Author: Maureen Lang.
Genre: Christian, Romance, Historical Fiction.
Plot: Stuck in a tree, Julitte Toussaint finds herself meeting the handsome Charles in a very awkward way when her tin box goes crashing down on his head. The wealthy young man, half American and half Belgium, is intent on going the Belgium army as World War One begins but when his car is commandeered, Charles wanders around the forested countryside of France, eventually befriending a French officer named Pepin and getting it into his head to take refuge in the village where he meet the pretty girl in the tree. Meanwhile, Julitte soon finds her hands full when her village is taken over by the Germans and the squabbling Toussaints and de Colvilles are forced to temporarily set aside their quarrels.
Born on a distant island to an American father and a Greek mother, and then adopted by Narcisse Toussaint, Julitte feels the de Colvilles’ contempt. She is isolated in the little isolated village and rumors fly about the village concerning her, all more or less false. When Julitte finds Charles hiding in the church basement, the whole situation dramatically alters.
Likes/Dislikes: While this is Christian and the characters do all pray which is nice, and while it is set in France during the First World War, this book came across to me more as a glorified romance than a historical fiction. When I read historical fiction, I read it for the historical portion written in an engaging style; if I wanted romance or plain old fiction I could get that anywhere. I also didn’t feel a connection with the characters: Charles spent the first half of the book a crowd and bemoaning his cowardice while I never felt the least connection to Julitte. In all her scenes, she just seemed so out of it. The plot also dragged a little and I lost interest halfway through it. All in all, a disappointing book and waste of my time.
Rating: PG-15 and up for content {none of which was graphic thankfully, only suggestive of violence} and reading level.
Date Report Written: July 8, 2011.
I received this book free from the publishers in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed in the above review are my own.
I received this book free from the publishers in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed in the above review are my own.
2 comments:
Very interesting, "Elaine". And get your point about the characters not connecting. I was wondering, though, what you meant specifically when you refered to it as being a "glorified romance". Were you indicating that there wasn't much interesting historically to grab your attention, or that the romance simply seemed to dominate the plot? Or was it a lack of subplots? I shall try to keep all these notes in mind when I write my first historical fiction (which, incidentally, is also going to be a romance set in World War One; will you read it anyway?:)
I'll totally read your novel because I know it'll be grand and definitely better than anything else on the market. ;) What I basically meant was that there was a lack of historical stuff which was what I wanted to read about and a lot of the two main characters falling in love and trying to talk themselves out of it. So silly. ;) Oh and you really needn't call me "Elaine." Just Elaine, Emma or E.J. works. ;)
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