Przyznaję, rzadko, bardzo rzadko sięgam po tak zwaną "literaturę kobiecą". Nie lubię takiego szufladkowania, ale przyznaję i mnie zdarza się ominąć tę część księgarni gdzie piętrzą się książki z romantycznymi tytułami i okładkami w stylu: pani w sukni, para patrząca na zachód słońca. Nie przepadam za takimi tekstami, ale tym razem nie żałuję, że w amoku internetowych zakupów wrzuciłam do koszyka "Piękną debiutantkę" Siri Mitchell. Bo nie jest to sztampowa powieść o romantycznym zabarwieniu. Książka tam mnie wciągnęła, że pochłonęłam te jakieś 400 stron w jedno popołudnie (i wieczór). I chociaż miejscami jest lekko i zabawnie, ba nawet całkiem romantycznie, i chociaż nawet niektóre wątki są prowadzone dość przewidywalnymi torami, to i tak była to świetna lektura. Mitchell udaje się wiarygodnie odtworzyć atmosferę i koloryt Nowego Jorku w drugiej połowie XIX wieku. Jej postacie są pełnokrwiste i niejednowymiarowe. Oprócz zaglądania do salonów wyższych sfer mamy też zarysowane kontrasty społeczne, ówczesne postrzeganie kobiet i ich roli w społeczeństwie. Fabuła toczy się w dobrym tempie, a sam tekst po prostu świetnie napisany. Duży plus także za tłumaczenie Barbary Żak. Podsumowując, świetna lektura na popołudnie, kobieca, ale w dobrym znaczeniu, ma też kilka dobrych momentów łączących powieść obyczajową z wątkami psychologicznymi i duchowymi.    

Don't you hate it when you are so excited to finally get your hands on a book and then it just sucks?

I'm pretty sure this was published before Moon Over Tokyo, but they're carbon copies of one another. So disappointed. I give up. I am so over this trend of female characters "swearing off love" and just being plain rude to anyone that shows them attention. Lord, you don't have to jump someone's bones just because you're nice to them. Ugh Double ugh.

The only book by Siri I have ever read was Moon Over Tokyo. And I really enjoyed it. Then I saw she wrote a book about a civilian working at an Air Force Base, and was all over that. Air Force wife, here folks. So far, loving this. It's witty and well written. 

Only problem: sharing my new recliner with a lazy slob.

A period of  great change and growing freedom America at the Turn of the Century is an ideal era to set a romance.

Cars, bicycles, and telephones sit side by side with the older ways.  Waves of  European immigration settling into second generations.  The growing middles class battles it out with the Elite. Great stuff!

Enjoy this love stories set as the century was turning.  

1.  Mission of Hope by Allie Pleiter 

No one knows who he is or where he's from. But witnesses throughout San Francisco report a masked man in black is bringing supplies--and badly needed hope--to homeless earthquake survivors. Some believe that the city's gallant rescuer is a gentleman of wealth. But others whisper that he is a working-class man with courage as great as his faith. And rumor has it that one of the city's most spirited society belles is helping him against her family's wishes. What can be confirmed is that the masked messenger will need more than a miracle to escape those on his trail--and win the woman risking everything to save him....

2.  BOXING DAY by Jill Barnett 

 A classic Christmas short story of love set in turn of the century New York City. When her grandfather dies, lonely spinster Eleanor Austen is forced to move into an apartment on the top floor of the building he leased to a noisy gymnasium owned by famed Irish boxer Conn Donnoughue. During a snowy and magical December, two lonely people just might find they have more in common than they thought... 

3. Sweet Everlasting by Patricia Gaffney 

4.  The Passions of Emma by Penelope Williamson

Born to a life of wealth and privilege in turn-of-the-century Rhode Island, Emma Tremayne's life is all mapped out for her--including her engagement to the town's most eligible bachelor. Emma's sheltered world is shattered, however, when she discovers the horrifying working conditions in her fiance's textile mill. And when she encounters Shay McKenna, a brave Irish revolutionary, she learns what it will take to defy society's conventions, and experience a love she never thought possible.

5.  Runaway Hearts by Katie Rose 

Amateur chemist Mary Lou Finch once blew up her own laboratory — but that was nothing compared to her explosive first meeting with Pierce Thorndike. Mary Lou fibbed outrageously to win the position of governess to Thorndike's son. In reality, she is hoping to do a little detective work and find the prize racehorse that was stolen from Thorndike's stable. For Mary Lou's father has bet every dime he has on Damien's Curse — and if the horse is not found before the Saratoga races, her family will be ruined.

Mary Lou had planned a strictly scientific investigation ... until Pierce's sexy blue eyes sent a seductive tingling from her head to her toes. Now, as high stakes, pounding hooves, and irresistible kisses sweep Mary Lou away, the novice sleuth races toward an unknown finish — one that puts her in danger of losing her heart, her innocence, and maybe even her life.... 

