It isn't possible! Emilie Getz peered into the window of Benner's Pharmacy, amazed to find every detail exactly as she'd remembered. The soda counter were she'd sat as a child and ordered cherry colas, the stout glass jar stuffed with locally baked pretzels, the racks of colorful greeting cards, the customers--regulars, no doubt--perched on vinyl-covered stools. Gazing out at her, gazing in.
Dr. Emilie Getz, our heroine, has returned to her home town of Lititz, Pennsylvania, to do some historical research for a book she's writing about the 250th anniversary of the Moravian Congregation in Lititz. The novel opens with her attending a Christmas Eve service, she's distracted a bit by the man who sits beside her in the pew. Jonas Fielding, our hero, seems destined to fight with Emilie from the very start. The question, for readers, is not will these two fall or love or when will these two get together. But how will it happen, how will these two admit that what they're feeling is love.
Jonas is her opposite in many, many ways. But this land-developer isn't as evil, as mean, as cruel as Emilie first suspects. He's not out to "destroy" history and "remuddle" things. No, he's a good guy, a very good guy. And she'd be a fool not to realize how great a match he'd be....
As a reader, I often feels less is more especially when it comes to romance. I am not convinced that the Nathan story line was completely necessary to the story--at least for the development of the romance. I think there were enough obstacles between Jonas and Emilie already. And these two were clearly already in love with one another before Nathan arrived to "complicate" things by his desperate actions. And Nathan's scenes, well, they took me away from the characters I did care about. I would never say that Nathan "ruined" the book for me. I wouldn't ever be that silly. But I do think that I would have liked the novel a little more if the Nathan story had been less dramatic.
I don't read a lot of contemporary romance. I tend to prefer historical romance. But. I am SO glad I read this one. While I wouldn't say I loved it, or loved it absolutely, it was such a good read. Maybe not the best, best romance I'd ever read....but it was such a satisfying read!
© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible
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