COURTING EMMA

Author: Sharlene MacLaren ISBN: 9781603740203 4/2008 HISTORICAL Publisher: WHITAKER HOUSE
Time Period: 1896 Kentucky

Twenty-eight-year-old Emma Browning has experienced a good deal of life in her young age. Proprietor of Emma’s Boardinghouse, she is “mother” to an array of beefy, unkempt, often rowdy characters. Though many men would like to get to know the steely, hard-edged, yet surprisingly lovely proprietor, none has truly succeeded. That is, not until the town’s new pastor, Jonathan Atkins, takes up residence in the boardinghouse, affecting not only her with his devout faith and strong convictions, but her clientele as well. Emma clings desperately to her stubborn ways, refusing to acknowledge God’s love until all of Little Hickman witnesses a miracle—the conversion of her abusive and alcoholic father, Ezra! Only then will Emma begin to experience God’s transforming power at work.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

COURTING EMMA by Sharlene MacLaren is the third and final book in the Little Hickman Creek series. I did not read either of the first two books, LOVING LIZA JANE and SARAH, MY BELOVED, but it didn’t matter. This third book stands alone well enough, although now that I’ve read it I am interested in seeing what came before this story. I will make a point to read the first two books, purely for my own pleasure.

Emma is only twenty-eight but she’s seen enough rough living to be toughened beyond her years. She runs a boardinghouse and while it’s filled with all sorts of men, there has been no one who’s been able to breach the defenses she’s built around her heart. When someone she’s known since childhood moves in, Pastor Jonathan Atkins, Emma finds it difficult to keep her steely resolve against romantic interludes, especially when she finds Jon assisting her drunken, uncooperative father, Ezra, to the bathtub. Little by little, Jon affects change at Emma’s boardinghouse. The big question is whether or not he’ll be able to change the lady of the house.

This is a flowing, sweet story that is rich in Christian values. It doesn’t gloss over the harder sides of life, making everything all rosy and sweet-smelling. What it does is show that with faith and a willingness to change, anything is possible. That holds true for the town drunk, and the woman who is most determined to keep the world at bay.

I very much enjoyed COURTING EMMA. Every character is fully developed and while the plot isn’t a fast-mover, it’s also not a plodding story. It is perfectly suited to the time, the characters, and brings a peacefulness to the reader which is very welcome.

Kay James