6.  A Heart Most Worthy  by Siri Mitchell

The elegance of Madame Forza's gown shop is a far cry from the downtrodden North End of Boston. Yet each day Julietta, Annamaria, and Luciana enter the world of the upper class, working on finery for the elite in society. The three beauties each long to break free of their obligations and embrace the American dream--and their chance for love. But the ways of the heart are difficult to discern at times. Julietta is drawn to the swarthy, mysterious Angelo. Annamaria has a star-crossed encounter with the grocer's son, a man from the entirely wrong family. And through no intent of her own, Luciana catches the eye of Billy Quinn, the son of Madame Forza's most important client. Their destinies intertwined, each harboring a secret from their families and each other, will they be found worthy of the love they seek?

7. Somebody Wonderful by Kate Rothwell 

Michael McCann has a gentle way with women, and Timona Calverson is no exception, despite her ragged clothes. She is lovely--and in dire need of immediate rescue. The brawny policeman makes short work of the ruffians that have her cornered in a back alley of old New York. Though Timona may be no more than a runaway from a house of ill repute, Michael is determined to keep her from harm, if only for one night. . .

Timona can't bring herself to tell him who she really is--or that her rich family will pay handsomely for her return. She knows very little about Michael McCann, except that he is good enough to give his last cup of tea to a stranger, and compassionate enough to own the ugliest dog on earth. But the rugged Irishman's unexpected kindness has won her wayward heart--now and forever. .

8. Something Shady by Pamela Morsi 

Shocking all of Venice, Missouri, when she bobs her hair, Gertrude Barkley is secretly admired from afar by Polish immigrant and successful businessman Mikolai Stefanski, until a scandalous misunderstanding brings them together.

Gertrude Barkley, unmarried and unapologetic, had already caused a lot of talk in Venice, Missouri, with her independent ways and her book-writing career. But when she bobbed her waist-length hair, the town gossips had a field day…

Mikolai Stefanski didn’t know what all the fuss was about. In fact, he rather liked Gertrude’s daring new look. A proud Polish immigrant, who had managed to become Venice’s most successful businessman, Mikolai had always admired Gertrude’s rebellious spunk-if only from afar. After all, he believed in doing things his own way, too – though he wasn’t quite as flamboyant about it.

They had lived in the same sleepy town for a long time. But it would take a scandalous discovery-and a wild misunderstanding-to make them appreciate each other in a whole new way …

9. Beauty and the Brain by Alice Duncan 

For the sake of her career, stunningly beautiful actress Brenda Fitzpatrick is accustomed to hiding her keen intelligence behind the facade of a featherheaded blonde. But not when it comes to Colin Peters, a research assistant on the new romantic movie she's starring in. Fascinated by Colin's vast knowledge, she won't shy away from talking with him about his work. And she isn't blind to the good looks he conceals behind his thick glasses and rumpled clothes. Now Martin Tafft has asked Brenda to loosen up his too-meticulous research assistant. It isn't long before an improbable attraction blossoms into a love more real than any celluloid fantasy

10. Ship of Dreams by Brenda Hiatt

On her own in wild, wicked, post-Gold Rush San Francisco,
Della Gilliland has become a bit of a con artist, though a harmless one.
Falsely accused of murder by a rival snake-oil salesman, she is forced to flee
the lawless city's vigilantes aboard an outbound steamer. Surely her quick
wits--and tongue--can convince someone to help her until her pursuers are far
behind.

Stuffy New York businessman Kent Bradford is shocked when a
lovely redhead he's never met suddenly introduces herself as his wife to an
important business contact. Fearing a scene, he plays along . . . for the
moment. But moments turn into weeks and growing attraction becomes something
more. Then, only days out from New York, their ship encounters a hurricane that
threatens not only their budding love, but their very lives.

Did I leave out your favorite? Let me know!

To vote for the best of the best, go to the Goodreads list: Turn of the Century American Set Romance 

To enjoy even more recommendations, visit my Pinterest Board: Turn of the Century Romance. 

[This is an old review, and I had to guess at a rating.]

I bought this book during a moment of "I have nothing to read" boredom - that was a fairly long time ago, before I built the TBR mountain in my living room.  I knew nothing about it, other than that the cover looked kind of fun (although I have an urge to attack the hair of the woman on the cover with a brush) and the description on the back sounded interesting.

Unfortunately, this book was a real slog for me.  I did not like Jackie.  At all.

For one thing, she was the most judgmental person in the entire book.  I can understand her not wanting to share her space, so I was willing to forgive her initial determination to dislike Joe.  However, she was judgmental of everyone.  There was Estelle, who she disliked for not being very computer literate and only really got to know better because Joe was friendlier to Estelle than Jackie has ever been and told Jackie what he'd learned about her.  There was Oliver, who Jackie disliked because it felt to her like he was taking her grandmother away from her.  Then there was everyone in the U.S. who is not exactly as environmentally-conscious as Jackie thinks they should be.  The SUV drivers.  The plastic straw users.  People who buy individually-packaged snacks.  People who don't recycle.  This list could go on.

