Book Review: Hide In Plain Sight

As requested by Madeline, here is a review for Marta Perry's Hide in Plain Sight. =D

Synopsis: She couldn't turn her back on her family in their time of need. So when her sister was injured, financial expert Andrea Hampton traded the big city for Amish country to help turn her grandmother's house into an inn.

But life with the Plain People took a treacherous turn when a string of accidents and pranks threatened her family. Someone didn't want the secrets the old house harbored to come to light. Trusting anyone-- even the handsome carpenter who seemed so genuine--was a battle for Andrea, but her life depended on her ability to find the truth.

Plot: Unfortunately, this book wasn't long enough for both a mystery/suspense plot and thorough fleshing out of characters, so one venue had to be chosen and utilized. Marta Perry chose the plot.
I must admit that, from the beginning (and finding out that it was a LoveInspired book), I wasn't expecting much. Of course, since it was recommended to me, I was expecting it to be readable. The end result was rather surprising.

The plot was a typical sabotage-and-prowler type. It's Nancy Drew-esque and rather anticlimactic. But it's a romance novel - suspenseful or otherwise - and I've noticed that pure romance novels never have surprise endings.

As was noted by a professional reviewer on a book I once read I would have to say that Hide In Plain Sight had "moments of brilliance". There were times when I actually thought "wow. I wasn't expecting such an accurate observation from a pulp fiction writer".

Despite its generic-ness, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying this book.

Characters:
As I said before, characterization was pushed a bit to the back burner here. We got a brief outlining at the beginning of the looks and characteristics of the three Hampton sisters (one of which was not even in the book) and then they sort of dissolved into the plot and let it take over.

Andrea Hampton: Main character and heroine
Andrea wasn't bad. She reminded me of myself - sort of efficient, organized and judgmental. I expected her to be a typical Christian romance female, but she was surprisingly tart and opinionated. It took her longer than I expected to thaw out to the hero. She had a lot of promise, but not enough page-space to really take advantage of it.

Cal Burke: Hero
Can't say I thought much of him until he started moving furniture out of the attic. He was too much a mysterious, quiet, cliche hero and I got tired of Andrea telling me about him. I think I can figure out that he's pretty buff from carpentry work without her mentioning it every time she bumps into him - which happened to be a lot. I found him to be rather colorless, though I appreciated the fact that he was careful about relationships (most of the time) and not getting entangled in one that would hurt both him and Andrea.

Likes: Though this book was set in Amish Country (and I've read enough Beverly Lewis to really garner a dislike for the genre) it was hardly Amish - something I was thankful for. We understand, they're different, but not that fascinating.

That the romance was discreet - though at times rather tacky - and there weren't a lot of messy kisses and gush and sappiness.

That there was actually some humor and good dialogue and creative descriptions.

Dislikes: I knew how it was going to end. It's the bane of pulp-fiction. It always ends happily, perfectly, cliche-ly.

The content that made it "Christian" was pretty weak. Out-of-the-blue Andrea suddenly thought "my goodness, the atmosphere here must be bringing God back into my life" and then she's suddenly praying and asking God for wisdom and ect. It's not believable or really challenging or thought-provoking. It's just put there so "inspirational" can be stamped on the cover and the I-don't-want-to-read-a-Danielle-Steele-type-book group will read it.

Conclusion: I can't say I'll ever read Hide In Plain Sight again but I can't say that it was a waste of time either. I got some good ideas out of it and anything that gives me an idea was worth the time spend on it. It offered some easy, summer reading and - though predictable - was pleasantly interesting.

Till next time!


P.S. Not that anyone would be surprised if I don't post for a full week, but I will say that I will be out of town from the 17th to the 22nd and will not be blogging. Have a great week, everyone! =D