Title: Fitting In
Author: Rebekah A. Morris (http://readanotherpage.com/)
Genre: Christian historical fiction
Age-Range: middle grade/young adult
Era: early 1900s, I believe?
Setting: a little town, presumably out west
Publisher: Read Another Page, Rebekah A. Morris
Source: author (in exchange for honest review)
Rating: 4/5 stars
Content: 1/5. Nothing that made me uncomfortable. A character who was mentioned but never met in the story was a drunkard.
Cover Review: 3/5. It’s not bad, but I’m not a fan of the cover model. She doesn’t look at all like Elizabeth! (yes, yes I do know what Elizabeth looks like …)
Newly married, Elizabeth Leffler moves with her husband to his farm in the foothills of the western mountains. Eager to be a part of the town and community, she is disappointed by the cool welcome she receives. In her eagerness to fit in and find a place for herself, Elizabeth does the unthinkable.
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I really enjoyed Fitting In, but there were a few things that made me give it less than five stars. I’ll just get them out of the way so we can move onto the positive. 🙂
First, I didn’t get as good a feeling for the setting as I’d like to. I wasn’t sure where or when we were! Second, I felt that at times it was rushed and could have, perhaps, been made into a little longer story. I would have liked a little more background for Elizabeth and her husband – like how they met, for instance. Sometimes the writing seemed to lapse into ‘show not tell.’
Now, for something positive after all that negativity! The characters were amazing. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book in which the characters just jump out of the pages. I don’t know why, but people tend to develop without enlivening their characters! I especially loved Elizabeth! She reminded me of one of my own characters – except maybe a little more excitable – which of course made me love her even more.
The plot was interesting. I really liked it a lot. I especially enjoyed the scene where Elizabeth yells at the town. So amusing!
I think one of the reasons I liked this little short story was because Ms. Morris’s writing style somewhat resembles my own. At least, we have the same strengths – characters – and weaknesses – show not tell, for instance. She’s way better at plots that me, though. All my plots die savage deaths.
Overall, definitely worth the read. You can pre-order it now on Amazon for just $0.99!
~Kellyn Roth
