Courting Misfortune (The Joplin Chronicles #1)

Courting Misfortune (The Joplin Chronicles #1) 

By Regina Jennings 

Published by Bethany House 

Publication Date: December 1st, 2020 

Description:

Calista York needs one more successful case as a Pinkerton operative to secure her job. When she's assigned to find the kidnapped daughter of a mob boss, she's sent to the rowdy mining town of Joplin, Missouri, despite having extended family in the area. Will their meddling expose her mission and keep Lila Seaton from being recovered? 

When Matthew Cook decided to be a missionary, he never expected to be sent only a short train ride away. While fighting against corruption of all sorts, Matthew hears of a baby raffle being held to raise funds for a children's home. He'll do what he can to stop it, but he also wants to stop the reckless Miss York, whose bad judgment consistently seems to be putting her in harm's way. 

Calista doesn't need the handsome pastor interfering with her investigation, and she can't let her disguise slip. Her job and the life of a young lady depend on keeping Matthew in the dark.

Review:

I really liked the last third of this book, but the first two-thirds dragged for me somewhat. I just didn't enjoy Calista or Matthew as characters; Calista's constant lies, while perhaps necessary for her job, made it hard to really connect with her--and the lies she tried to pass off about being a nurse, when she obviously couldn't even handle anything remotely connected to nursing didn't make her seem like the most competent of detectives. It made it hard to see why Matthew would even want to put up with her at all. I also found myself more irritated than endeared by Calista's extended family. So, I struggled through the first two-thirds of the book, but I did like the remainder. There were some good messages about how God works in people's lives as well as some really nice romantic lines. 

3 stars.

I read an ARC provided by the publisher via #NetGalley. All opinions are my own.