- Title: At Every Turn
- Author: Anne Mateer
- Series: N/A
- Genre(s): Historical, Inspirational
- Publisher: Bethany House, September 2012
- Source: ARC provided by publisher ($9.99 ebook)
- Length: 320 pages
- Trope(s): Perky Plucky Heroine, Painfully Earnest Cluelessness, Love Triangle, Mid-Level Misunderstandings
- Quick blurb: Spoiled young woman must find a way to raise money she impulsively pledged for a church mission project.
- Quick review: Another one for the “disappointed” list….
- Grade: C-
I fought a ridiculous desire to throw myself into his arms. Instead, I pulled back my shoulders and lifted my chin. “Show me the way.” And he did just that.
This could have been so good — SO GOOD — but the lack of subtlety and tension early in the story, and the lifeless writing, left me dwelling on my annoyances with the heroine.
I knew Alyce would undergo some much-needed Life Lessons, but her initial poor-little-rich-girl cluelessness, reinforced by the first-person POV, came *thatclose* to being TSTL and a DNF. It isn’t until well into the second half that we finally get a brief glimpse of the passion for car racing that turns her into the heroine I was expecting.
And while I knew from other reviews that this title is much preachier (is that a word?) than what I’m usually comfortable with, I was not prepared for the UNBEARABLY cloying and cringe-worthy way the Africa mission plot point was presented. Historically accurate, yes, but most definitely not in a good way, and it’s a huge risk to take in drawing in modern readers.
