Lighter Than Air

by Linda Hoover

Summer 1900 When Elena Bishop lost her mother at age twelve, her father lost his purpose for living. Now they’ll lose their home unless he can pay his gambling debts by the end of the summer. After praying, Elena believes God has given her the idea to have a family camp on the grounds of their estate. Justin Ramsay, Elena’s neighbor, wants to go to America on a secret mission given to him by his grandmother on her death bed. His older brother believes Justin should join the military but offers him a deal. If Justin can keep Elena and the neighborhood safe until he returns with his American bride, he’ll pay for the trip to America. If not, Justin will join a regiment in India. Elena might be impulsive and accident-prone, but Justin believes she’s nothing he can’t handle. Elena and Justin disagree over the camp, even as an attraction beyond friendship ignites between them. Within the first two weeks a little boy falls into the cold-water spring, and problems continue with threatening letters and vandalism. As more money is needed, Elena goes to Brighton to see a man who gives gas balloon rides. What she finds lands both her and Justin in a situation beyond their control. With the deadline for the debt looming, will their insistence on doing things their way give them both a happy ending, or destroy everything they’ve hoped for?

260 pages, Paperback

Published September 28, 2018

About the author

Linda lives in west central Ohio with her husband and grandson. She earned a degree in psychology from Anderson University where she learned the voices in her head were actually characters from stories waiting to be told.

Linda got her start writing columns and a middle grade serial for the South Charleston Spectator. A retired librarian, she now enjoys being a fulltime author in her home office.

Reviews

[Dianna Davies]

An accident prone woman and an unattended air balloon--what could go wrong?

[Anah Martin]

Was interesting and thrilling at times, but struggled to hold my interest. It almost seemed like the author couldn't make up their mind about the genre. Was it a romance with an action and deception subplot or the other way around? Neither was completely engaging so it was hard to get through for me. The writing was good though and the characters were consistent and acting very well based on their portrayal.

[Sandra Southerland]

Wonderful Christian Romantic Fiction!

Life at the turn of the century was a mixture of the old and the new ways of doing things. Faith in God and the timelessness of scripture stands, no matter the century. The characters were well developed and true to themselves, without the heaviness found in dark spiritual novels. An acknowledgement that good and evil do exist, but God is still on the throne!

[Sandy]

Different but enjoyable.

Different in that we knew the bad guy and what he was doing. The difficulty was in proving it and his machinations were interesting. h was wonderful, planning how to outwit him, and having adventures and getting into trouble along the way. She was hilarious, loyal, and inventive as well as delightfully clumsy. Great light, amusing, inspirational story.

[Dienece Darling]

A fun read

Once the balloon ride came into the story things got very interesting. This was an enjoyable read of childhood friends to more. Can't say I like the villain's POV, and that starts in chapter one. Would have preferred the story started with chapter two, but it does make it unique at least for a romance.
This book is as 'light' and fun as its name.

[Lisa]

Surprises all throughout!

When the first chapter began with its focus on the villain, I thought, "oh, no, I'm not going to like this book!" But it wasn't long before characters of integrity entered the story. This novel gave me quite a ride! I enjoyed it so much!

[Jennifer Collins]

Very good novel

This book has adventure, intrigue, and romance. I loved the bit when they were stuck in a hot air balloon. I would highly recommend reading this book, and I look forward to future books by this author.

[Carol]

Enjoyable read with humor about the relationship of two childhood friends Elena and Justin. She really goes beyond with idea of summer resort to save her father’s home. In the end all gets straightened out and they find their hea

[Mark Ragsdale]

Wonderful read

This book should be made into a movie! It had action, adventure, mystery and romance. The characters were wonderful. Great book!!

[Sheila Holmes]

This was just a delightful story in a particularly interesting era. I found myself grinning at conflicts between Elena and Justin, shaking my head at the nonsense that I felt Justin portrayed in his dealings trying to control Elena. All turned out exactly as I hoped in the end.

I can easily recommend this novel to anyone and everyone.

Kudos to the author.

P.S. I started to give a synopsis of the story first, but found that the author's synopsis said everything that was needed, and probably told a lot better than I could have.