Revell Blog Tour: While Love Stirs

Here's a description of the book from Revell:

"Take one lovely young woman. 
Add two ambitious young men. 
Stir . . . and stand back. 

As a graduate of Fannie Farmer's School of Cookery, Charlotte Gregory is thrilled to have the opportunity to travel, lecture, and give cooking demonstrations on the very latest kitchen revolution--the gas stove. And she certainly doesn't mind that the gas company has hired the kindhearted Lewis Mathis to entertain at her lectures.

Lewis encourages Charlotte's work, especially her crusade to introduce fresh, appetizing, nutritious food to those convalescing in hospitals. But young hospital superintendent Dr. Joel Brooks is not convinced any changes should be made--especially by this outspoken young woman.

When Charlotte and Joel are coerced into planning a fund-raising gala for the hospital, will this combustible pair explode?

Follow the second Gregory sister as she looks for true love and makes her way in a rapidly changing world in this breezy, lighthearted love triangle that will keep you guessing."

My Rating

Spring

My Review

I love Lorna Seilstad's take on historical fiction. It's fun. It's fresh. And it's fanciful within the realm of plausibility, as her stories play up unique historical settings and situations.

While Love Stirs explores everything from cooking, doctoring, rehabilitating, touring for a company, and even the theater (through the eyes of Charlotte's younger sister) - all at the turn of the century. The research behind it is intriguing; the way the research is incorporated is engaging. I enjoyed meeting the characters (for the first time, as I haven't read the first book in the series at this point) and witnessing the great battle between Charlotte and one of the young men who admires her. There's definitely a lot stirring in this story, from emotions to ambitions to romance to even a bit of mystery in a secondary character's storyline.

I confess to peeking ahead too much...so I didn't stay fully "in the moment" throughout the whole reading experience. But taking the time to go back and read through each scene was still enjoyable, as Seilstad does a great job with characterization. I just would have liked a little more from the climax.

And my second confession: I believe the back cover copy is sort of misleading. It certainly serves its purpose, as it caught my interest! But I personally didn't feel like the love triangle was much of a love triangle at all, nor was there a whole lot to be kept guessing about, at least in the main romance. (That could be partially a result of peeking ahead, though.) Based on all that the back cover promised, I would have loved a few more surprises - a little deviation from the expected. Yet some might delight to discover that the love triangle isn't overly prevalent.

So, based on my love of Lorna's first two books (in the "Lake Manawa Summers" series), as well as my hopes based on the back cover, I would have loved a bit "more" from this book. However, it's still really fun in the tradition of Lorna's last series - and readers looking for clean and clever historical romance need look no further. Tessa's secondary storyline gave a good taste for her character's personality and interests, so Book 3 in "The Gregory Sisters" series should be another fun installment!

*With thanks to Revell for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for my honest opinion.*

Available May 2014 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.