Title: Love FInds You in Pendleton, Oregon

Author: Melody Carlson

Publisher: Summerside Press 2010

Genre: Christian fiction

Pages: 313

Rating: 4/ 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Support Your Local Library; April Read-a-Thon; Contemporary Romance

I haven't had the best of luck with Christian fiction, but I thought I would give it another try.  I liked Love Finds You in Paradise, Pennsylvania by Loree Lough, so I thought I would pick up another volume in the series.  And I found one I liked.

I loved the story of Sunny Westcott and her journey to find her place in the world.  The setting of the reservation and the town of Pendleton created a nice dichotomy for Sunny to explore.  On a complete insignificant note, I loved that she was an archaeologist (a little girl dream job along with marine biology and paleontology).  Anyway, she was a great character.  Every hard decision and second guess was believable.  Her inner monologue didn't annoy me like it sometimes does.  I liked getting inside of her head.

The other characters were interesting, but I especially loved Aunt Lulu.  A woman not afraid to speak the hard truths.    My kind of woman.  Echo was delightful.  Aubrey a fun, if a little annoying, opposite to Sunny.  Hank, the matchmaker and general good friend.  And the mysterious Polly, seen only through everyone else's eyes.  They really made the book more than just a simple story.  They added depth and life.

My only issue with the book: the romance.  You know Sunny and Cody are going to end up together, but they don't even approach anything resembling a relationship until around page 250.  And then all of a sudden, they're together and he's asking her to marry him.  Not believable.  They only had one real conversation about them being together and that was only a day before the proposal.  I guess I just wanted to see more growth and developing relationship.  Especially since the series focuses on finding love.  All that being said, I really did like the book.  I want to read more of the series.