Which brings me to the next thing I didn't like about Jackie - her environmental leanings that came across as not only being annoyingly strong, but also a bit hypocritical.  She lectures Joe about the SUV he owns and the plastic straws he tries to use.  She rants on her blog about everything Americans do that hurts the environment.  She makes her own shampoo, and her grandmother's house (which Jackie also lives in) is the only place in the neighborhood with a xeriscaped yard.  And yet.  When Joe goes on a trip and leaves his SUV in Jackie's care, Jackie drives herself, her grandmother, and her grandmother's friends to Cripple Creek in it, marveling at the convenience and how safe she feels in it.  She eats out at fast food places with Joe all the time, instead of telling him "no" and eating the lunch she packed on her own or, since she knew Joe would do this every day, just packing him a lunch too to get him to shut up.  Even if you only consider things like sandwich wrappers and paper cups, there's plenty of waste going on when you eat fast food.  When she's getting ready to go to a dance with Joe, she lets her grandmother and her grandmother's friends dress her up.  Not only do they use old hairspray on her (ozone-depleting aerosols), she also allows herself to enjoy a fox fur wrap.  I probably wouldn't have found all this quite so annoying if Jackie hadn't made such a big fuss about being environmentally-conscious all the time.

Examples of Jackie's charitable behavior (sponsoring orphans, cleaning up trash, supporting microloans to help those in poverty-stricken areas make better lives for themselves, etc.) did not make me like her more - actually all that did was make me dislike her more.  Even though she didn't really advertise her goody goody behavior, there was still something about her that made me think of people who do good things mainly so that they they can feel better about themselves.

It's really hard for me to enjoy a romance novel (or chick lit - I suppose this book might be more accurately called Christian chick lit) when I don't like the heroine.  It especially doesn't help when I don't even like the hero.  I found Joe to be a wee bit too pushy at times - he hardly ever took "no" for an answer, figuring that, deep down, Jackie really wanted to do all those things he dragged her into doing and would probably later thank him for forcing her to do.  True, she did enjoy herself, but still - when a girl shows that much reluctance to do something, sometimes a guy should just accept that "no" means "no."  Joe was the kind of guy who would just exhaust me in real life - other than showing up for Jackie's grandmother's poker nights, he was more a "go out and do stuff all the time" kind of guy than a homebody.

For the most part, though, I did like Joe more than I liked Jackie, and I had a lot of trouble understanding why Joe continued to pursue her.  The only thing about Jackie that provided him with any kind of encouragement was that it usually wasn't too hard for him to get her to agree to do thing with him - even though she didn't really want to, she went skiing with him, saw a Bollywood movie with him, participated in a race with him, and more.  She was so unpleasant and negative most of the time, however, that it was really difficult to tell why he persisted in liking her and wanting to be with her.  It wasn't until the "big reveal" at the end that it became a little clearer why he didn't just give up.  But still.  I'm not sure if, had I been in his position (and if I were a guy), that I would have continued to pursue her, even with a few blog posts saying what she really felt as encouragement.

There were a few things about this book that I liked.  First, I liked the setting.  It's rare for me to actually come across a book set someplace that I've been before, and, with this book, I constantly had the pleasure of saying "I know that place!" and "I've seen that before."  Colorado Springs icons and locations were everywhere in this book.  The Air Force Academy stuff was also pretty interesting - I had no idea that stuff like that "mock class session" happened.  Second, I liked that the Christian stuff wasn't overwhelming - in fact, there was so little of it in this book that I could imagine that someone who wanted to read a Christian romance/chick list book might be upset.  Third, I enjoyed the "big reveal" at the end of the book so much that even I, who hated Jackie's blog posts and the accompanying comments, found myself flipping through the book so that I could reread those comments from a new perspective.  I had figured that at least one of the comment writers was someone Jackie knew (I had thought philosophie was Jackie's grandmother), but I had never figured that

The few things I liked about the book weren't enough to overcome my overall dislike of it.  I couldn't stand Jackie, I didn't really like Joe, and I didn't find Joe's interest in Jackie to be believable.  The nationwide interest in Jackie's blog wasn't believable, either - why would thousands of people eagerly read blog posts as vague as the ones Jackie wrote about Joe?  And the comments on the blog posts - has Mitchell ever read blog post comments before?  Mitchell's comment writers weren't real people, they were one-note jokes who wouldn't shut up.  Only occasionally did the comments feel like something real people would write, rather than something Mitchell thought sounded insightful or funny.

(Original review, with read-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)