Title: Valley of Dreams (Wild West Wind #1)
Author: Lauraine Snelling
2011, Bethany House
ISBN: 0764204157
Genre: Christian Historical Fiction
Book Summary (from Goodreads):
Addy Lockwood's mother died when she was little, so Addy traveled with her father's Wild West Show and became an amazingly skillful trick rider, likened by some to the famous Annie Oakley. When her father died, she continued to work with the show, having nowhere else to go.
Now Addy has discovered that "Uncle" Jason, the show's manager, has driven the show into debt, and he's absconded with what little money was left. Devastated, Addy decides to try to find the hidden valley where here father had dreamed of putting down roots. She has only one clue. She needs to find three huge stones that look like fingers raised in a giant hand. With Chief, a Sioux Indian who's been with the show for twenty years, and Micah, the head wrangler, she leaves both the show and a bundle of heartache behind and begins a wild and daring adventure.
My Review:
Well, I think this is a first for me.... unfortunately. I didn't even finish this book. I was pretty excited to read it, I thought it had a lot of potential from the back cover summary, but....
Honestly, I was trudging through this book, hoping it was going to pick up some speed and then I had some friends over, cleaned my house and somehow misplaced the book. The bad part was that I wasn't upset that I lost it, because I was so bored with the story by then.
The problem? The main character, Addy, is too naive, too whiny and constantly got on my nerves. She supposedly grew up as the star attraction of a Wild West Show and yet, she seems to have no common sense. I understand that she would not know how to cook or other basic life skills because of the show cook, but it seems that she would have come in contact with a lot of crude people over the years. I just had a hard time believing she was so sheltered.
Then there was the story line - the one that seems so promising. BORING! I was so disappointed! It just trudged along at a snails pace. I honestly didn't even care what happened at the end and I was about 3/4 of the way through it.
The one highlight of the book, in my opinion, was the secondary story line going on, which I'm assuming ends up being about the love interest when Addy makes it to where she was going. Ransom was an interesting character and I enjoyed the chapters of the book about him. But it also kind of irked me that I was sure he and Addy got together at the end and I thought she was too dumb for him.
Anyway.... I'm sure that some people would really like this book. It is a simple, clean read, but it just wasn't for me. If you like unrealistic Christian historical novels, you might try it.
Disclosure: The book was provided to me free of charge by the publisher Bethany House Publishers for my honest review. All opinions in this post are my own and I did not receive any other compensation.
No comments:
Post a Comment