Book Reviews,  Historical Fiction

It Happened at the Fair Book Review

It Happened at the Fair
A transporting historical novel about a promising young inventor, his struggle with loss, and the attractive teacher who changes his life, all set against the razzle-dazzle of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. Gambling everything—including the family farm—Cullen McNamara travels to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair with his most recent invention. But the noise in the fair’s Machinery Hall makes it impossible to communicate with potential buyers. In an act of desperation, he hires Della Wentworth,…

If you’ve read Christian historical romance for any length of time, then you KNOW that Deeanne Gist has long been one of the premier voices for this genre.  Her characters always ooze authenticity, and the chemistry she creates between her heroes and heroines is second to (almost) no one.  I have been trying to catch up on the backlog of books that she’s written in the past few years, and thanks to a super quick read over the past 24 hours, I can happily add It Happened at the Fair to my “Books Read” stack.

Simply put, I devoured this book.

The slow burning romance set my stomach to fluttering more than once.  Cullen and Della tried to deny their feelings for each other, but from the moment she twisted her ankle in the throng of people at the opening ceremony, there was no question that time would reveal their feelings for one another.  And when it happened, sparks flew.  (Exploded was more like it…)

Lest you think that this was just another romance, let me assure you otherwise.  There was loads of historical information sprinkled throughout this story, and how could there not be with a setting as great as the Chicago World’s Fair?!  Deeanne admitted that there were some parts that she fudged so that the story could flow more easily, and unless you’re a diehard World’s Fair historian (I’m not), you’ll never notice a thing.  I was more invested in Cullen and Della’s story, and the setting was simply a glorious backdrop.

I listened to the audio version of this book, and this narrator has been a favorite of mine for some time.  She beautifully portrayed Cullen and Della throughout the story, and I’d recommend reading the story this way hands down.

There was a brief mention of a woman doctor in one scene, and from all appearances, she gets her own story in book #2 in this series.

What more can I say?  I LOVE Gist’s stories, and while my list of books not read by her is getting shorter and shorter, I’m savoring each one while I can.  Here’s hoping she has more stories up her sleeve for the future!

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