Bookshelf Friday - A Hope Undaunted

Julie Lessman is a masterful writer. She weaves a story full of chemistry and conflict that keeps the reader turning pages, and A Hope Undaunted is no exception.

I loved this story. I loved how she brought in the entire O'Connor family and made you a part of it. I also loved her leading man, Luke "Cluny" McGee. He and Katie make the pages come alive. And just when you think you know what will happen, Lessman changes it again. And herein lies my issues with the story.

See, I love conflict and unexpected twists-and-turns in books, and I was flipping pages right along with Lessman, fully into this story, up until the last one hundred pages. It was at this point I felt she took one turn too many. Rather than being pleasantly surprised by another twist, I wanted to yell at the characters I'd come to love--and not in a good way. For me, it made a frustrating ending to a book I truly wanted to love all the way through.

That said, the final page was just what I wanted, I simply hoped it had come pages earlier. Still, Julie is a fantastic writer, and I will read her again. In fact, A Hope Undaunted is the continuation of the O'Connor family stories, and I plan to pick up the original series, Daughters of Boston, where this family is first introduced.