Simple Gifts by Lori Copeland (Inspirational Romance)

Zany, tender, inspirational can a girl come hopme again to her small town romance.  An inspirational romance that kept growing on me as I read it.

Marlene Queens has to return home to Parnassus Springs, Missouri to put her aunt's house for sale and settle all sorts of family issues...including two women, a wife and mistress,  fighting over possession of a deceased man's foot.Returning home is the last thing Marley wants!  She finally put her crazy family and this judgemental small town behind her. She never told her childhood sweetheart Vic, now a widower, that she is not happily married to her husband Noel.   Marly doen't want to admit to anyone the failings of her lofe..so when she returns home, her car smashing into the Coke bottle stand right in front of Vic, what's a girl to do to preserve her dignity?  Faint of course!  One lie seems to escalte into more.  Will Marley ever trust God and stop having to lie?  Can she tell Vic the truth of her life?  Ashemed of her father and his antics, will returning home give her a new vision of herl now deceased father, herself, and the town she once hated?

Lori Copeland is a new author to me.  This book grew on me the more I read it.   Outside of romance, I have a particular fondness for Southern literature.  I know this book isn't set in the deep South, but it kid of made me think of this fiction read by Eudora Welty And others when a family congregates over a funeral or a wedding and some of the intriguing characters one finds.  Despiute its trade paperback size and page count, this is a a very quick read.  I think the word count is probably about equal to some of the Steeple HIll Love Inspjred books.

This book is a romance but it also had other things going on and I liked that very much. It added to the characterization and the feel of the town. It made me think of why I like Patricia Thayer and also Margaret Way in the Harlequin Romance line.  I would definitely be interested in readng more by this author. Zany and tender is nice mix for me too. This boo had a gentle sort of way about it in the manner in which it just kept growing on me with each page.

Mini-Challenge: It's Raining Men

I was really intrigued by the character of Marley's father, Herman.  I know, he isn't the hero of the romance but Lori Copeland did such an excellent job of makinga deceased character, one not really present in the book per se, present for readers.  He waseither injured by forcepts during his birth or developmentally challenged.  He was a flashpoint for people -- peolpe either loved him or hated him.  As his daughter, Marley had a tough road and tough childhood.  I think Herman fit into this story very much because he added to the inspirational eleent andto the heroine's understanding of love.

AKA Merri
Family Challenge Team: The Spine Breakers with my dh Glenn AKA Phaedrus