Deeply Devoted

3.5 stars. I picked this up on a whim yesterday in the church library...

This book lost an entire star because of historical flavor. I actually really enjoyed the story and the characters.

The author's local flavor is great. I loved reading about Wyoming in those days. However, while I am quite ready to accept that the young ladies have a fine command of English, since their parents were well-to-do and in shipping, the slang is out of place. Nowadays there is much slang in our language that still mystifies speakers of English as a Second Language (believe me, I taught it for two years), but back then even Peter himself probably wouldn't have known what the terms like “cute” (came into fashion in the early 1900s, as a shortening of “acute”, meaning smart; didn't catch on in general society for a while.) meant.

And durable dresses and protective shoes for farm work is a practical thought...but the women would have been thoroughly insulted at thought of overalls...that was scandalous when it came into general use during WW1 when the men were off to war. And a mercantile most likely wouldn't have stocked sizes to fit women, especially not one with such delicious curves as Catharine's!

So, yes, good story...fully authentic, no. But sweet.