An Appalachian Summer

     BOOK REVIEW:   In 1933 Louisville, Kentucky, even the ongoing economic depression cannot keep Piper Danson's parents from insisting on a debut party. After all, their fortune came through the market crash intact, and they've picked out the perfect suitor for their daughter. Braxton Crandall can give her the kind of life she's used to. The only problem? This is not the man---or the life---she really wants.
     When Piper gets the opportunity to volunteer as a horseback Frontier Nursing courier in the Appalachian Mountains for the summer, she jumps at the chance to be something other than a dutiful daughter or a kept wife in a loveless marriage. The work is taxing, the scenery is jaw-droppingly gorgeous, and the people she meets along the way open a whole new world to her. The longer she stays, the more an advantageous marriage slips from her grasp. But something much more precious---true love---is drawing ever closer.

     MY REVIEW:   Ann Gabhart's books are a step above most of the Christian novel genre. Her romance isn't as cheesy and overwhelming, and there is a bit more depth in her books; though they are still light novels.
     I really enjoyed the concept of Frontier Nurses. These women lived in the mountains and ministered to the people living there. Much of their job was midwifing. Piper's job was to courier supplies and such between bases, either by foot or horseback. These delicate city girls spent the summer mucking stables, milking cows, and riding through the mountain mazes.
     The secondary characters in this book were fun: there is the charming young boy in the hospital, the grouchy mountaineer with rifle ready, the steady nurses, and the fellow couriers. The main characters were good to. But despite this the book was just a bit on the dry side. It seems like many pages were used to get little done. More could have been said for the time Piper spent in the mountains, more about the situations she ran into and the people she met. While I enjoyed the aspect of the nursing system, my attention wasn't always held.
     This book did bring out faith better than some novels do: traveling in the mountains calls on more faith than most plot lines, and Piper had conversations with several people who illuminated the difference between knowing Jesus from going to church, and having Him in her heart.
   
  I received a copy of this book from REVELL and was not required to write a positive review.