I am very super stoked to announce that I get to be a blog book reviewer for Zondervan! Some women go gaga over shoes or clothes or make-up... for me... it's books. I can spend a better part of a day in any bookstore and I'd survive just fine on a desserted island with food, water, shelter and books. No volleyball needed.
My first set of books Zondervan sent me consisted of a romance novel, a suspense novel and non-fiction book. Hmmmm... what did the hopeless romantic pick up first, yup that's right- the suspen... oh, wait! HaHa, just kidding. It was the romance novel When Love Blooms by prolific writer, Robin Lee Hatcher. (One of my favorite authors.)
The premise for the book: The main character, Miss Harris, takes a job as a governess for two little girls in the remote Stanley Basin of Idaho in the late 1800's. Unbeknowst to her, the girls mother, Dru, is dying and is desperately hoping that Miss Harris and Dru's husband, Gavin, will fall in love so that her girls have a new mother in place when she is gone.
If you are looking for a light read and don't want to dwell in deep thought then this is a very enjoyable book. However, I felt the characters were flat and underdeveloped, the story line too entirely predictable, and some of the situations forced upon the characters by the author. This is not Hatcher's best book. I will say, spending two years living in Boise, Idaho, that the author caught the magic of the Stanley Basin, which truly is one of the most beautiful (and harsh in winter) places in the world. Putting me into the late 1800's Stanley Basin made the read entirely worthwhile. On a scale of one to ten, I would rate it a 5 and given Hatcher's track record I wouldn't hesitate to pick up another of her novels.
