So for my first book review, I figured I’d do one of my favorite books, A Lost Pearle, by Mrs. Georgie Sheldon. As one who doesn’t really like romance that much, I was surprised at how much I liked this. The plot has romance in it, but instead of being like a Hallmark channel romance, it actually was used in the mystery and adventure of the story, helping to make things more interesting and move the plot along.
The story is about Margaret Radcliffe, known by her pet name of Pearle, a rich and beautiful young lady who is engaged to be married to Captain Richard Byrnholm. Through a series of events, however, Pearle is blackmailed by her fiancé’s “best friend” Adison Cheetham, to marry him instead, and then escapes from his grasp and runs away.
The bulk of the book tells of Pearle’s adventures as she is constantly trying to avoid her cunning husband, and of her ex-fiancé’s determination to uncover Adison Cheetham’s dark, mysterious past. In the end, all the pieces of the plot come together in a nice finish, and with many plot twists throughout.
The book also showed Pearle’s dedication to do what was right, no matter what, and of her sacrificial love towards those she was closest to, even if it required her to suffer. It showed also how through trials and temptations, she and her ex-fiancé both in their own ways grew closer to the Lord, and how the Lord guided and directed their steps.
One of my favorite things about this story had to be the characters. Both of the main characters were developed very well, and even the villain had his moments of heroic action. It made them very relatable and likable. Also I enjoyed how each of the characters were connected in one way or another, though at first it did not seem so. Even the minor characters were well developed for being minor, and they all played a part; none of them were really extraneous or unneeded.
Another thing I enjoyed was the plot twists. I won’t go into too many of them, because of spoilers, but they were very well done, and well foreshadowed. A few were kinda… easy to figure out, but others weren’t, and I loved the mystery aspect it gave the book. Also, unlike some books I’ve read, everything was resolved in a clear and precise way, so that I was not left with a confusing mystery that was supposed to be “resolved”, but that I didn’t really understand.
The fact that it wasn’t like a wishy-washy romance novel too made me like it. There were aspects of romance in there, (such as the wedding), but it didn’t go in depth into really anything. There were a couple hugs and forehead kisses, but I don’t really remember anything besides that.
However, for how much I liked it, there were a few times when the dialogue felt like an info dump, and seemed a bit of a drag to get through. A few places too had a lot of details which… I guess were nice, but when I’m at an exciting place in a novel I want to keep on reading the exciting actions and heated dialogue, not the details of the room around them, or whatever.
Also a few things were… slightly unrealistic. I mean, I guess things could happen, but most likely won’t. Such as having four guys all like one girl around the same time. Of course, it wasn’t expounded upon, but I felt it was a little unrealistic that everywhere she should go, Pearle would have some sort of… suitor, so to speak. Of course, all except Adison Cheetham were upright, godly men, who helped her out in a respectable manner, and did not do anything inappropriate, which was good.
In all, however, this is my favorite book that I would classify as “romance”, and I would definitely recommend it! You can get a really nice hardback version on Lamplighter.net for $30.00, or on Amazon. Amazon also has it under the title Lost, A Pearle for Kindle for $0.99.
Kay Adelin 