Fair Play

Fair Play
Deeanne Gist
Howard Books
May 6, 2014
Fiction, Romance, Historical

From the bestselling author of It Happened at the Fair comes a historical love story about a lady doctor and a Texas Ranger who meet at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.

Saddled with a man's name, Billy Jack Tate makes no apologies for taking on a man's profession. As a doctor at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, she is one step closer to having her very own medical practice; until Hunter Scott asks her to give it all up to become his wife.

Hunter is one of the elite Texas ranger and World's Fair guard specifically chosen for his height, physique, character, and skill. Hailed as the toughest man west of any place east, he has no patience for big cities and women who think they belong anywhere but home.

Despite their differences of opinion, Hunter and Billy find a growing attraction until Hunter discovers an abandoned baby in the corner of a White City exhibit. He and Billy team up to make sure this foundling isn't left in the slums of Chicago. As they fight for the underprivileged children in the Nineteenth Ward, an entire playground movement is birthed. But when the fair comes to an end, one of them will have to give up their dream.

Will Billy exchange her doctor's shingle for the domesticated role of a southern wife, or will Hunter abandon the wide open spaces of home for a life in the gray city; a woman who insists on being the wage earner, and a group of ragamuffins who need more than one breathing space?

Much like the first fair book I read from Gist I found this book to be entertaining and fun. It grabbed my attention right from the start. Hunter and Billy are likable in so many ways. The story runs a bit all over the place. I did feel at times that there were multiple plots all at once. While it wasn't hard to follow it did feel a bit boggy.

Once again, I want to make it clear, there is absolutely no mention of anything "Christian" in this book. While well-written and "clean" I can hardly call it a Christian fiction book. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it, I just feel that's worth mentioning. The romance sections seemed a bit more risque this time around as opposed to previous books. Nothing explicit but not your average Christian romance book.

My thanks to Howard Books for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my real and honest review. 

It Happened at the Fair

It Happened at the Fair
DeeAnne Gist
Howard Books
Fiction, Romance, Christian 
April 2013

Beginning to lose his hearing and highly allergic to cotton and farm life in general Cullen's father gambles everything to send him to the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Cullen goes extremely reluctantly sure he's going to fail. He's also hesitant to leave his girlfriend turned fiancee, but his father has arranged everything so Cullen goes. He's been enamored with the fair and with inventing for quite awhile and while he's reluctant a tiny seed of excitement stirs inside him. Once at the fair he quickly realizes his hearing loss is going to be a major issue in the very noisy mechanics building. At the suggestions of a possible investor he hires Della Wentworth, a teacher of the deaf, to tutor him in the art of lip-reading.  

Della is at the fair teaching deaf children in a live exhibit. She's reluctant to teach Cullen but agrees when he suggests that they can explore the fair while he's learning. Della is immediately attracted to Cullen but remains very wary at the caution of her overly protective father. 

Cullen finds he enjoys nothing more than watching Della's lips as she teaches him. He's caught between his attraction to her and his loyalty to his fiancee back home. As Della and Cullen explore the fair together their feelings for each other develop. What will happen when Cullen's fiancee show's up at the fair demanding he marry her? Will Della and Cullen find a way to be together? 

The historical aspects of the World's Fair were incredible. It was clear Gist did an immense amount of research. I felt like I got to walk alongside Cullen and Della every evening at the fair. The detailed descriptions were captivating and I could "see" each building. What an amazing feat and showpiece for our country! 

Deanne Gist has brought us many delightful Christian romance novels filled with that perfect blend of romance, history, and God all rolled into one. I expected the exact same thing when I cracked open this book. Unfortunately I was disappointed. There was romance and there was history but there was very little God. In fact, he wasn't mentioned in the book in any noticeable way until near the very end, almost as if it was a last minute addition. Having it be a last minute disjointed addition was almost more disappointing to me.

There were some inconsistencies within the plot line that I found to be confusing. For instance, Della makes it very clear that learning the art of lip reading will take years. Cullen still decided to begin lessons knowing the fair only runs for 6 months. Other than that relationship being needed for the story it seemed very far fetched. Also, the investor who suggests lip reading plays a very small part and his suggestion is very weak. There were little to no supporting characters which meant we were always with either Cullen or Della but I would have liked to have seen them have friends around them. They were very isolated. 

One other thing worthy of note is that Gist attempts to write the way Cullen hears. She purposely omits parts of words so we as the reader can maybe understand Cullen's hearing needs. I found it more irritating than helpful. She omitted a lot of vowels which didn't make sense to me. I'm not sure it was as effective as she wanted it to be.

With all of that said Cullen and Della have a beautiful love story. They are sweet and their desire for each other is evident. It's the well written romantic piece you would expect from Gist. The historical detail is expansive and captivating. It's a good read, not a great read. I've read great from Gist so I know she can do better.

My thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my real and honest review.