FLIRTATION WALK BY SIRI MITCHELL

This was a nice Christian novel— a wholesome romance, a good message, and some comedy. Mitchell is one of the most accomplished practitioners of the pastel-historical genre and her hefty amounts of research only add to the pretty illusion she creates. But she’s also a very skilled author. Flirtation Walk was complex and loaded with characters and detail. The faith message was well-presented. The overall moral that a life of selfishness doesn’t pay and that honesty and compassion for others really lead to one’s own happiness was well-developed.

The heroine was very unlikable. Mitchell describes herself as a character-driven author, and Lucinda’s moral growth and development was the main thrust of the book. Without her flaws, she couldn’t have learned any lessons and changed her ways. Lucinda begins the book cold, selfish and conceited—proud of helping her swindler father and determined to prey on her “nice” relatives now her father has died. But in the end she learns self-sacrifice and honesty, and is much more fulfilled not only as a person, but as a Christian.

A warning—Lucinda and Seth’s POVs were BOTH in first person and switched constantly back and forth. And almost all the hero’s many chapters were extremely boring. Repeat very boring. Repeat extremely, extremely, extremely boring. Lucinda’s chapters had much more drive. I skimmed endless interactions between Seth and his three friends at West Point as the guys tried to help Seth fail at his classes and get demoted. They got a touch more interesting towards the end when they engaged in a clever plot, but mostly the guys all seemed to have the same personality. Still, I enjoyed the book.

I was given this book by Bethany in exchange for my honest opinion.