Genre: Historical RomancePublication Date: June 2006
One Word Review: Okay
Author Website: www.deeannegist.com
First Line: “This street is impassable, not even jackassable.”
GoodReads Synopsis: Rachel van Buren arrives in Gold Rush San Francisco with two wishes: to protect her younger siblings and to return east as soon as possible. Both goals prove more difficult than she could imagine as her brother and sister are lured by the city's dangerous freedom and a missionary-turned-gambler stakes a claim on her heart. Rachel won't give up without a fight though, and soon all will learn an eloquent but humorous lesson about what truly makes a lady.
Kathy’s Review: I really had mixed feelings about this one. I guess by the end it all just felt a little too preachy for me. I think I could easily go off on a little tangent, so I’ll skip that and just get to the review. Rachel, Lissa and Michael find themselves in a desperate situation when they arrive in San Francisco. Their father had died on the trip over leaving them alone in the world. While Rachel tries to keep everyone together, her siblings turn their backs on her (repeatedly) and decide to go wild. At one point I really wanted Rachel to just pack up and leave, let them realize how much they’d hurt her and maybe realize how much they actually needed her. I guess I felt like they were so mad at Rachel for judging people that they didn’t stop to notice they were judging her just has harshly.
At times I really liked Rachel’s character, even though she was kind of a nerd. What was with her fascination with bugs…oh, I mean insects? Sometimes I liked her, other times not as much. I guess she had a hard time finding a balance between living your standards and allowing others to do their own thing, and not trying to convert everyone to her way of thinking. I actually liked her morals, even if some were a little extreme, I guess it was the way she went about stuff that drove me bonkers. I liked Johnnie probably the most out of everyone. He seemed consistent and the changes he made within himself seemed more sincere and realistic. The relationship and banter between Rachel and Johnnie was fun and probably my favorite parts of the book (except when they were being nerds talking about bugs and trees…).
I was really disappointed with Michael and Lissa, I was hoping by the end of the novel both would have learned something, and maybe Michael did a little, but Lissa sure didn’t learn a thing. She was annoying from the first, totally spoiled, self-centered, lazy and judgmental. The truth is the way she was living would never really bring her any happiness and it saddened me that she again didn’t learn any lessons and was still cold (in my opinion) to her sister.
This was the second book I read by Gist, and I enjoyed it a lot more than the first. The setting was fun and enlightening, Johnnie was a great leading man and overall I enjoyed the story, even if I didn’t agree with how certain things played out.
At times I really liked Rachel’s character, even though she was kind of a nerd. What was with her fascination with bugs…oh, I mean insects? Sometimes I liked her, other times not as much. I guess she had a hard time finding a balance between living your standards and allowing others to do their own thing, and not trying to convert everyone to her way of thinking. I actually liked her morals, even if some were a little extreme, I guess it was the way she went about stuff that drove me bonkers. I liked Johnnie probably the most out of everyone. He seemed consistent and the changes he made within himself seemed more sincere and realistic. The relationship and banter between Rachel and Johnnie was fun and probably my favorite parts of the book (except when they were being nerds talking about bugs and trees…).
I was really disappointed with Michael and Lissa, I was hoping by the end of the novel both would have learned something, and maybe Michael did a little, but Lissa sure didn’t learn a thing. She was annoying from the first, totally spoiled, self-centered, lazy and judgmental. The truth is the way she was living would never really bring her any happiness and it saddened me that she again didn’t learn any lessons and was still cold (in my opinion) to her sister.
This was the second book I read by Gist, and I enjoyed it a lot more than the first. The setting was fun and enlightening, Johnnie was a great leading man and overall I enjoyed the story, even if I didn’t agree with how certain things played out.
Bookworm Rating: 3
I bought this book from the bargain shelf at Chapters along with another of her books and I couldn't get through either; though this one was the one I got farther in. I ended up giving both to my aunt for Christmas last year.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, though, it was too preachy. I thought that there would be more oomph to the story.