The Visitor

Some time ago, I decided to stop reading romance novels because of certain scenes that were not appropriate, in my mind, to a young, single woman. I didn't feel comfortable reading them so I set aside all romance novels until last year when a friend introduced me to "Christian romance" with a book by Lori Wick. It was pretty good, or at least good enough that I decided that I would be willing to read books by her in lieu of the normal romance novels that one can find. In these books, the more intimate scenes have been deleted, though there are often what I term "conversion scenes," where someone accepts Christianity and talks about how it changes their life and so on and so forth. These scenes are a little silly to me but they are miles better than the scenes from the old romance novels that made me blush while I was trying to enjoy a fluffy book/love story.

The Visitor is the third book in a series called The English Garden Series. The books stand alone but they involve people living in a small English village by the name of Collingbourne. In The Visitor, we meet the Steeles, Henry, Charlotte, Elizabeth, Edward, and Cassandra. Cassandra is asked to read to a young man, Alexander Tate, who is healing after a fall from a horse riding accident that has affected his sight. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is experiencing the pains of unrequited love as the man she loves is in Africa with her brother, Edward.

I have to say that even though the writing isn't particularly good and the plot lines are in no way unique (they are the typical boy meets girl romance type plot), I do enjoy Wicks work. The story and the writing are a bit corny and Wick spends a lot of time going through Biblical passages and preaching through Pastor Hurst but I still like the stories. I don't always agree with her ideas or theology but I choose not to let that affect my enjoyment of the tale of two people (or in this case, four) falling in love, even when the path isn't particularly easy.

Rating: 4.0