Monday 16 February 2015

Review: Caught in the Middle by Regina Jennings

It has been a couple of weeks since I've looked at Regina Jennings, Caught in the Middle, so my recall of the book may be a bit spotty.  It's the story of Anne Tillerton, a widow who is eking out a living as a buffalo hunter, and Nick Lovelace, a businessman whose company is connected to building and constructing railway lines.  You might say that this novel has a bit of a reverse plot of Beauty and the Beast, where the beast is a rough-and-tumble female who doesn't do dresses and can shoot with a gun better than many of the males surrounding her.   Nick is the polished society figure. Although he is acquainted with hard back breaking work connected with railway construction, he has assumed more responsibilities in running the company from an office, which now requires him to dress in a suit these days.  Anne and Nick go way back; Nick's sister used to be friends with Anne, and he knows about the unfortunate history that led to Anne's widowhood. 

The pair meet up again when the train that they are travelling on get held up by bandits, and Anne saves Nick's life with her sharp shooting skills.  To show his gratitude, and also because he feels an obligation to an old family acquaintance, Nick offers his help to Anne, should she need it while she is in town.  Anne doesn't really aim to collect on this favour until she finds herself becoming an unwilling foster mother to a baby who had been abandoned by his mother.  Because of her own personal past, she cannot allow the baby to be uncared for, so while she tries to track down the father of the child, she accepts Nick's aid in childcare arrangements, and his provision of temporary work in his office so that she can earn money.  It is difficult for Anne to receive help; her life experiences have left her ill equipped to trust people and she definitely has difficulty in trusting God. 

At first, Nick finds it alarming to be obligated to assist Anne because he fears what the rest of society will think about Anne's appearance and the nature of their relationship, which at this point, is that of family friendship.  In fact, throughout the book, the challenge for Nick is whether or not he would choose to do the right thing by the Lord and to his neighbours, in spite of the pressures to not do so.  As the plot unfolds, these choices become harder for him; the situation with Anne is just the starting point of circumstances that require him to decide whether to live out his faith or be the type of man who spouts out religious rhetoric, but not carry it out in his life.  In a way, both Anne and Nick need to deal with the issue of trusting God.  They both need to walk by faith, but obviously in different ways because their situations are different.  Nick's background is one of privilege and good fortune, whereas Anne's past is one filled with neglect and abuse. 

The one thing that I found a bit whiplash inducing was the suddenness of Nick's realization that he was in love with Anne.  Up to that point, it seemed as if he regarded Anne as an inconvenience because of the questions and rudeness that he was bombarded with over the presence of Anne in his office.  For me, personally, there weren't enough moments that convinced me of his attraction to her before, although there were enough hints to show that he found her intriguing, but not in a romantic way. The transition from simple friendliness to romantic pursuit was a bit jarring with its suddenness.  However, once Nick decided that he loved Anne, he really did go after her in a romantic way.  He probably did need all the time that was allotted to this in the plot, though, in order to break down the walls in the heart of a woman who couldn't trust men because of her past.

Nick's circumstance in being challenged to do the right thing regardless of the cost spoke a lot to me and was thought provoking.  Likewise, Anne's challenge to trust God in spite of the circumstances was another thought provoking idea.  I enjoyed reading this book and look forward to reading more from Regina Jennings. 



Monday 9 February 2015

Review: Undeniably Yours by Becky Wade

Becky Wade's Undeniably Yours is a novel about a rich girl who meets a poor boy.  More than wealth is separating them; the stigma of boss and employee connecting romantically with each other is a source of concern for the two of them. 

Meg Cole is under a lot of stress.  With the passing of her father, she has become the head of the family business, Cole Oil, and numerous other business endeavors.  Meg is no business woman.  She had been happily working as a museum curator in Tulsa, returning to Texas only because of her family obligations.  She is trying to reduce the scope of her responsibilities so that she can concentrate on Cole Oil, and this means that she must lay off people and close down or sell the other businesses.  One of these is Whispering Creek Ranch.  Bo Porter is in charge of the ranch which is located on the family estate.

Bo, an ex-marine, is the manager of the horse ranch, and knows that Meg means to get rid of it.  He persuades Meg to give him six months to turn the business around so that it becomes profitable.  He knows that Meg has every intention of closing the place down, even after the six months are up.  He is also aware of the attraction between Meg and himself, but refuses to use it to convince Meg to keep the ranch operational.  In the meantime, Meg becomes aware that spending time with Bo gives her peace from all the turmoil from the other areas of her life which threaten to overwhelm her.  She wonders at the attraction between them, but is reluctant to act on it because of a previous relationship that causes her to mistrust all eligible men and her own judgment about people.  Bo slowly chips away at that distrust; however, circumstances arise that causes Meg to question whether Bo is using her for her money, just as the person from her previous relationship had.      

I loved this story.  It was romantic.  Bo is sigh worthy material.  The man is honest, honourable, handsome, and besides being a horse whisperer, he can also charm crying babies.  Becky Wade writes with humour in her style.  The babysitting episode made me smile.

I also liked that both protagonists were believers who earnestly wanted to listen to and follow God.  I found it interesting that Meg knew a fair bit of Scripture about her identity in Christ, and was able to see Bo as an equal, disregarding how the rest of the world saw the disparity in their socio-economic circumstances.  However, she wasn't able to translate that knowledge of how God saw her into accepting herself; she seemed to be constantly insecure about her looks, body image, and abilities.  As a female who is no longer in the bloom of my youth, I can relate to the struggle that Meg has in seeing herself as an acceptable person in a society that prizes physical attractiveness and worldly success as high measures of worthiness.

Undeniably Yours is the first installment of the Porter Family saga. The following two novels in the series, Meant to Be Mine, and A Love Like Ours, covers the stories of Bo's brothers, Ty, and Jake, respectively.