  And it's never in doubt that it will.  And not only is it never in doubt for us, it's not really in doubt for them either.  I mean, there are moments... but even the most stressful ones don't really disturb the equilibrium.  The only thing that does... why all that wonderful angst of course.  So we've got no tension except romantic, A-OK there.  And very minor plot outside of our feature couple, A-OK again :)  In fact the only thing that wasn't 100% A-OK was that SEP usually puts plenty of male perspective in her books, and this one had almost none until towards the end.  I kept waiting for it, but I think she must have felt it wouldn't work in this one... so oh well, I have enough of an imagination to manage without it :)  Was totally fun in any case.

Here's my main point - or I guess my main question.  Am I crazy? Definitely not totally, since a lot of people love her books (I mean people on the websites I read of course :)) But is she really that good at what she does? Or was I just in the mood for good junk? Probably a little bit of both... but I guess the only way to find out is to read more in her genre... to which I say, no thanks.  The truth is, I have tried similar stuff and it's often pretty unreadable.  And come time to think of it, a lot of her oler books were pretty unreadable too.... or at least less readable than this.  Maybe she's getting better? Nah, I'd probably enjoy most of them just as much ;)  So I guess I do have pretty low standards.  So note to everyone reading this - do *not* pick this up from the library now.  Especially not on my say-so.  I think this one is really for me only... And if you do want to read it, call me first, and let's discuss :)

Verdict: 3.75/5

Third's Not So Charming This Time

I haven't posted in a while because the last book I finished (on Shabbos, naturally) was yet another Robin Lee Hatcher and I'm just very lazy to review it... I mean, come on, these books are pretty much all the same... This is the third and last of the "Bethlehem Spring" sisters, the first two of which I reviewed previously.  What those two had in common was that they were short, and therefore, mostly to the point and definitely somewhat sweet.  This one was is short as well, but I have to say it had even less substance than the other two.  I don't know if substance is the right word, but what I'm saying was I didn't feel like the romance was justified even in taking up as many pages as it did.  I think it was more the guy than anything else... well the guy and his relationship with the girl.  He's first of all not particularly likeable... he has a temper, he's kind of stupid at times, and he's far from infallible.  And while he likes Daphne from the start, it's mostly about her looks... and it never really goes farther.  I mean I'm okay with, yeah sure she's pretty, but wait... I'm in love with her, but this was more like, yeah she's pretty! she's really pretty! I like her! Actually, the conflict came mostly from his half-engagement to another woman, which was definitely a variation from the typical western Christian romance (at least as far as has come to my attention :)) but even that wasn't angsty so much as annoying.  I guess the best part was when Daphne was sick... man, I'm such a sucker for angst it's funny.  A good death scare... well okay, it might not be my favorite, but given a lack of any other good heart wringing, I'll take a snowy cabin and the Spanish influenza :) All in all, I read it fast, it wasn't torture, but really nothing whatsoever to speak of.

Verdict: 2.8/3
Food: nothing to speak of... like baked chicken often.  I mean broiled is always good (at least the way I make it :)) and baked chicken is sometimes great, but sometimes it's just something to eat... (I wonder how many times I've compared things to chicken... you can see how much chicken I eat :))

It's Always Nice To Get A Different Point of View ;)

A nice guessing game for you - I've mentioned the book I'm about to review on this blog before... too hard? I reviewed I think two previous books by this author... still don't know it? Here's the previous post.  So I didn't even have so much to say for that one - basically it was good because it was short.  I guess i have a little more to say about this, which is the first in the series - A Vote of Confidence.  Well a little more anyway...

