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It Happened At The Fair (2013)

by Deeanne Gist(Favorite Author)

3.97 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1451692374 (ISBN13: 9781451692372)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Howard Books

series

It Happened at the Fair

review 1: I am not normally attracted to reading romances books. But I love historical fiction and this did not disappoint. Even the romantic storyline became appealing as the characters were sensitive, warm and just plain easy to love. I would say this book was a great read for someone looking for a book on the lighter side and yet a book which contained some historical content. And there were some touching moments to really attract the most sensitive reader.Risking it all including the family farm, a father’s confidence in a son’s dream sends Cullen McNamara to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. His purpose is to display and sell his invention, an automatic sprinkler which was motivated by his mother’s untimely death. But because of all the noise in the fair’s Machi... morenery Hall and his failing hearing, it becomes almost impossible to communicate with potential buyers. Unwilling to let his father down, he decides to hire Della Wentworth, a teacher of the deaf, to tutor him in the art of lip-reading. While the romance was quite charming and humorous at times, what really made this book a great read was the historical details she paints into her story. Photos from the actual event were included at the beginning of most chapters. And her attention to detail really transports the reader back and makes us feel like we are actually at the fair. For those of us who seek to define fact from fiction, at the end of the book is a synopsis of what was historically accurate and what she included as artistic license to make her story flow. Ms. Gist also includes the controversy that surrounded teaching deaf students lip reading versus sign language. It was quite interesting how she incorporated Cullen's increasing deafness into the story line as a way for us to experience the prejudice and misconceptions that were often encountered by deaf people during the time period. Over all, “It happened at the Fair” is a very entertaining and yet has a lot of content making it well worth reading.
review 2: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved the connection between Cullen and Della and how they fall in love over the course of the book. I also liked the inclusion of Cullen's story of being partially deaf and Della teaching the deaf children. I'm so glad the author brought Della to the conclusion that signing was important to those children. I can't imagine how people thought that being taken away from their parents for six years would be beneficial to children!!I read several reviews that said there was too much description of the fair but I thought it was awesome. I loved the pictures and the description of how big and grand this fair was really makes me wish I could have seen it in person! :)I've also read reviews that said the author is too descriptive in some of the romance scenes and it shouldn't be like that in a Christian book. I don't quite agree. I've actually read another Christian author that was even more descriptive than this one (didn't care for that book). I don't see anything wrong with a Christian romance having some sizzle to it as long as it's not graphic. And Deeanne Gist knows how to add sizzle! :) less

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