The Widow Mouse
The Deaf Store Keeper
And The Mountain Community Of Kyles Ford
STORY LINE:
Author Janet Biery has crafted another heart-touching, warm, feel good novel. This is book 2 of the series, however, it is a standalone. I look forward to publication of book 3.
Jeanne’s traded in marriage to fur trapper Henri LeSouris in exchange for LeSouris’ furs. Henri and Jeanne are constantly on the move until Henri settles in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains in Kyles Ford. Life for Jeanne has been a hard scrapple existence with the gentle and kind Henri. Henri has a past and is older than Jeanne. Henri is known as Mouse as the other residents can not pronounce the Frenchman’s name. They have no money, very little food, and a rented house that is going to be pulled out from under them. Henri goes after a wounded bear in the hope of meat, fur, and money. Jeanne has just given birth to a son when Henri leaves never to return and she becomes know as the Widow Mouse.
What is she to do? How can she and the baby survive? Enter our hero store keep, Jasper Sykes, almost totally deaf from injuries received in the Spanish-American war. He is loud, offensive and misunderstood due to his hearing lose.
Come follow Jasper and Jeanne has they journey from desperation, gossips, and insecurities, to find true happiness.
CHARACTERS, PLOTTING, AND DEVELOPMENT:
Author Janet Biery’s writing is clean and clear. I found the plot refreshing and easy to follow as Ms. Bierry reveals the under belly and quirks of the small community of Kyles Ford, Hancock County. As Catholic’s and outsiders, Ms. Biery depicted the hard life foreigners found in America. Not only was Jeanne a Catholic, she was also a Yankee widow with no means of support or help; seen as foreign and strange to the backwoods mountain villagers before and after her husband was killed.
Jeanne’s character growth was progressive throughout the book as she grew from an insecure girl to a secure woman with talents, goodness of heart, morals, and strength of character. Ms. Biery skillfully revealed and developed Jeanne’s character; I loved watching this shy girl become a mature young woman. Jeanne deserved better than life had handed her; Ms. Biery’s well crafted story-line gave Jeanne all she deserved.
Jasper has many insecurities due to his physical disabilities which Ms. Biery clearly and concisely developed and resolved as he and Jeanne develop a relationship of more than servant and employer. Jasper, under all the gruff, is a loving, kind, caring, moral man and Ms. Biery’s depiction of this time period was well done.
The character of the Henri, Jeanne’s baby boy, was skillfully portrayed & developed throughout the book. The entire community is not immune to the sweetness of a baby Henri. After all, who can hate or ignore a sweet baby!
The secondary characters in this book add so much to the story-line, as well as, leave openings for future books in the series. Each one is a character unto themself; some are funny, sad, or lazy, but each adds depth to the story-line.
This book is well-written, well-developed, and the pacing is spot on. The story did not lag or slow; Ms. Biery kept my interest from the first page to the last. The ending was very sweet and I loved it! I look forward to seeing more of Jeanne and Jasper’s life in future books.
RECOMMENDATION: 5 STARS
I highly recommend this solid well-written book to anyone that loves a good romance. I do not hesitate to recommend this book for your reading pleasure. Ms. Biery is one of my favorite authors; she never fails to produce a wonderful story.
I received this book from the author in return for an honest book review. Book reviews of any novel are dependent on the book review author’s opinion; all book reviews on line under my name and on my blog. are my opinion.
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