So first of all, this one was fairly short as well, which was again a plus.  The romance builds up fairly steadily, not even much conflict, so you kind of wonder, where's it going to go? But the truth is, it doesn't really have to go anywhere at all because it basically takes almost the entire book for them to get together.  And that's despite the fact that there were no real obstacles.  I mean the couple are opposing candidates for mayor, but nobody cares much about that... and that popular figure of western christian romances everywhere, the reluctant male, isn't really in evidence.  If anything, Gwen is the more reluctant of the two to commit, but it never means very much when it's the woman who doesn't want to get married-  everyone knows women are fickle ;) So what was going on besides this fairly tame romance? You know how I always say with Christian romance, there never is much going on... not really the case here, I must say.  There was the election and besides that there was bad blood between Morgan (guy) and the county commissioner.  So yeah, all that took up space too - a lot of space, I was thinking as I read through it, slightly bored.  But now that I think about it, nothing there got too involved either.  Morgan basically withdrew from the election by about half way through the book, and Harrison Carter (commissioner) never really got anywhere with his dastardly schemes (sorry for spoiling).  

So nothing at all happened in this book? Is that what I'm saying? It didn't really feel like that when I was reading though... it had the blah blah parts about faith, self confidence, family and all that.  It had some pretty decent romance, with a hefty portion from Morgan's POV... oh *that's* what filled the book up! Everything happened from two perspectives.  How funny, that's really what it was.  Okay, well I'm not complaining - all I ever want is more from the guy's POV anyway :) And I never complain about lack of tension/danger/trouble. And like I said, yeah it was short.  Ended none too soon, as I lost patience the second Morgan proposed and Gwen accepted.  But it was lots of fun up till that point :)

Verdict: 2.99/5 (I can't give it a 3, it's an fairly mediocre book that I didn't really love and there are too many threes on here that I just liked better, but it's certainly not really in the 2 range)

Food: utterly ordinary, but mildly pleasing with all that... rold gold thin pretzel shaped pretzels - they're good (and right now they'd be such a treasure i'd like swoon) but really they're not the hugest treat in the universe...

Yes, Another One of Those

Next one's pretty boring... read yet another Robin Lee Hatcher (I think this is like the 4th or 5th Christian romance I'm reviewing here... what can I say, easy pickings).  So this was actually the second in the series... and I will be reading the first and third, which I think pretty much says everything I want to say.  It was your usual Robin Lee Hatcher, so not cringeworthy, easy reading, a few light references to G-d, but nothing that really gets in the way.  Characters likable enough... actually this one was kind of welcome change - Woody isn't quite as much of the brooding male type as I'm used to in these things.  Actually he's a lord - son of a duke! - but it's so out of place here, I didn't even care too much about it - it was almost annoying actually.  Of course, a marriage between a duke's son and a cowgirl really is completely implausible, so that makes the back-and-forth, what are we going to do, how are we going to be together a little less annoying than usual, because it's actually grounded in reality.  The way they solve it? well (spoiler) they stay in America, but it doesn't go much beyond that.  Doesn't bother too much with the details.  That's because this one is nice and short - which I think is the real reason the back and forth doesn't annoy me too much - there actually isn't too much of it.  I mean, often the issue with these books is they're completely dragged out - they fall in love too early and then other stuff has to be introduced so the story doesn't just end... but here I guess Robin Lee Hatcher said, why not just end it? And I agree, why not? I get exactly the same enjoyment out of the romance and I stop reading before I get bored with all the other stuff.  So good decision there :)

Verdict: 3/5 (I think that's my usual for Christian romance)
Food: same old, enjoyable enough... pretzels works I think - and I don't mean honey mustard, just the usual

Delivery As Expected

On my way to finally getting around to some quality reading, I got hijacked by yet another Christian romance.  This one was Karen Witemeyer's A Tailor Made Bride, and I found it sitting in my room when I got back from Australia.  Since Aliza had picked it up earlier and found it not unreadable, and I tend to be very lazy in my choice of fiction when I can be (as you know) I felt it was worth a read. 

