June Book

I did not realize this was Christian Fiction when I started the book, and as I don't generally read that genre I am not addressing that part in my review. But I like to finish any book I start, so here we are!

June and her two sisters sign up to be mail order brides to "decent, God-fearing men". June heads off to Seattle, only to find her future husband deathly ill, and he expires shortly after her arrival. Somehow she seems to have the ability to support herself, while working hard collecting money for the church.

Ok, so this is a slight improvement over the first book in the series, Faith, but still not great. June was again not a super likeable character. She was kind of annoying'especially when she informed her friend, May, that "there is always time for church!". Um, excuse me, but May is single handedly caring for an orphanage full of orphans that have no money, little food, little clothing, no resources, and at the same time providing hospice care for her dying aunt. You know, June, just maybe May DOESN'T have time for church right now?? June could have offered to come over early on Sunday to help prepare breakfast for the orphans and help get them dressed and ready, and to feed and care for the sick aunt, but no. She just informs May that May's best efforts aren't good enough for her. I woulda smacked her.

And what kind of town is that, where they ignore starving orphans so that they can build a fancier church? No one has money to spare for a little food for the children, but they give till it hurts for the sparkly bedazzled new church'that Reverend Inman wants to build as a tribute to his late wife. Repeatedly, June asks the Reverend if some money can be spared for the kids, and he turns her away each time because the new church is more important. When she starts a small side business and donates that money to the orphanage, the Reverend gets angry because all the money should go to the church. When she gets people to donate separate money for the kids, the Rev gets mad because June should be spending all her time working for the church. Really didn't like Reverend Inman much.

After her intended, Eli, dies, June clashes with his best friend, Parker. Despite that, June finds feelings stirring within her when she's around Parker. I actually liked Parker, because he was a good guy (and he didn't like the Reverend either!).

As expected, everyone eventually sees the error of their ways and it all ends happily ever after. It's just hard to be satisfied with the story when so many of the characters aren't likeable.