Grace and the Preacher by Kim Vogel Sawyer
From the back cover:
Can the faith of one small prairie town and a kind woman's generous heart survive a great deception?
At the age of twenty-four, postmistress Grace Cristler has all but given up hope of finding a husband among the narrowing group of eligible men in her town of Fairland, Kansas. But when her uncle decides to retire from the pulpit, Grace is responsible for corresponding with the new preacher set to take his place. She can't deny the affection growing in her heart for Reverend Rufus Dille---a man she deeply admires, but has only met through his letters.
Theophil Garrison is on the run from his past. Ten years ago, his outlaw cousins convinced him to take part in a train robbery, but Theo fled the scene, leaving his cousins to face imprisonment. Now they've finished their sentences, but the plan for vengeance has just begun. Branded a coward and running for his life, a chance encounter could provide Theo with the escape he needs.
But the young man's desperate con might come at an enormous price for the tenderhearted Grace---and the entire town. Will Grace's undeserved affection and God's mercy make something beautiful from the ashes of Theo's past?
Kim Vogel Sawyer is---or at least used to be---one of my favorite authors, but it took me two years to finish this book... that's mostly due to the fact that life got busy and I sort of fell out of the habit of reading for a while (but I'm so happy I'm finally getting back into it!) So I can't exactly say the reason it took me so long to read it was because it wasn't good, although I will admit it wasn't great. Maybe this just wasn't this author's best, or maybe I'm growing bored of this genre, but I found the book to be somewhat boring at parts, predictable, and every conflict was way too easily solved. It didn't really feel like it had a climax, and just when I thought it was going to reach it, (SPOILER ALERT) suddenly the villain just decides he doesn't want to be bad anymore. Like the whole book was building up to the point when Theo's cousin caught up to him, and then when he finally does he's like, oh never mind, I guess I forgive you! I wanted to see some ACTION! And I know this like spoils the story but I really doubt anyone reading this review will read the book, (and if you do want to, go ahead and stop reading here.) so I'm just gonna say, I was also disappointed by how easily Grace forgave Theo in the end as well. Sure, she locked herself away for a few weeks and didn't want to see him, but then when she does decide to forgive him it's so immediate and they're suddenly in love again! If a man was that deceptive to me, I really don't know if I'd just go and be okay with marrying him. Forgiving him is one thing, because we all should forgive, but forgiveness doesn't always mean I accept you and what you did with open arms. This book (as most of Kim's books do) had several viewpoints, Grace's, Theo's, Theo's cousin and an elderly woman named Bess, and I have to say I think I liked the parts in Theo's cousin's viewpoint the best. I do like that this author always adds side stories with other characters (something I usually do in my own writing), as opposed to having the story only follow the hero and heroine, because it keeps the story moving, adds variety, and the scenes are usually shorter, which I always prefer. Anyway, I really don't remember much from the beginning of the book because I read it so long ago, and I do remember enjoying it when I first started it, so either the book just didn't end as well as it started or my tastes changed since I started it. I do like to read a good old historical prairie read from time to time because they're always cozy, and this book did have a coziness to it, but it just wasn't my favorite I've read by this author. Anyway, sorry for the lengthy review!
I actually received a free review copy of this book, but the review program I got it from is no more, which is kind of good because with how long I took to read it, I probably would have been removed from the program! lol.
