Review: Ends Where it Should be Beginning
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 1, 2014
This is a most unusual mail-order bride novella.  First of all, the romance is sadly lacking...I mean there is the hint of the beginning of a romance, but that's it.  The book is nicely written, but as for character development, there is none.  I read the entire book and yet, I know absolutely nothing about Katherine (Kathy.)  Where is she from?  Why did she decide to become a mail-order bride?  What does she LOOK like?...other than having sandy hair, I know absolutely nothing about Kathy's looks.  As for the other questions, I have no answers for those either.  Shoot, I don't even know where the story is set...out west somewhere.  The devil is certainly in the details; and unfortunately, this story is sadly lacking in the detail department.When Kathy arrives at the train station, she is met by her future husband, Luke, his older brother, Max, and pretty much the rest of the entire town.  Luke appears to be very shy and quiet...I would have welcomed the opportunity to get to know him, but alas I was denied that pleasure (at least I know he has curly brown hair and blue eyes.)  A quick bond is formed between Kathy and her future sister-in-law, Annabel, Max's wife.  The marriage takes place almost immediately and then the town convenes on Mary's house to celebrate the nuptials--Mary is a townswoman who volunteered her home for that purpose.The next thing you know, tragedy strikes and things take an unexpected turn for Luke and Kathy.  The entire course of events occur over one day.  Luke and Kathy don't get to spend any significant time together, alone or otherwise.  When the story ended I was extremely disappointed.  It had so much potential, and I would have loved to have read more about Luke and Kathy.  IMO, the story ended, where it really should have been beginning...with Kathy and Luke embarking on their lives together.  I wanted to at least get to see them forge some type of relationship.IMHO, the author devoted too much time to the beginning of the story, working it's way up to the wedding and subsequent celebration.  It's not that this part of the story is boring or dragged out, but if it was her intent to keep the story restricted to a certain length, I feel that the pages would have been better devoted to the relationship between the protagonists.Another drawback, is that the reader gets absolutely no insight from Luke.  The story is told in the third person, but entirely from Kathy's point of view.So, bottom line, what's there of the story I liked well enough.  Unfortunately, the romance is not just short-changed, it's completely missing.  Other than a hint of a possible connection between Luke and Kathy, there is nothing the least bit romantic.  FYI, I'm sure it's no surprise that this is a clean story (please note, I didn't say clean "romance" because there isn't any.)  Ms. Wilspur is obviously talented.  She got me to like Luke and Kathy--although I knew almost nothing about them--as well as Luke's family.  I really wish the story didn't end, when it should have just gotten started.  Happy reading!