The book is, I would say, almost a prototypical Christian romance.  If you recall, I've read a few others in this genre (actually 2 since I started this blog, and a Mormon one!) and what I said about those is that they substitute Christian blather for subplot.  Now this is pretty much true about my current read as well - but even more so.  Robin Lee Hatcher especially tends to just insert a few self doubting passages where the characters talk to G-d and then feel peace.   Here, the entire plot is really based on questions of religion, where the main guy is opposed to the main girl's occupation of dressmaker on the grounds that it promotes vanity.  Aliza used the word agenda to describe the religious overtones of this book, and while I don't know if I'd go so far, it was certainly a whole lot more present than in anything I've seen previously.

But even with all that, I must say this book was not badly written.  I mean, the plot and characterization were the usual you'd expect, which means not quite up to par, but there wasn't really any place where I was wincing at the writing.  And she did a great job of introducing romantic situations, whether quite plausible or not, which made the book quite fun.  So the book basically did its job - entertaining without being too annoying, as long as you can stomach all that other stuff. 

Verdict: 3/5
Food: well definitely something I'd enjoy, but not my first choice... but for what it is, pretty much as good as it can be... I guess I could say a good hot dog... I like them, but they're not a huge treat - plus they're full of nitrates, which is something I happily ignore, but that bothers a lot of other people - I like that :)

Sense Intrudes on a Lovely Fantasy

Did a bit of speed reading, so on to the second review of the weekend - finished last night actually, but my laptop was unavailable (knew it was essential to bring along :))  Anyway, review #2 goes to yet another Christian romance... I do seem to spend altogether too much time reading those, so I'm deeply sorry.  This one has the glorious title Anna Finch and the Hired Gun (by Kathleen Ybarbo) and apparently is such a Christian romance that Shifra Z. could tell what it was by looking at it... or was that Peryl? not sure, but either way... love that title, don't you? :) 

So I got it out because it was by the author of The Confidential Life of Ms. Eugenia Cooper, which turned out to be up there with Robin Hatcher in being an extremely readable Christian romance and I thought the author seemed promising.  As it turned out (should've guessed) this book is actually a sequel to the first one.  Which is always a little annoying with these kinds of books because 1) I kind of forgot the first book and then I feel like I'm missing some details - that wasn't a huge deal b/c most e/t is covered in this book and, more importantly, 2) the first heroine is obviously the favorite, and obviously the cool one so she's the prettiest and she marries the best guy... oh well :)

Anna Finch is pretty and her guy isn't bad either, so the book wasn't too bad on that front.  The writing wasn't bad, I mean we're talking pretty low standards here, but I didn't close the book in agony, so great going :) There was a lot of scenes between the two characters, and a lot from the guy's POV, so that aspect of chic lit romance was well covered.  Despite these promising signs, I can't give the book all the stars it might have had otherwise for a few reasons. 

1) I know I'm not usually the only to complain about this, but *plausibility*!!! a) Anna Finch is a society girl who decides to become a reporter.   She approaches the legendary Wyatt Earp at a chance meeting and he gives her his life story which she proceeds to publish no problem in the Denver Times, who then gives her a column, lickety split.  And then none other than Doc Holliday himself gives her an exclusive interview... you know plot has never been s/t I pay much attention to, but when the twisting is this blatant, I'm kind of forced to stop and say... this makes no sense! (of course, I'm also the one who got annoyed watching Finding Nemo last night (yes, we did :)) because fish don't have fatherly feelings toward their offspring... so maybe only certain types of implausibility bother me?
Anyway, in my book the even worse plausibility error was b) why her father hired a Pinkerton to look after her in the first place?! I mean as it turns out, she careens all over the state on her own, so she could use a bodyguard, but her father doesn't know about that and I *really* don't see how a bodyguard will help her get married... sorry, just don't.  I know it's fun though :) and I guess I'm wrong, I don't mind this inexplicable plot device nearly as much as the first, since it kind of makes the story ;)

2) So what was my second complaint? Oh yeah, the romance was just not that good - they kind of fall in together without much tension or back and forth or anything... I mean it's not like they get together in the beginning of the book, which would of course ruin everything... but it's almost like the romance takes a back seat to the rest of the story and even though they gradually become closer we don't see much of it or get to enjoy it (this is not strictly true, it's not that we don't see it happening, there's just no angst involved.  And you know what I say, angst=romance ;)) Well here it might be a case of bad writing interfering with the plot, because I think the book was entirely too abrupt, kind of skipping from scene to scene without time to revel in the good ones.  That contributed a lot I think to the feeling that there wasn't really much development.

