“A Book Published the Year You Were Born” 2015 Challenge; THE ENDEARMENT by LaVyrle Spencer

There were so many books I could have read that were published in 1982, but I decided to read this one.  The concept sounded intriguing… a mail-order-bride that lied to get out of her current situation.  I mean, one of my favorite books by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, A Rose in Winter, was published in 1982, but I’m reading all new books for this challenge.  Then there was “The Body”, a book that they based the epic movie Stand By Me on.  Even though I wanted to read it, I chose “The Endearment”. I’m disappointed, yet not.  Look below to see what I mean. 

 

THE ENDEARMENT by LaVyrle Spencer

 

BOOK DESCRIPTION

 

From the streets of 19th-century Boston to the harsh frontier--she wove a web of deception to ensnare her man!

Lovely, fiery-tempered Anna Reardon was forced to lie to get out of the street urchin's life that shamed her ... to become Karl Lindstrom's mail-order bride in the beautiful, treacherous Minnesota wilderness.

Karl forgave Anna for her deceptions--but there was still one shameful, burning secret that she had to hide from him, knowing its revelation would destroy the love that had become her very life!

 

 

MY REVIEW

2 out of 5 *Stars*

 

Honey… Baby… Loverboy… Studmuffin…

 

Oh wow.  This book was actually a struggle to get through.  Let me correct that…  The beginning was a struggle to get through.  Then after much treacherous reading, a fairly good ending came from it all.  Anna, the bride, didn’t know how to do anything when she got to the wilderness of Minnesota.  The first half of the book was spent explaining how to do everything to her, and the reader, with how detailed it got.  Yes there was a little bit of chemistry, but the first have was like a “How to Survive in the Wilderness with Only an Axe” guidebook. It was only after she had been taught everything at least once did the story start coming along.  However, by the end, even though it was entirely predictable, I was quickly flipping pages because it had finally grabbed my attention.

 

Along with the story, the writing was hard to get through.  I had to go back and re-read paragraphs to understand a few.  Example…

 

“…kneeling in the glow that limned their bodies in fireshine, that splashed a half of each with orange, that picked the radiance from one pair of eyes and set it dancing to another, eyes that wondered and worshipped, widened and wondered.”

 

Yes, it is beautiful, but… the whole book was like that when giving a description, and I found it too hard to follow most of the time.  Then, there was how Karl, our Minnesota Man, described things, especially when he talked about trees.

 

“See that one there?  Yellow locust. Splits as smooth and as true as the flight of an apple falling from a tree.  And that Chestnut there? Another smooth splitter, to make board as flat as milk on a plate.”

 

Or should we call him Metaphor Man instead of Minnesota Man?

 

Speaking of our main man, you hear the saying tall, dark, and handsome all the time in regards to the hero of a romance novel.  What if the man was honest, light, and perfect in every way?  That was Karl.  He was a man from Sweden that was perfect in every way, except for his ability to forgive, so perfect that it was almost nauseating.  Who is THAT perfect, I ask?  NOBODY!  He had all the answers, and knew how to do everything.  Then came this girl, I say girl because she was only 17, and she couldn’t do anything.  I almost felt sorry for her, if she wasn’t a fictional character and all. 

 

Yes, he was completely perfect, and a hopeless romantic.

 

“I have loved you when I did not know you existed, Anna.  I have loved the dream of you.  I have begun loving you before I left my mother’s arms.  I have loved you while I find this land to which I would bring you and while I cut its timbers to build this home for you and while I reap my grains for you and build my fire for you… I know all my life you are waiting somewhere for me.”

 

Awww… Yeah, that was pretty good!

 

Ok, time for my “Overall”.  Overall… Much to the dismay of my husband who's from Minnesota, I honestly feel that this book would be a waste of your time.  The first half was almost brutal to get through, and even though it ended well, there are many other romance books, even historical ones about mail-order brides, out there that are good all the way through.  I have seen a few reviews that said it was better the second time around, but I don’t think I’m going to find that one out.  Oh well, where one falls flat, another one soars. 

 

15 books down, 37 to go!!

Happy Reading, Everyone!