A...My Name's Amelia (Five Star Expressions)

by Joanne Sundell

Deafened at a young age, her natural-born means of expression taken from her, Amelia Anne Polley must learn to communicate all over again. More than her ability to hear was taken from her, on the fateful day she fell ill in 1874. Left to grow up in frontier territory, at the Colorado Institute for the Education of Mutes, Amelia is determined to live the life she'd dreamed for herself, before becoming deaf. Her dreams do not include becoming anyone's mail-order bride, especially the handsome, roughened rancher, Aaron Zachary's. Amelia has reasons enough not to marry Aaron, not the least of which is that she and the weathered cowboy are complete strangers. Different in ways that count, for any man and wife, Amelia and Aaron surely won't suit. Why, they have nothing in common--except secrets--secrets neither wants to reveal to the other, and risk what might happen. Beyond the language of speech and sign, of reading and writing, and informed expression, is another language, one speaking to emotion and passion, a language far more intimate, and oftentimes, harder to learn. Only if Amelia and Aaron can find their way out of their troubled pasts, overcoming hardship and heartache, will they find their way to each other, and learn to speak the same language--of love.

Genres: Fiction

299 pages, Hardcover

First published March 21, 2007

About the author

My nine, published novels to date are with Five Star, Gale/Cengage. Number ten will be out August, 2019. What started as a pastime in my mountain writing spot turned into a realization of my dream to bring my own voice to my own fiction page in frontier history. My early novels reveal my love of historical romance, while later works uncover my bent for western spirits, in fact and fiction. The Old West (and sometimes the Arctic West of Alaska) is ever the star. I'm just here to record moments in time.

My husband and I raised our three children in the Colorado Rockies, and moved to southern California ten years ago.

My best to you, readers all,
Joanne Sundell

Memberships in WWA, WWW, RWA

Reviews

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal - one to which to listen to several times. Girl who lost hearing due to brain disease becomes mail order bride for man who cannot read or write (other than basic math). Historical novel initially taking place in Colorado Springs - where school for the deaf was located. Great read or listen!

[Evie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tera a reason I don't usually read romances, and this helped me to remember why. Not my favorite genre.

[Anna Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

What happens when a mail-order bride is deaf and communicates by writing, and her cowboy husband can't read?

Well... it's a little more complex than that, but there's the basic premise.

*Spoilers likely follow. It's a review, after all.*

It's the 1880's, and Amelia is deaf. She works at a printing press all day and mentors little girls all evening at the deaf institute. She's happy with her life until the day she covers the counter at the press and takes the mail order ad from Aaron Zachary. It's love at first sight, for both of them... so when a horrible woman answers, Amelia gives up everything she has in the world to pay for the woman's return home, and inserts herself into the position.

Except that Aaron is dyslexic, and gave up on writing/reading, so there's no way they can communicate with each other. The story has a lot of crises in it, too - an epileptic child, interfering deaf nemesis, cattle poisoning/re-branding, back story abandonment...

And while it was an okay read, it wasn't exciting. There wasn't chemistry between two people NOT communicating. The crises were depressing, not engaging. The romance was the last two pages or so... and was too long in coming - we weren't there with her for it, by then. She spent LONG, LONNNNNG paragraphs explaining every position of every word she signs... it's mega-super tedious and perplexing.

I'm not saying the premise isn't good, but it was... lacking. A lot.

[Lea M · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an interesting premise but sorely lacking in execution. The writing was poor, and too much time was spent trying to describe Amelia signing. Glad I checked it out from the library instead of buying!

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. I liked the subject and setting but felt the writting was poor. There were a few paragraphs that showed promise, but I had to force myself to finsih. :(

[Linda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Full of trite sayings. Probably not my genre.

[Shannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book looks interesting but is the most boring book that I have ever read. I kept reading until the end because I hoped that it would get better but it did not.