So after all that, it was a *decent* romance,  and I did finish it.  And I'd read more of her books, because yes, my standards are that low :) So I can't really complain....

Verdict:going to do this the way I did Robin Lee Hatcher - for a Christian romance, 3.5/5  in general, 2.5/5 (that's on the low end, but 3 seems too high... 2.75/5)
Food: Well this was a food that doesn't even get that good at it's best, but this wasn't even at it's best.  Keeping with the bakery cake theme of Robin Lee Hatcher, this was like sheet cake.  Got all the ingredients, to my unrefined taste buds it's totally edible, but come on, it ain't Mama's Death by Chocolate chocolate cake :)

(One of) My Favorite Cookie Cutters

Having read a book for which I had a hard time even finding labels, I turned toward one that was so formulaic I'd be shocked if I it deviated from expectations.  That would be Robin Lee Hatcher's Wagered Heart.  She writes Christian romances about cowboys in Montana and religious young ladies.  But she's not bad at all.  And like I always say, in most chic lit, you need a subplot.  But in Christian romance, the religion is the subplot.  So as long as you can ignore the constant references to G-d, you basically get solid fun all along.  A lot of the times they are so badly written, I can't sit through them in any case.  But Robin Lee Hatcher is usually pretty decent.

This one was exactly like all her others, and more so.  When it started out I was like, wait a second, they seem like each other right away, where's the story? Then it turned in to a marriage of convenience variation, then her parents died so it turned into a triumph over adversity, and then the evil scheming other cowboy came into the forefront and it started reminding me very strong of The Harvey Girls.  But throughout, it was basically just "I love him but he doesn't love me" and vice versa.  And what more could I want? :) Okay, in all seriousness, I would definitely a enjoy a more substantial and less dragged out book more, but that's not what I read these for.  And whatever else you can say about it, this book delivers on expectations.

So verdict: for an Christian romance, 4.5/5.  In general... 3.5/5 - I seem to be getting more picky in my old age :)

As for food... well it was as good as it could be for what it was... so I'm going to go with bakery cake - it's definitely good, and I wouldn't say no to it, and I enjoy it, and it's a treat- but it just can't compare to the best of home made stuff - I don't refer to exceptions of course, just the general case :)

Dime Novel Theatrics Done... Well Enough, I Guess

Well, I've made progress... maybe not as much as I could have considering I just had two blissful days of yom tov, but I was (and still am) in cl, so I think I did as well as can be expected... anyway, I'm in middle of the Meg Cabot, so more on that anon, but I *finished* the Harvey Girls - so here goes...

Huvi didn't like it too much, so I think I was *slightly* prejudiced going on, though I know her taste does tend to differ from mine quite often... but anyway, the first thing I noticed was that I found the tone quite anachronistic - and if there's one thing I don't like in my historical fiction, it's anachronism.  It was so much anachronism of speech (though there was some of that) or anachronism of dress/lifestyle, it was more just the tone.   And I realized that Samuel Hopkins Adams, writing, I think, in the 1940's, did not see himself as at all a contemporary of the 1890's young westerners about which he wrote.  The general tone I picked up, at least in the beginning, was basically that of the dime novel he references more than once in the book - a view of the west as the wild place and the westerners as rather simple-minded and uncouth go-getters.  To some extent, I think, this was actually the case... but I found myself comparing the book's tone and setting with the Virginian, which is unquestionably accurate, given that Owen Wister traveled out west for years and the book is basically a collection of some of his experiences there (slightly romanticized of course :)).  Anyway, there can really be no comparison between the two, The Virginian being an American classic and The Harvey Girls more of a fun read which gained notoriety more through the movie adaption than anything else, I think.

