A total miss for me, this book would not have been finished if I wasn't reading it for a reading challenge. Writing negative reviews is never an easy thing for me, because I know how many hours and how much heart an author puts into her books. I wish I had happy things to say about every book I read, but unfortunately, that isn't the case.
Fair warning: There are spoilers ahead. Read at your own risk.
I never did understand Mr. Samuelson. He bullied the lead for no apparent reason, other than the story needed a bad guy. He wanted the teacher to provide a great example for his girls, yet he set an atrocious one himself, which made him a hypocrite (for which he never felt conviction). There was no reason I could detect for his assumptions and false allegations against Miss Wilkes.
Both of the leads wavered or were inconsistent (or both) in their faith. A primary example is that the preacher was happy to share about God with someone, but two paragraphs later he decided to not pray over a major decision because “he didn't foresee anything changing his mind.” (p. 228) That infers two things: 1. that even God can't change the preacher's mind, and 2. that when things seem impossible, one should not turn to God for guidance or help. Those were strange ideals for a supposedly devoted preacher to have, particularly near the end of the story, where it is expected he will have grown in his faith instead.
Twice, the preacher noticed how handsome a man was. Though it was clear the preacher was attracted to the female schoolteacher, the wording of these two instances was awkward and easy to misunderstand.
Emmy's choices often did not reflect her goal of not wanting to encourage men's attention or to appear as if she were being courted. Her lack of remembrance that Mr. Samuelson was watching her every move concerned me, because it proved her incompetence for her work–another reason Mr. Samuelson would have terminated her employment. Yet, he never caught her in her poor decisions, so I ended up doubting he was truly watching her as closely as he claimed, which then made all the bluster whoosh from his snarly scenes.
A main message seemed to be that being married to multiple wives at the same time was okay, as long as one's first marriage contained no love. This really bothered me, and I struggled to find any remorse in either of the two guilty men.
Another key theme was that a man and woman living together under the excuse of being a boarder was acceptable. I couldn't believe how many times the leading lady moved in and out of the preacher's house, especially when she had found a spot in a proper boardinghouse. I understood the first night the teacher arrived, because there was a misunderstanding and a white-out blizzard that could have cost them their lives had they attempted to find more appropriate lodging for her that night. After that, though, it came across to me as a blatant sin that neither felt ashamed of or convicted for, as both knew it was improper and inappropriate. I really thought both of them would know better than to put themselves in such an awkward and sinful position, especially the preacher, who was supposed to be teaching his congregation Christian morals. Not only all of that, but they never got caught either, which made it seem like the behavior was accepted by the bad guy, who was bullying the teacher, and the other members of the community (including the upstanding ones).
The conversion scene came out of the blue, which made it feel too rushed. There was no lead-up of curiosity about Jesus prior to accepting Him into the heart.
Other content:
* saloon
* alcohol
* polygamy
* marital affairs
I really wanted to like this one. I went into it eager to love it. Unfortunately, I never could get into it, and every moment I thought I saw a glimpse of something cute or special, one of the aforementioned issues popped up and swiftly snuffed out the flicker of hope.
I was not compensated for my honest review.
