I Have a New Favorite!

Add a thunder shower and a cup of cocoa and I'm in heaven!

Friday night, sweet hubby went walking with the girls then brought them back for a daddy Mario Kart challenge. After a full day of grading writing papers and teaching, I snuggled into fluffy socks and a warm robe. With my hot mint tea and a piece of chocolate cream pie - interesting flavor combo, but it worked - I got to immerse myself in a brand new book that I've been trying to find time to read for a couple of weeks now.

So glad I waited. It was well worth it to find a time when I could focus on this literary gem.

I have a new all-time favorite book. Seriously. For me A Bride's Portrait of Dodge City, Kansas rivals Pride and Prejudice.

Oh yeah, I went there.

Erica Vetsch wove a masterful story set in the booming cowtown of Dodge City during it's developing years when Bat Masterson ran the county with a silver-tipped cane and a lightning-fast draw. Twists and turns abound in the story, offering not one but two potential romances, each with multiple suitors. The multiples continue with a plethora of antagonists. Some of them, oily characters that make you want to cringe and curl your upper lip, provide minor annoyances. Others, including complete surprises, create mayhem for a variety of reasons.

This story has it all! Precious romance, timely era, exciting setting, eternal message, even an intriguing mystery. Add a thunder shower and a cup of cocoa and I'm in heaven!

Beyond the intricate plotting, the characters make the story. More than realistic, they shake your hand and draw you right alongside, walking down the dusty streets and listening to the raucous music from the saloons mixed with the sounds of cattle from the pens near the rail depot. The main heroine, a photographer named Addie who has the gall to be a female, has a spunky personality and determination to build her dreams into reality. She's far from perfect, full of secrets, and usually shows restraint, hiding her emotions and opinions. Her counterpart, Miles, plays a new deputy sheriff with secrets of his own.

If I had to pinpoint a theme for the story, it would have something to do with the secrets. Maybe how they seek to paralyze with assumptions of guilt and disgust. The strong characters, weakened by their internal doubt, accept their presupposed destinies of failure. Of course, the meat of the story includes how they are able to push through the insurmountable obstacles, some of which are their own making.

I've given only a handful of 5-kiss ratings so far. The books that earned them really knock my socks off! Can you tell I loved A Bride's Portrait? If/when you read this story, I'd love to chew on it with you, but to tell anymore would give away far too much! You can find it for purchase at Amazon, Christian Books, and Barnes and Noble.

If you could choose any era about which to read, what would it be? I'm all over the place on this one. I like the 1800s, but I also love the Regency era. I'm just as happy in the 40s or 50s as I am in the 80s or today. What would be your choice?