The Trouble with Patience: A Novel (Virtues and Vices of the Old West)

• Series: Virtues and Vices of the Old West (Book 1)
• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Revell (February 17, 2015)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0800722647

Patience Cavanaugh has lost hope in romance. The man she yearned to marry is dead and her dreams are gone with him. Now she is consumed with the restoration of a dilapidated boarding house in order to support herself. Despite her desire for solitude, Jedediah Jones, the local sheriff with a reputation for hanging criminals, becomes an ever-looming part of her life. It seems like such a simple arrangement: Patience needs someone with a strong back to help her fix up the boardinghouse, and Jedediah needs a dependable source of food for himself and his prisoners. But Patience gets more than she bargained for as she explores the depths of the "hanging lawman"--and finds both betrayal and love.

My Impressions: 

Overall I liked this book. It’s was an enjoyable western/romance style. I could have personally done without some of the more detailed blood/hangman scenes, but it fits the time period and what you would have expected to see. The author does an excellent job brining this book to life with imagery. The romance aspects are clean, leaving more for the imagination than dragging it out graphically, which frankly I prefer.

The characters in this book are multi-layered. It took me some time to warm up to them though. Patience came across as a little too impulsive in her decisions, seeming to jump before thinking things through, which left me a little aggravated with her. As a devotional writer I figured she would have more control over herself than what was portrayed. Then again, that is how she met Jed. Jed is a character within himself. He is hard to like at first, coming off too brazen and egotistical for my taste, but like I said he is layered and as the book progresses many of those layers get shed and we start to see Jed in a whole new light.

I was disappointed that the characters did not develop more spiritually though. It almost seems almost like they stood still. Just when I thought Jed was going to soften his heart toward God and church, he does a 180. It frustrated me that Patience who is a believer was putting herself in any type of romantic relationship with Jed who was clearly struggling.

 Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Revell Publishers. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

 
About Maggie Brendan: 

Brenda Lott aka Maggie Brendan
Hello, dah-lin. My name is Brenda Lott, and I'm from Gah-gah (Georgia) which makes me a Southern belle. Think Scarlett O'Hara. No, make that Margaret Mitchell since I, too, write historical romance novels. My pen name is Maggie Brendan, and I host a writers' critique group in my home. I'm a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers and American Christian Writers, and I won the 2004 Atlanta Persistence Award from the American Christian Writers. When I'm not writing, in my spare time, I like to paint and scrapbook, and be with my four grandchildren. I'm also a member of a large sancturary choir