Book Review: A Most Unsuitable Match
September 14, 2011 in: Book Reviews
Stephanie Grace Whitson is my new favorite author. Not that she is new, but I’ve just discovered her. She lives in Lincoln, Neb., and her stories ring true to the Midwest.
I chose to read A Most Unsuitable Match because this historical novel is set on the Missouri River. St. Joe even got a shout out!
Fannie Rousseau has grown up in the sheltered comfort of her wealthy parents’ home in St. Charles, Mo. After her mother’s death, Fannie sorts through papers and finds letters from an aunt she never knew existed. She and her maid take a steamboat to Fort Benton, Montana, the location of the last letter posted by Aunt Edith.
On the river, Fannie encounters tragedy, but also the friendship of Samuel Beck, who has escaped his abusive father and is looking for his runaway sister.
Samuel and his new companion, a former slave, watch out for Fannie when they make it to Benton. In this rough frontier settlement, Fannie sets to find her aunt and discovers herself and love in the process. It’s this second half of the book that is the most interesting.
I enjoyed the swift-moving story that had some predictable points but also several surprises. There was an inordinate amount of fainting, but otherwise an entertaining historical.
I received a copy of A Most Unsuitable Match through Bethany House’s book review program.
In addition, I read Whitson’s Sixteen Brides which was offered free on Kindle this summer.
This is most unusual twist on the “prairie romance.” Sixteen women, each with a different motivation and a secret to hide, sign up for what they believe is a program to homestead property in Nebraska. The speculator is actually enticing them to the tiny town in hopes of match making with lonely bachelors.
To some of the women, this doesn’t sound like such a bad idea, but several of them decide to homestead on their own. Romance still manages to blossom, but this was unusual in that you really didn’t know who would end up with who.
A big cast of characters made the story a bit hard to follow at first, but distinct voices emerged and Sixteen Brides was both entertaining and inspiring as the women overcame their pasts and their fears.
