Book Review: Simple Secrets (Harmony #1) by Nancy Mehl

Summary: 
Can graphic designer Gracie Temple have it all: the big city life and a job at a successful advertising firm? Just when she feels life coming together she receives an unknown uncle’s inheritance in a quiet Kansas Mennonite community. The house comes with dark legacy and a cast of interesting neighbors, including farmer Sam Goodrich. Can Gracie shake off the dust of this town or will its secret charms pull her in to stay?
 
Release Date:  June 1, 2010
Publisher:  Barbour Books
Age Group:  Adult
Pages:  320
Source:  NetGalley

Review: 
This was a sweet story with a suprising end.  I did not realize I was reading Christian fiction until about a quarter of the way through when the main character, Gracie, started praying about her troubles.  I like my Christian fiction on the more subtle side---I hate for a book to preach to me.

Gracie is a successful graphic designer whose uncle dies and leaves her his house in a Mennonite community.  She goes out to the house to stay for a couple of weeks to try to sell the property and uncovers a long-buried secret.  In the process, she meets Sam, a neighbor and friend of her late uncle's, and they try to solve the mystery together.  The conclusion of the mystery surprised me, and I love it when that happens.

Simple Secrets had a nice balance of love, mystery, and faith.  I would recommend it to fans of Christian fiction and anyone wanting to try Christian fiction for the first time.

Just One Gripe: 
The tone of the book felt simple at times.

The Best Thing About This Book: 
The mystery had a nice surprise at the end.

Appropriate for a younger audience: 
Yes

Score: 
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 3/5
Setting/Imagery: 4/5
Originality: 3/5
Ending: 4/5
Total Score:  17/25




3 comments:

  1. This one sounds like one that may pleasantly surprise me, fab review as always girls :)

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  2. I agree very much with you that books should never preach. If the writer is a believer, the book will be Christian, even with no overt churchiness about it. That's what I aim to do.

    Please visit my blog and leave a comment. Thanks!

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  3. Sounds PERFECT for me :) Great review darling :)

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