So that being said, I mostly got over the somewhat uneven tone pretty quickly, and was able to enjoy the book for what it is.  First and foremost, I'd say, it's a western, with all the drama and violence, all the corrupt authorities, rough diamonds, and always on top heroes that implies - so it was fun, all the more so because, like all my favorite books, it didn't really get *too* tense - issues tended to get resolved pretty quickly - like when one of the waitresses got secretly married and pregnant, she wasn't summarily fired, but continued on until she wanted to quit.  And the evil judge never actually got elected governor (sorry to spoil :))

And there were three attractive girls, all with pretty good romances going on - quiet Deborah, with her reformed gambler, Hazel Biggs, with her earl in disguise (yes, L&Gs, you read that right :)) and Cricket/Alma, whose good nature and supreme competence reward her with a P&P-esque romance and one sat--is-fy-ing Mr. Darcy :)

so all was pretty well until... as Mia says of Mill on the Floss SOMEONE VERY IMPORTANT DIES! - okay, so it wasn't Cricket (which is basically who it is in MotF), it's Deborah (sorry to spoil again :)) but it does put a damper on the book - and I kind of felt it was out of nowhere... I guess Deborah and her guy, Ned Trent, were kind of the good guy sacrifices so that Hopkins Adams could kill off the judge, and not have the story come off as too improbable.. but I have faith that he could have come up with something else and not killed of one of the main three... definitely a mistake in my book.

That being said, it was surprising easy to get over (her romance was definitely the least important of the three, and she doesn't really seem to be going anyway herself) and the book finished off okay... but only okay, it was on a pretty serious note altogether.  There was an epilogue 50 years later, which was nice, but I always find those kind of depressing, because they remind me of how much time passes (Great Expectations syndrome is the term I have just coined). 

This review sounds like I have mostly complaints about the book, but that's really not the case- it's fun to read about the west, especially when the main characters are such awesome cowboys... and if it's not The Virginian... come on, nobody is ;).   And the romances weren't bad at all... and like I said, the book mostly kept a pretty light tone, so it wasn't too difficult to recover even from the darker ending than I expected.  Plus it wasn't like I was expecting an incredible book anyway.

So verdict... 3/5.  And I'd recommend reading, but with low expectations :)

Oh and I almost forgot! It was totally fascinating to read about the Harvey restaurants, especially after hearing the NPR piece - just a completely new and different experience - always worth it :) (well not always, but this one was :))

Directed Inquiry

Attn: abg (who shall not be further identified, do not worry)
If you are still wasting time, I heard a piece on NPR today about Fred Harvey's restaurants out west.  It said the waitresses were called Harvey Girls - was the book you recommended, The Harvey Girls about them? Because I totally want to read it - they sound awesome.  I looked for it a while ago but none of the libraries have it... should I buy a used copy?

Sorry this post is all business... if I manage to find the book, you will get a very long and fascinating review, I promise ("they are generally very long but whether they are always charming is not for me to judge determine") :) :) (I'm very sorry if that's not exactly accurate, it does not imply an disrespect of the source)

update....! I found it in the pratt library, my city library (don't know why I couldn't find it before, maybe I didn't look hard enough) but anyway, I will hopefully go tomorrow to pick it up - let me know if you weren't even talking about this book though :)

update II: no wonder I couldn't find this book anywhere... I just got the original 1942 edition out (it says 3rd printing so maybe not the very original but the only date in there is 1942)... where in the world did you find it, a (almost wrote your full name, but I erased it :))? (if you are reading this, which it seems you are not - don't worry, i forgive you :)) - anyway, i'm very excited to read it, the first sentence looks very exciting, and somewhat austenesque - "Well and romantically read young girls of the awakening Nineties were assured in the faith that, if they behaved with propriety and circumspection, a stranger would one day appear within the periphery of their lives, whereupon all would be magically changed".  A promising beginning, don't you think? I'll let you know if it lives up...