Review: A Southern Romance That Didn't Quite Deliver For Me
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 12, 2014
The first thing that I noticed about this book was the dialect.  From page one, it hit me quite heavily that this was not going to be like anything I've ever read before. I don't typically have a problem reading dialect - I find myself picking up quite a few British novels, a handful of Irish ones and a few from the Southwest, and I'm able to adapt very quickly.  While dialect usually helps to set the tone of the novel and make the characters come to life, I felt in this book it was too distracting.  I never quite got over it.  Maybe I need to spend time in the South, as others have written about how it's very realistic.Whatever the case, I did like Phoebe as an overall character.  I liked her spunk, her work ethic, and I was rooting for her to get her man, Gage.  While her devotion to her family was admirable, a part of me wondered why it had fallen solely on her shoulders to find a new place for them to live and the money to support them.  While most young women her age would have rebelled at that scenario, she accepts it like it's no big deal.I also liked Gage as the leading man because he was, well, different from most of the romantic leads that I've read.  Of course he's super attractive and witty, but he's not some rich guy who swoops in and takes her away from her life of poverty in his private plane.  Though everyone in town knows him, it's because he runs the junkyard, not because he's a suave billionaire.  That in itself was refreshing.  I like reading stories about people who seem real, and he did seem like the guy next door to me.As true as the author sticks to Phoebe's characterization as an honest, pure-hearted Southern woman, there was one thing that felt very off-kilter.  This isn't by any means a Christian romance, but Phoebe's strong religious views and moral grounds are brought up several times.  As such, I really don't think that she would plot to win Gage's heart by jumping in his bed first.  Yet that's the conclusion that she draws, and it made me want to scream at her.All in all, this was a unique story with a plot unlike any other romance I've read.  But I couldn't quite get over the stumbling blocks to really enjoy this.  It was worth a read, but not a reread.