Monday, August 9, 2010

Love Finds You in Homestead, Iowa by Melanie Dobson ~ 4 stars

Love Finds You in Homestead, Iowa
Melanie Dobson
Love Finds You series
Summerside Press
About the book:
Times are hard in 1894. Desperate for work, former banker Jacob Hirsch rides the rails west from Chicago with his four-year-old daughter, Cassie. When a life-threatening illness strands the pair in Homestead, Iowa, the local Amana villagers welcome the father and daughter into their peaceful society. Liesel, a young Amana woman, nurses Cassie back to health, and the Homestead elders offer Jacob work. But Jacob’s growing interest in Liesel complicates his position in the Amanas. Will he fight to stay in the only place that feels like home, even if it means giving up the woman he loves? Or will Liesel leave her beloved community to face the outside world with Jacob and Cassie at her side?

My review:
There are certain things about the way the Amana Society believes that bother me. So those instances made the book a smidgen less enjoyable for me, but for the most part, I liked the book. The writing was good, and I liked the characters, but I didn’t fall in love with them. This is an enjoyable read with a sweet ending though, and I did like it.

10 comments:

Bluerose said...

Sometimes I have a hard time with books that represent beliefs that are far from mine. It always takes a bit of the joy away from reading, because I seem to get "hung up" on thinking what I think is wrong. And how I would have changed that part.
And sometimes it's interesting to learn about the other beliefs.
I've had my eye on this one, though, along with all the other LFY books! :)

Carman said...

bluerose~ I am the same way! I just want to tell them "That's not right! Don't believe that." :( I try to focus on the story and the writing, but I can't always do that. Yeah, I've loved almost every single one of the LFY books that I've read. :) Great series.

Linda said...

I would love to read about the Amana Society. I know nothing about them. Apparently from your review, you don't agree with some of their beliefs.
desertrose5173 at gmail dot com

Unknown said...

Since I know nothing about the Amana Society, I have great interest in reading this book to find out what some of the personal objections are about. I appreciate your honesty in the review of Melanie Dobson's novel. The storyline sounds good and interests me as well. I'd like to read this one.

Barb Shelton
barbjan10 at tx dot rr dot com

karenk said...

a sweet review...thanks for sharing :)

karenk
kmkuka at yahoo dot com

Carman said...

Linda~ I hadn't heard of them either, before I read this book and one other similar to this. Yeah. They believe kind of like the Amish, only even more so in certain areas.

Barb~ I'm glad that you still want to give the book a chance! I hope you enjoy it more than I did. Thanks for commenting!

karenk~ Thanks for commenting. :)

Bleah Briann//Lovely said...

hmmm, I don't know. I guess I'll look this up and try it. Though I don't think this is really my type of book.

Carman said...

Yeah, I'm not into the Amana Society and Amish books, but sometimes I really like them. This is one of the ones that I didn't enjoy so much. :/

misskallie2000 said...

I love the story line in LFYIHI and can't wait to read. In fact I was just notified that I had won the book on another bolg.

Thanks for your great review.

Carman said...

misskallie2000~ Yay! I hope you enjoy it! p.s. don't forget to let me know your thoughts on the book. You can even send me an email if you want. :)