Blowing on Dandelions by Miralee Ferrell

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Obtained from: Netgalley

Read: December 4, 2013

Do Dandelion Wishes Actually Come True? Katherine Galloway knew this moment of calm wouldn’t last, blown away like the dandelion seeds she scattered as a girl. In 1880, three years after her husband’s death, she struggles to run an Oregon boardinghouse and raise two girls alone. Things don't get easier when her critical, domineering mother moves in. Katherine must make the situation work, but standing up for herself and her family while honoring her mother isn't easy. And with a daughter entering the teenage years, the pressure on Katherine becomes close to overwhelming. Then she crosses paths with Micah Jacobs, a widower who could reignite her heart, but she fears a relationship with him might send things over the edge. She must find the strength, wisdom, hope, and faith to remake her life, for everything is about to change.

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Every now and then I like to try titles that fall outside my usual interests. As a reader, the variation makes a nice change of pace, but I find sampling various genres also helps me grow as reviewer which is why I volunteered to review Miralee Ferrell's Blowing on Dandelions. 

I knew going in the book was a crapshoot. I'd never heard of the author or the series she was writing. The book is inspired fiction which is always hit and miss with me and the gentle premise didn't inspired a whole like of excitement on my part. Still, I tried to be optimistic about my chances and went in hoping for the best. 

Finishing the book was an interesting experience. I felt the story sweet and the characters solid even if they were a little soft. There is a lot of soul-searching within the narrative which made it easy to understand each narrator, but the treatment also dragged down the pacing, a fact which annoyed me almost as much as the lack of atmospheric detail. I liked the themes, but can't say the presentation or impact of those ideas was particularly significant.

When push comes to shove, I simply wasn't impressed. The story was heart-warming, but I feel it a modest and forgettable tale that will fade from memory in the near future.  

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Katherine tilted her chin up. No more self-pity nonsense today. Tomorrow would bring enough troubles, and she wouldn’t borrow against that time. She’d make the most of this beautiful day and pray that somehow Mama had changed in the past two years.

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