WWW Wednesdays: What's in your book stack? 7/6/11

I'm participating today in WWW Wednesday, hosted by Should Be Reading. Here are the questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

• What are you currently reading?

I'm actually reading two books right now! It just depends on what kind of mood I'm in when I pick up a book. Or sometimes, just whichever one happens to be handy!

They are two vastly different books: The Hand that First Held Mine, by Maggie O'Farrell, and Wedding Season, by Katie Fforde.

I picked up The Hand that First Held Mine at the library after reading more than one blogger review praising the book.

As for Wedding Season, I've enjoyed several other Katie Fforde books. They're a step above your average chick lit--fun, light-hearted, and British. I happen to adore British books!



• What did you recently finish reading?

Too Rich for a Bride, by Mona Hodgson.

• What do you think you’ll read next?

Cascade, by Lisa T. Bergren. I really enjoyed the first book in the River of Time series. I'm even planning my very first book give-away for when I post my review!

Saturday Review of Books: Mona Hodgson's Too Rich for a Bride

I underestimated this book.

When I first started reading Too Rich for a Bride by Mona Hodgson, I thought it was just going to be a lightweight, fluffy romantic historial fiction read. You know, boy-and-girl-meet-cute, boy-and-girl-fall-in-love, and so on.

Instead, I discovered that this well-written little novel makes important points about greed, ambition, trust and doubt.

Ida Sinclair is driven by her desire to succeed as a businesswoman--an unusual and formidable goal for a woman in late 1890's Colorado.

Tucker Raines is an appealing character--a young preacher who just wants to pursue the ministry, but finds himself saddled with the struggling business of a father who is in ill health and seems to want nothing to do with him.

Ida and Tucker do meet kind of cute, but there are obstacles to them getting together--not the least of which is Ida's determination that men have absolutely no place in her life while she climbs the ladder to success.

I enjoyed this thoughtful, insightful story. It was the first time I had read anything by Mona Hodgson, and I came away with a genuine respect for her writing. I will definitely read more by her.

I recommend it, especially if you don't mind your historical romances infused with Christian faith.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Blogging for Books. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

I'm participating today in Semicolon's Saturday Review of Books--click on the icon for more info!

Teaser Tuesday: Too Rich for a Bride

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I'm currently reading Too Rich for a Bride, by Mona Hodgson. After reading several fairly intense books in a row, it's nice to be enjoying a lighter romance set in the Old West!

Here's my teaser:

She was disappointed Tucker hadn't come, and there was no point in denying it. Especially since she seemed to be the only one avoiding the obvious--he had become much more than a mere curiosity to her.

Go to Should Be Reading to participate in Teaser Tuesday!