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Appalachian Serenade (2014)

by Sarah Loudin Thomas(Favorite Author)

3.89 of 5 Votes: 4

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Bethany House Publishers

review 1: This author is what would happen if L.M. Montgomery invaded The Waltons--with maybe a little dash of Christy and a touch of Andy Griffith. She is one of my new favorites. A country setting, humor, romance, and endless drama/comedy involving neighbors and families and friends etc. My kind of thing. The setting is vintage. Late 1940s, to be specific. It centers on a small rural town in the Appalachians. This book ---which was quite short---focuses on a lady named Delilah, just come home from the big city, and the storekeeper she works for. Delilah was smart and likeable, with an admirable generosity to the ex-girlfriend of her new guy, and a cute sense of humor. I found her appreciation of girly things like pretty clothes and her love of country living very relateable. The o... morenly time she got irritating was when she had so much trouble seeing that a guy who couldn't give her any children was still the right guy for her---I love kids, too. Kids are, quite possibly, the most important thing in the world. But when it comes to picking a husband any smart woman would know that isn't the main aspect to consider. However, you could see the author was making a good point, and so Delilah's intelligence was sacrificed in the interests of communicating a lesson to the reader. I found the character of Delilah's brother in law unattractive and very realistic. He was a strong point. I also liked how the ex-girlfriend was presented--with clarity, showing us all the negative spots, but no unfair hostility. The romance had enough humor in it to be fun. So it was also a strong point. It was cute but not sappy--like the rest of the story. Many authors would be tempted to be terribly sappy when writing about this sort of setting, but Thomas maintains a dry, witty realism at all times, rescuing us from disaster. ;)Also found a sample at the end of the next book--a novel about Delilah's niece, Perla. And Casewell's the hero in it! Very excited to read this new one when I get the chance.
review 2: I received an email from someone at Bethany House Publishers letting me know about this digital novella that is available for FREE on Amazon. It took me less than two hours to read the whole book, and I didn't want to put it down. I was disappointed when it ended because I was enjoying the story so much and wanted it to keep going. Fortunately, the download includes the first few chapters of the author's next book, and the setting is the same small town in West Virginia, and the characters are just several years older. I'm now reading her full book, Miracle in a Dry Season, that was just released last week. less

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