I’ve bought a lot of books by Jo Goodman (ever since I met her at the Atlanta CR meeting) but this is the first time I’ve read one. Not quite sure what to think – this one was hard to grade.
More Than You Wished by Jo Goodman
(2001, American Historical) 8/26/12
Grade: 4
Set 10 years after the Civil War, Bria is reluctant to hire Northerner Luke Kincaid, but he may be the only way she can regain her family’s plantation from her hated stepfather. Luke has his ow reasons for being in South Carolina, but the more he gets to know Bria, the more he’s drawn to her… and the more he’s willing to enter in a marriage of convenience that may turn into something real.
The writing was good, the setting was interesting, the characters were well written… but somehow this book lacked something. The pacing seemed slightly off, and the emotional engagement just wasn’t quite there. Maybe it was the secrets that were kept from the reader until almost the end of the book, I can’t quite put my finger on it, but somehow this book didn’t quite engage me the way I hoped it would.
There may have been an advantage to reading this one in e-book form, since I couldn’t easily skip ahead – it forced me to read it through which might have helped me keep going. I did come close to giving up a couple of times.
Karen Wheless
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