Plot: Sadie Speers, the main character whose love for antiques and history makes her shine, discovers that her family history, as she knows it, may have to be rewritten. She follows the leads of a dress that has red stains – which may be old bloodstains, antique gun, and a mysterious brass key, all to find out the truth of her great aunt’s story over 100 years before. It has all the workings of a good mystery novel.
And on top of all that, Sadie is chosen to host the Founder’s Day picnic, her car was vandalized, and she lost her wedding ring from her late husband, whom we get little flashes of backstory about throughout the novel, which I thought was a nice touch. She has a lot on her plate, but she knows that Jesus will get her through. I love how she has such faith in Christ. 🙂
Sadie’s friends are really great too. Hank, Sadie’s dog, is adorable, protective, playful, cuddly… I want him. XD Edwin Marshal, her old flame, is back in town, and that makes Sadie get butterflies, which was amusing to read about. Marge was fun. Especially when preparing for the founder’s day picnic… XD Rosalind (Roz) Putnam, Sadie’s best friend, whom it is joked about in the book as standing ”five foot twelve inches”, has interesting fashion choices that were always adequately described. And then there’s Laura Finch, who is in town for the genealogy conference…
I found a couple of typos // plot issues; which took me out of the story (when I read, I like to really get into the book XD), by thinking, “What…?” On page 146, the order in which the events are written makes it sounds like Sadie is shaking hands with someone’s bag instead of his outreaching hand. The mental image made me laugh though. XD The second was on page 193, when Sadie told Alice, her daughter, the results of a DNA test on the phone. Only 7 pages later, Sadie tells Alice the results of the DNA test again, and Alice acts as if she hadn’t heard them before.
Overall: Looking past the typos, I really enjoyed it. Some parts felt like it dragged a bit, but the backstory of the characters gave it some “fluff”. And I really liked that it had a Christian element to it. I look forward to reading the next one. 🙂
I loved that there were some red herrings, so you think you know what is happening, but then you find out you weren’t even close. XD The ending shocked me; never saw it coming. It was really great.
Following Him Beside Still Waters 