An Appalachian Summer by Ann H. Gabhart

An Appalachian Summer by Ann H. Gabhart ISBN-13: 9780800729288 Paperback: 368 pages Publisher: Revell Released: June 30th 2020

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from NetGalley:
In 1933 Louisville, Kentucky, even the ongoing economic depression cannot keep Piper Danson's parents from insisting on a debut party. After all, their fortune came through the market crash intact, and they've picked out the perfect suitor for their daughter. Braxton Crandall can give her the kind of life she's used to. The only problem? This is not the man--or the life--she really wants.

When Piper gets the opportunity to volunteer as a horseback Frontier Nursing courier in the Appalachian Mountains for the summer, she jumps at the chance to be something other than a dutiful daughter or a kept wife in a loveless marriage. The work is taxing, the scenery jaw-droppingly gorgeous, and the people she meets along the way open up a whole new world to her.


My Review:
An Appalachian Summer is a romance set in 1933 in Kentucky. The story had three viewpoint characters who were all asking themselves what they wanted from life. Truda is in her 40s and has a job she enjoys but she never married because the most intriguing man she ever met was warned off of courting her. Jamie has been best friends with Piper since their childhood, and both love each other. But the stock market crash took Jamie's family's fortune and now he's struggling to figure out how to support himself, let alone a wife. Piper's parents have chosen a kind, rich young man who is willing to marry her and believes that love will grow between them. But her heart still belongs to Jamie.

I had really expected the people of the Appalachian Mountains to play a larger role in the story, but most of the story occurred at the courier and nurse bases. Many of the events would have been the same if this story occurred on a farm with a garden, cattle, and horses. The characters were very self-focused the whole time, constantly mulling over what they want from life. Piper was focused on her own accomplishments: the first time she painted a door, milked a cow, watched a birth, picked some beans from the garden, etc. The location simply meant that her parents weren't there to pressure her. While I assume that learning how much she could actually do did free Piper to make the right decision, it seemed to me that she was always going to choose the man she did. It was more that Jamie felt so worthless and adrift that he struggled to even ask Piper.

A few of the characters made comments about seeing God's handiwork in the beauty of nature. One person questioned if Piper knew God or simply went to church, but Piper never really pursued the answer to this. There was no sex or bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this interesting romance.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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