A Worthy Pursuit

Ever since I read Karen Witemeyer's first book, I have loved her writing. She has a way with injecting humor into her writing that makes reading her work much more enjoyable. A lot of her humor is understated, but it shines throughout the novel.

A Worthy Pursuit is Karen's latest offering and is absolutely un-put-down-able. One thing I like about my kindle is that it tells me how much time it will take me to finish the book. Usually a book of this length will take me a couple of sittings to read, but I finished this one off in one sitting.

Charlotte is the headmistress of a school for exceptional children. A few of the children are orphans, and others are placed because of the wealth of their families. Stephen, John, and Lily are three of the students who have captured Charlotte's attention and affections. Stephen's parents left him at the school so they could travel, John is a Chinese orphan, and Lily is Charlotte's ward as directed by Rebekah's (Lily's mother) will. Each of the children is gifted in different ways--John is a piano prodigy, Stephen is very mechanically minded, and Lily has a photographic memory. The only problem is that Lily's grandfather, Mr. Dorchester, wants her back to use her in his nefarious business dealings. So he convinces the owner of the school to close it down. Charlotte takes Lily, Stephen, and John with her to the cabin her parents bought for her in Madisonville, Texas. In order to get Lily back, Mr. Dorchester has hired Stone Hammond to find Lily and return her to him. Stone Hammond has the reputation for never coming in empty-handed, and when he finds Charlotte and the children, he gets bonked on the head by a rifle butt in the hands of her property's caretaker. Because Charlotte is a tender-hearted woman, she takes care of Stone's injuries and then explains why she has the charge of the three children, with papers to prove her stance.

This is the premise for the whole book that includes surprises at every turn--kidnappings and attempts of kidnappings; bounty hunters, former Texas Rangers, scofflaws, and general nuisances populate the book's plot and keep the reader involved until the very last page. Karen has done a masterful job of weaving all of these elements into a most enjoyable Sunday afternoon read.

Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a special talent to help you through the day.

My thanks to Bethany House for allowing me to read and review this book in exchange only for my honest review.