My first word of advice to anyone who may read this book: Do not read the back cover blurb! Though the front cover art is very nice indeed (they even got the colors of the dogs right – I was impressed), the back cover blurb spills almost every major plot spoiler in the book. Hubbard’s inspirational romance covers several years and several major events in the lives of the characters and, for whatever reason, almost all of them are listed right there on back cover.

Now that I have that warning out of the way, I must say I had high hopes for this book. I crave this type of inspirational romance, featuring characters simply who live out their faith with little preachiness. While it is obvious that the main characters are people of faith, no one sermonizes to the reader, and I find that refreshing. However, the characterization of this novel was somewhat less than satisfying and this issue made it a rather dull read for me.

The main couple in this book, Mercy and Judd Monroe, run a stagecoach station near Abilene. They have been married five years and yearn for children. As the book opens, one of the stagecoach drivers brings them two abandoned children, whom they take in. So begins the building of the family. The children and the Monroes have trouble adjusting to each other, and to the author’s credit, she does not gloss over the difficulties of that transition.

Indeed, the fact that one can almost feel the characters’ alternating pity, affection, and frustration with the integration of the children into the family underlines some of the other emotional inadequacies in the story. Mercy Monroe is clearly the leading character in this piece – in fact, this book is first in a series called Angels of Mercy – her character, however, is sometimes just not real enough. Her sorrow at not being able to have children and her deep love for her husband are mentioned, but not fully explored. Her feelings for the children sometimes appear obvious, but too often her reactions to events take place offstage. Situations get resolved far too quickly to seem real and this can make the Monroes’ struggles feel unrealistic. On top of all this, some parts of the Monroes’ story will likely strike a reader as unrealistic and with characters placed at such a distance from the reader, it is more difficult for one to suspend disbelief.

In addition, while we are told Judd is strong, Judd loves Mercy, etc., the reader does not often get shown these things. There are some very touching, tender scenes in the book, however, and I could have used more of these beautiful scenes of Judd embracing his wife and telling her that he loves her or that he is proud of her. These short scenes show more about who he is than the pages and pages of telling that come before.

While the distance between reader and characters makes this book move slowly, Hubbard does deserve praise for the manner in which her inspirational message is handled. She does not preach to the reader, but instead, we see characters living their lives and trying their best to be faithful, just as many people often would have done during this time period. Hubbard does not anachronistically excise faith from the life of the community, but neither does she force it down readers’ throats. For myself, I can say I find that approach more truly thought-provoking and inspirational than any sermon embedded in the text ever will be.

While I did appreciate Hubbard’s approach to her subject, I must admit that the dull characterization really made the book drag for me. Just as I started to get into the story, the flatness and distance would reimpose themselves and push me out. Sadly, that makes this an ordinary tale I just cannot recommend. However, if Hubbard can match her characterization skills to the strength of her approach to writing inspirational messages into fiction, then perhaps later books in the series will have some real potential.