Stranger in Town

I'm a fan of Judith Duncan's books set in the Canadian prarie ranching towns and like books with intimate domestic settings in these tiny communities where lives are intermingled and everyone knows everyone else. I can't now recall how I wound up in Dundee, Idaho with Brenda Novak but somehow I did. I liked this book with a couple of reservations. The descriptions of town life with nosy neighbours and good and bad people were good. The nasty ex-husband of the heroine was especially well done - what an awful man. What I did NOT like, however, was the fact that she did not take real, positive action when he nearly decked her in a fit of jealous, juvenile anger. She had no reason not to pursue him and regain full custody of her children over his behaviour. I liked the hero who reminded me of Mitch in Her Secret, His Child by Paula Detmer Riggs. He had a far harder journey than any of the others although we only meet him at the end of his period of acceptance of what has happened to him. When a H/H grow, evolve and mature in a story, I appreciate watching this happen. However, we had two 37 year olds in this book who seemed a little behind in the process. OK, Gabe has been disabled and Hannah had the marriage from hell but I think both of them were a little slow in growing up. Gabe's attitude towards his parents and one of his sisters was less than grown up and Hannah's refusal to deal rationally and decisively with an ex-husband who was abusive of her and in many ways of her children did not strike me as how a mature couple would behave. I liked the children in this story because the elder, in particular, had a journey of his own. However, the ex-husband situation should have been better resolved for all concerned, particularly the two boys. All in all a good story but not a keeper. The author writes well enough but something was lacking here for me and I think it was that lack of maturity in the H/H that stopped this being a 5 star book.

I loved this book! Not only was the romance sweet, the emotional development of the characters was wonderful. It was not just another sappy romance. The characters seemed real. Definitely worth reading!