After the deaths of her father and mother, 18 year-old Fannie is left with a floundering company, dwindling finances, and a large deteriorating house. The family's estate manager insists that Fannie's only option is to marry wealthy, and to marry fast, before her true financial state is fully revealed. Fannie is vehemently against the suitor that is offered as an option, so when she finds evidence of her mother's sister living in Montana, she spontaneously jumps at the chance to travel across the country in search of the aunt she never knew existed. Why did her mother never mention her sister? Why did no one ever tell Fannie she had another living relative?
Travel in the late 19th century was very different from today, and excruciatingly slow. It takes Fannie over two months to reach her destination, and she encounters many ups and downs along the way. Through a series of unforeseen circumstances she finds herself traveling with two men she met along the way, one of which is Samuel Beck, who is searching for his sister.
A Most Unsuitable Match was rather different from the normal Christian Historical Fiction book. The way of traveling cross country on the "Old Misery" river was unique and something I'd never read about before... it's amazing to think about what people used to have to endure to travel cross country. I liked Fannie as a main character, she is certainly spontaneous in some of her decisions, and that made for some unpredictable plot turns! I was a bit disappointed though, towards the end of the book things seemed to slow down and start to drag on a bit. I can't put my finger on exactly what it was, but one thing that bugged me was how Fanny and her love-interest were both so extremely stubborn in how they continually tried to be so self-sacrificing... it got just a smidge annoying. I realize this turn in a story is fairly normal, to a certain degree anyway, but it seemed a bit excessive here.
Overall, I did enjoy the story, although I find that I'm not sad to be moving on to something else. The story was definitely unique and not the normal run-of-the-mill historical. My slight irritations were certainly not big enough to stop me from recommending it. If you generally like historical fictions then it's a good bet you'll like A Most Unsuitable Match. I enjoyed it for the most part, and I'm sure I'll read more of the author's works in the future.
I received this book compliments of Bethany House in exchange for my honest opinion, which is what I have given in this review.
My rating: 3.5 stars
If you are interested, here is a sample of A Most Unsuitable Match from scrib.com, it's the first couple chapters of the book.
A Most Unsuitable Match
Travel in the late 19th century was very different from today, and excruciatingly slow. It takes Fannie over two months to reach her destination, and she encounters many ups and downs along the way. Through a series of unforeseen circumstances she finds herself traveling with two men she met along the way, one of which is Samuel Beck, who is searching for his sister.
A Most Unsuitable Match was rather different from the normal Christian Historical Fiction book. The way of traveling cross country on the "Old Misery" river was unique and something I'd never read about before... it's amazing to think about what people used to have to endure to travel cross country. I liked Fannie as a main character, she is certainly spontaneous in some of her decisions, and that made for some unpredictable plot turns! I was a bit disappointed though, towards the end of the book things seemed to slow down and start to drag on a bit. I can't put my finger on exactly what it was, but one thing that bugged me was how Fanny and her love-interest were both so extremely stubborn in how they continually tried to be so self-sacrificing... it got just a smidge annoying. I realize this turn in a story is fairly normal, to a certain degree anyway, but it seemed a bit excessive here.
Overall, I did enjoy the story, although I find that I'm not sad to be moving on to something else. The story was definitely unique and not the normal run-of-the-mill historical. My slight irritations were certainly not big enough to stop me from recommending it. If you generally like historical fictions then it's a good bet you'll like A Most Unsuitable Match. I enjoyed it for the most part, and I'm sure I'll read more of the author's works in the future.
I received this book compliments of Bethany House in exchange for my honest opinion, which is what I have given in this review.
My rating: 3.5 stars
If you are interested, here is a sample of A Most Unsuitable Match from scrib.com, it's the first couple chapters of the book.
