This week, we’re looking at a summer romance that is actually a historical fiction that is marketed primarily at the Christian fiction crowd. This week, we’re looking at Ever Faithful by Karen Barnett.
This was a solid summer romance – it takes place over an extended summer mostly at Yellowstone Park in 1933 and includes a happily ever after, satisfying the Romance Writers of America crowd. Which makes it a historical fiction novel – literally, a fiction novel set at some real point in the past. And while its publisher primarily targets the Christian fiction market (and is well known within at least that sphere), the “Christian” parts of this book are not truly preachy at all and are just people living their faith – and living pretty believably for the time period. So the Christian crowd that looks for more preachy books might not like this one as much, but I’m not one of that crowd and I really appreciated the almost understated nature of the Christianity of this book.
I should also note that technically this is book 3 of a series where apparently Barnett takes a different national park over the course of (so far) 6 yrs or so and tells a completely independent story at each. As such, even though you may see “Book 3” marketing around it, it really is a perfectly find stand alone and entry to both this series and this author – as it was for me.
This was also only my second paper book this year, both ARCs from this same publisher, and paper has gotten rather… interesting… for me to read these days. I have to provide a light and manually flip the pages, which is a weird experience after so long with eReaders near exclusively. 😀
Excellent book, I’ll likely wind up going back to the other two in the series at some point. Good summer escapism, and very much recommended.
And as always, the Amazon/ Goodreads review:
Solid Summer Romance- even for the RWA purist crowd. 😉 This is a summer romance that is technically historical fiction and is marketed as Christian fiction. It has an HEA, so the Romance Writers of America purist crowd (who demand that) will be happy. It does an excellent job of highlighting Yellowstone Park during the 1930s, so the historical fiction crowd should have something to sink their teeth into as well. The “Christian” side of it isn’t overly preachy, more just normal people of that era living their lives. So that crowd may whine a bit, but honestly that is the kind of Christian fiction I prefer – and can sell outside of Christian circles. Overall an excellent book, and very much recommended.