Book Review of The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn

I read Lori Benton's Burning Sky last summer. I LOVED LOVED LOVED it!!!




And a few weeks ago, I read ....

I knew she was working on TPOTL (I am not typing that title over and over) and was squirming and wriggling to get my sweaty little palms on it. And then one day, there she was, in my mailbox. Ahhhhh!!

I shut down my work for the day and read the entire book in 7 hours. I did stop for tea and chocolate, I'm not that insane...

So?

5 Dairy Milks out of 5.

I mean, WOW.

Lori Benton knows how to build and build and build and then you are freaking out because the phone DARED to ring and AHHHHH!!!

What is up with that??? Stupid phone!

So, sweet Tamsen lives with her mother and her not exactly Pa Walton-esque step-father. When things go awry, Tamsen manages to find herself in the care of two strangers. One is as mysterious as they come, the other is insufferable and arrogant and umm, fan yourselves...

One of the things I love about Lori Benton's writing is that she's an artist, like, an actual wildlife artist. So she knows the value of intricate details and the perfect phrase in the perfect spot. She weaves and stitches and pulls it all together and by the last page, you'll want to drop from happy exhaustion. Kind of like shopping with your supermodel friends and everything YOU LIKED fit, it was all 90% off and then you got 100% off coupon for the shoe store.

Tamsen is not a wilting, frail flower. Jesse is umm, has an , umm, horse, I think...Cade needs a wife and is the epitome of dedication...

Lori's use of an historical event as a character in and of itself is masterful, as is her occasional one-two 'life ain't pretty' punch to shake up the reader and draw us further into the story and make us even more emotionally involved.

I adored this book. It's quite a departure from Burning Sky, but it's as lush and rich as the Appalachians on a hot summer day.

Lori Benton could write a grocery list and make it an epic.