Review: A great debut author and a lovely, lovely book! Loved it!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 23, 2013
I had won a copy of 'By Proxy' thru a Giveaway the author had on her blog, and I'm really glad I did. This is one of the sweetest books I've read in a long time. I could tell by the cover, I was going to love it. 'By Proxy' is Katy Regnery's debut novel and to me, she nailed it. I can only hope that if by some chance when I take that big leap and decide to put what's rolling around up in my brain to paper. That I succeed as well as she has.Now, I actually have never heard of getting married by proxy, and find the whole process very interesting. I love the reasons of why the main characters of the book do it to help their loved ones out since they can't do it themselves due to both of them being in the service. That's very cool. Sure it would be weird, especially if you had to give someone else's vows to a complete stranger like Jenny and Sam, but I guess I'd do it.The story is set mostly in a one horse town of Gardiner, Montana, where Jenny Lindstrom resides near her 3 burly Swedish brothers and her beloved papa. Her mother fell ill due to Cancer a few years back while Jenny was finishing college up in Great Falls, Montana.  Her plans to stay after college in the small city to start a life of her own changes to her going home and being with her mother for her final weeks, then when she passes she decides to stay near her brothers and father. The author does a great job by making Jenny into a selfless, goodhearted, strong woman. A great character, all thru the book. She's someone you would be proud to call your friend, sister, or daughter.While reading the book, I could have sworn that Ms. Regnery basically wrote the character about me. I identified so much with Jenny, it was unreal. From her love of Christmas and all it has to offer, the passion she has for her family, her love of dogs, and how she'd rather be in a small town than live in a bustling city. Her apartment even sounded like my style with the "Homey/Cozy" feel it had. I really adored Jenny's character. I also liked how she wrote her Hero Sam. Yes, he is an urban dwelling, womanizing, busy guy back in Chicago, but when he arrives in Montana and meets Jenny for the first time.... He leaves the city boy home and arrives the man he truly is. The man who realizes that the life he thought he wanted back in the Chicago, isn't what he wants at all after meeting Jenny.Throughout the book, Jenny has a lot of revelations about herself, but Sam, also has some revelations; from having spent a lot of his childhood in Montana with family, his feelings for the state are reignited after spending a long weekend there with Jenny. Although Gardiner would be too small and offer no work for what he's both qualified for and accustomed to, there are bigger cities that the state has to offer, and love opens his eyes to this fact.There are a lot of times that the book had me giggling, but the scene where Jenny makes Sam a crazy breakfast, had me ROLLING!!! I wanted to high five her, that was awesome and very clever. LOL..I rooted for Jenny and Sam thru the whole book and I love how it ended, I'm sure I had a huge smile on my face! By Proxy is very, very sweet!! From the looks of the epilogue, looks like maybe Erik's story may be next? :)