The Inconvenient Marriage of Charlotte Beck is the third and last book in Kathleen Y'Barbo's "The Women of the West" series. Since these are stand-alone companion volumes I didn't feel I missed too much by not reading the first two books. The Inconvenient Marriage of Charlotte Beck, like the others, is a Christian historical novel set in the old west.
Have you ever heard the phrase: "damned with faint praise"? Unfortunately that's what I'm about to do here. While I don't feel the novel was a complete waste of my time I just couldn't get attached to the characters. I found Charlotte Beck annoying and immature, although the author at one point hinted that her immaturity was just "for show" she never brought that plot point to fruition. The hero of the story was noble and self-sacrificing and didn't annoy me as much as Charlotte and quite possibly under different circumstances could have been a decent hero.
I also disliked the father constantly protesting that he loved Charlotte while continuing to force her into a marriage she didn't want. He assured her, and us, over and over that it was in her best interests since she was too immature and impulsive to be trusted otherwise. Me thinks he doth protesteth too much! An underlying theme throughout the book is the mystery surrounding Charlotte's mother and this mystery has much to do with Charlotte's behavior. I found it frustrating that the author didn't clue at least the stepmother in to this fact. I can understand that her father would be blind to it because of his own issues with the past but Charlotte's supposedly "on the ball" stepmother not once mentioned to anyone that maybe that was the root of everything.
Then in the last two chapters everything is rushed to the inevitably happy conclusion and all is well and everything is forgiven. I felt that after the prolonged buildup about Charlotte's immaturity and her dislike for the marriage and the man the book could have done with a couple more chapters allowing for more development of her mature character and her self-awareness of what her real issue was.
In conclusion, not a bad book, just not one that I found myself connecting with or wanting to add to my library.
I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group does not require a positive review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
