I’m leaving for the American Christian Fiction Writers Conference in about an hour! It’ll be good to see old friends and to make some new connections!
I also wanted to share a positive review about Chesapeake Weddings that was recently posted on Amazon.com:
Weddings For Everyone; Spoiler Alert
Cecelia Dowdy wrote a collection of three short stories in the Christian fiction genre based on the lives of three women in unrelated situations, but whose life path ended up crossing at a later point. Monica was forced to take in her blind nephew when her younger and irresponsible estranged sister decides that she wants to chase her dream of traveling the world with her new fiancé under the premise that she wanted to travel the world. After the death of her father, Emily thinks that her biggest challenge is managing an entire dairy farm all alone, but soon finds that she has to fight for the survival of her livelihood once some secrets are exposed that she was never told. Karen had her entire life turned upside down when her fiancé ran off with the church secretary and a large chunk of embezzled funds, leaving her to wonder if her life with the man she was about to marry was a farce.
The title of the book gave the reader the proper expectation for all of the short stories, so there was little opportunity for shock and surprise. This was the first time that I read a book from the ‘Romancing America’ series, but it seems that there are a series of books that highlight a different state in the country and focus the setting of the story on that particular region. To whet your appetite, the author speaks at length about all of the various food selections in that area to the point that while reading, I often wanted the pleasure to taste the dishes myself.
Another impressive point of this story was the obvious research that the author conducted to make her characters’ areas of expertise believable. In Monica’s story, the gentleman that she ended up falling in love with was an agnostic scientist who was able to tutor her blind nephew. In that story, she was able to convey the language of someone who had that background. Emily’s life was based on a dairy farm with an eventual CPA beau that had a drinking problem, and she was able to make the reader feel as if they were actually in a farm setting with all of the proper lingo. Karen fell in love with the man who lived next door to her mother who was a plumber and who had a heart for ministry.
I recommend this for the reader who needs something to just sit back and relax with on a lazy day. It is not a difficult read that requires much active thought. But, I definitely recommend that the serious dieter pass this read by, the temptation is entirely too great with all of the wonderful description of fresh seafood from the Chesapeake.
The book was provided by the author for review purposes.
Shica Robinson
APOOO BookClub