Sunday, May 20, 2012

HOMEGROWN DANDELIONS – JUDITH BRONTE.




After a tragic day years ago, Beth Carter was left to pick up the pieces and move on with her life. But she hasn't. She's shut herself to the world, and has vowed never to love again.

Matt Taylor is looking for work, but nothing more. His life is complicated enough with three burdens and a difficult past that won't go away. When Matt arrives at Beth's Garden Nursery to ask for a job, he finds something he hadn't expected. Surrounded by plants with fancy names, all Matt has to offer is a scarred heart-- that, and homegrown dandelions.



There is a simple heads-up that goes with a review of this story: Judith Bronte writes unapologetically Christian themed stories. If you are not sympathetic to Christian beliefs or do not like stories heavily weighted with religious sentiment, these are plainly not the books for you.

For everyone else, this is another well written and enjoyable light romance from a gifted author.

Matt is a good-looking cowboy from the wrong side of the tracks with a family history of poverty, addiction, violence, and infidelity. He is trying to keep his siblings together after they are abandoned by their mother. Beth is a wealthy young widow who is desperately lonely and looking for a family to love.

Their romance develops in accordance with the values of convicted Christians. It is complicated by bad choices both have made in the past, and by the heavy emotional baggage carried by each of them. It is simply written, but discusses far wider issues and a broader span of close relationships than most category Romance novels.

It has a fault which will bother some readers more than others. Quite simply, it is too long and so small flaws which would otherwise be tolerated or go unnoticed, begin to irritate.

For instance, the author follows the day to day minutia of her characters lives. Dramatic tensions which should build and carry the story are doused and then resolved in the midst of trivia.

In addition, we meet far too many characters. A host of incidentals move through the book, each bringing their own life-story but they add almost nothing to the conflict or its resolution. Meanwhile aspects of main characters’ experiences, like anxiety attacks and neonatal drug withdrawal are lost in white noise. Interesting possibilities for subplots are raised but abandoned in favor of more family mealtime. 

That said, for those who would enjoy looking into Matt’s and Beth’s daily life and watching as they deal with the complex problems that confront their young family, it is sound enough and a well written read.






Also by Judith Bronte:

Judith Bronte [Sarah Fall] has written and published a new chapter for her online audience for ten of the last thirteen years, and has yet to miss a deadline. She's written six books, with another soon to be finished. Her eighth book, "Terry's Journey," is a work in progress and can be found at JudithBronte.com.

She lives in Southern California (USA); she's a website designer and graphic artist; in her spare time enjoys reading and writing fiction. Authors such as Laura Ingalls Wilder and L. M. Montgomery are her inspiration, and Jane Austen taught her about the power of conversation while Charlotte Bronte taught her to infuse passion into her words. She started writing love stories in 1998. She loves the challenge of bringing two people together from different backgrounds and finding a way to make that relationship work.
Author's Website : http://JudithBronte.com/
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