"Wanted: A Family" Review

Wanted:  A Family by Janet Dean is a book that I won through the GoodReads “First Reads” giveaway program. If you are a GoodReads member, check out the giveaways here.

In this book, we are introduced to Callie Mitchell, a young widow living in Peaceful, Indiana, in 1900, who discovers she is expecting just shortly after her husband dies. The old Victorian house that she and her husband were renovating is all that she has left for herself and for her baby, and she is determined to make it into a home. To do this, Callie plans to house young women who are in need of a home and also in need of God’s mercy and love.

In order to restore her house, Callie must trust a stranger, Jacob Smith, who has his own reasons for coming to this small Indiana town. Jacob plans to stay in Peaceful only long enough to find the mother who abandoned him years ago. He did not plan to have any feelings for Callie whatsoever, and he especially did not expect to start seeking God for a possible plan for his life.

As Jacob and Callie deal with their own struggles, they wonder if it will be possible for them to have the family they have been wanting.

I always like when a book pulls me right into the story as soon as I start reading, and this book did just that. I immediately liked and had sympathy for Callie and also for Jake. I thought they were both dealing with thought-provoking circumstances, and I was interested to see how things would turn out.

I was especially interested in the part of the story where Callie wanted to house young women who were in need. The need in this case was mostly women who were pregnant and unmarried, and it was interesting to see how loving and caring Callie was towards these women. It was also interesting to see the way these women were treated in the community—they were not treated well. This storyline was appealing to me, and I felt connected to it, because my church has a similar ministry. (Visit http://www.faithlafayette.org/voh for more information). I also liked that the story was set in Indiana!

As for the romance between Callie and Jake, I felt that it progressed at an appropriate pace and felt natural. I also liked that both points of view were told in this romantic story. While some of the romantic notions were a little much for me—I tend to get irritated with the repetitive ‘…the way his broad shoulders filled out his shirt…’ wording (this is not a direct quote from this book)—the love story was still good and was not the entire plot of the book.

This book had a good ending that was believable, except that I thought the townspeople changed their minds about one particular issue rather quickly.

I would like to thank author Janet Dean for my autographed copy of Wanted:  A Famly and GoodReads for their giveaway.

I will give Wanted:  A Family… 4 BookWorms.