Helpful Score: 2
I often enjoy a quick weekend read when Im swamped with reviews and need to catch up quickly. So while I quickly read through The Pursuit of Lucy Banning I was impressed with the intricacies of the plot that kept the story evenly paced and me always curious to see what would come next.
Lucy is a strong heroine. She is focused on her dreams, but the world she lives in isnt ready for the storm of her motivations. As a reader I couldnt help, but want to see her strike out on her own and make a way, but what I also appreciated that in her forward thinking, she was respectful of her parents slow understanding of her dreams.
Charlottes story intrigued me the most and is such a unique position for the women of her time. What happens to her in coming books is definitely a selling point.
I wanted more page time with the romance between Lucy and Will. I thought it was pretty quick and to the point, I wanted to watch it mature a bit more. Some of that could be word/page count restriction or just taking time to flesh out Lucys story.
I was impressed that (except for a bit in the romance department) the two stories of Charlotte and Lucy seamlessly came together and my investments as a reader were not overly torn. An enjoyable debut novel!
This review is my honest opinion. Thanks to the publishers for my copy to review.
**Available May 2012 from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group**
Lucy is a strong heroine. She is focused on her dreams, but the world she lives in isnt ready for the storm of her motivations. As a reader I couldnt help, but want to see her strike out on her own and make a way, but what I also appreciated that in her forward thinking, she was respectful of her parents slow understanding of her dreams.
Charlottes story intrigued me the most and is such a unique position for the women of her time. What happens to her in coming books is definitely a selling point.
I wanted more page time with the romance between Lucy and Will. I thought it was pretty quick and to the point, I wanted to watch it mature a bit more. Some of that could be word/page count restriction or just taking time to flesh out Lucys story.
I was impressed that (except for a bit in the romance department) the two stories of Charlotte and Lucy seamlessly came together and my investments as a reader were not overly torn. An enjoyable debut novel!
This review is my honest opinion. Thanks to the publishers for my copy to review.
**Available May 2012 from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group**
Helpful Score: 1
First things first, I love this cover. I know that it has the typical lady-in-a-pretty-dress thing going on but I love the background! Since the heroine does a lot of traveling around 19th-century Chicago the gritty, bustling street scene is very appropriate and I wish more romances went with covers like this one. Even books that are set in cities seem to have the perfectly clean and serene covers that don't really fit the story at all so kudos to the art department and designers on this one!
Secondly, and more importantly, the story in between the cover was good too. I've been raving about the wonderful contemporary debuts that I have been reading in the past few weeks and I'm so happy to say I have found a historical worthy of the ol' keeper shelf. It isn't without its flaws but it is a solid debut that has me very intrigued. The book takes place over a year so it isn't a fast-moving, hold on to your hat, whirlwind story and there isn't really all that much romance however that doesn't mean it isn't interesting. There is a HEA (although I won't spoil it and say whose) but I felt Lucy's story was more about deciding where she wanted to go with her life and what was most important rather than focusing on the romantic part. That said, if you're looking for a dreamy, take me away romance this probably won't be a book for you.
I like where Ms. Newport went with this story as far as making Lucy a bit of an independent without being completely radical for the time period. However, as much as I liked Lucy I liked Charlotte, her maid, a whole lot more. At times I felt myself wanting to skip the bits where Charlotte wasn't present, not because the story wasn't interesting (read above paragraph) but because she was such an intriguing person! I wanted to know why she was keeping the huge secret, how she came to have/end up with what she was keeping secret, why she left her home etc. but sadly I didn't get much closure. Hopefully book two will give us some answers. I'm crossing my fingers because Charlotte was my favorite character and I NEED to know what's going on!
Finally, if you like your stories laced with Scripture you won't find it in this book. I would go so far as to say that this is a "clean" story and not really Christian fiction. I don't have a problem with it but I know sometimes books in the genre can get "preachy" and turn off readers (just read some Amazon reviews out there...yikes). The Pursuit of Lucy Banning is definitely a book I would recommend for Christian fiction newbies or to someone who hasn't read the genre before.
All in all, The Pursuit of Lucy Banning was a nice first showing by Olivia Newport. Judging by her Twitter page we will have plenty of stories, contemporary and historical, in which we will hopefully discover more of her writing talent!
*I received a complimentary copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for posting my review for this blog tour. I was not compensated in any way.*
Secondly, and more importantly, the story in between the cover was good too. I've been raving about the wonderful contemporary debuts that I have been reading in the past few weeks and I'm so happy to say I have found a historical worthy of the ol' keeper shelf. It isn't without its flaws but it is a solid debut that has me very intrigued. The book takes place over a year so it isn't a fast-moving, hold on to your hat, whirlwind story and there isn't really all that much romance however that doesn't mean it isn't interesting. There is a HEA (although I won't spoil it and say whose) but I felt Lucy's story was more about deciding where she wanted to go with her life and what was most important rather than focusing on the romantic part. That said, if you're looking for a dreamy, take me away romance this probably won't be a book for you.
I like where Ms. Newport went with this story as far as making Lucy a bit of an independent without being completely radical for the time period. However, as much as I liked Lucy I liked Charlotte, her maid, a whole lot more. At times I felt myself wanting to skip the bits where Charlotte wasn't present, not because the story wasn't interesting (read above paragraph) but because she was such an intriguing person! I wanted to know why she was keeping the huge secret, how she came to have/end up with what she was keeping secret, why she left her home etc. but sadly I didn't get much closure. Hopefully book two will give us some answers. I'm crossing my fingers because Charlotte was my favorite character and I NEED to know what's going on!
Finally, if you like your stories laced with Scripture you won't find it in this book. I would go so far as to say that this is a "clean" story and not really Christian fiction. I don't have a problem with it but I know sometimes books in the genre can get "preachy" and turn off readers (just read some Amazon reviews out there...yikes). The Pursuit of Lucy Banning is definitely a book I would recommend for Christian fiction newbies or to someone who hasn't read the genre before.
All in all, The Pursuit of Lucy Banning was a nice first showing by Olivia Newport. Judging by her Twitter page we will have plenty of stories, contemporary and historical, in which we will hopefully discover more of her writing talent!
*I received a complimentary copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for posting my review for this blog tour. I was not compensated in any way.*
