Restoration

Thank you Lynn Austin for restoring my belief that Christian fiction can be quality. Your book, A Proper Pursuit, was actually well-written, interesting and told a good story. How refreshing.

Perhaps I'm being a bit dramatic but I haven't had much luck lately in finding a Christian novel that I like. Either the characters are all "oooh, God doesn't love me" (okay, yes, He does! Read the Bible--He loves you beyond fathoming.) or the book isn't well-written. So...I've been a bit discouraged of finding a Christian novel that wasn't pure cheese or just crap. This is why Lynn Austin has made me happy!

The story centers on the World Fair in Chicago in 1893. Violet Hayes, who has been sheltered and brought up a proper lady, finds her world rocked when her father announces his engagement to a stuffy older woman. Then Violet learns her mother isn't dead--her parents are just divorced.

Violet finagles her way to Chicago, where she learns her mother is living. She lives her grandmother and her great-aunts, all of whom have plans of their own for Violet's future. Each woman has a different man in mind for Violet, but Violet eventually learns what love really is and that true love is found in God.

The story was decently paced and interesting. Violet was a likeable, funny character. Nonchristians won't find this book overbearing in the least either, which is perhaps why I liked it. The book is Violet's story of a summer that changed her forever.

Rating: 9/10