Sixteen Brides

I don't know where to start with this review of Sixteen Brides by Stephanie Grace Whitson. I guess I will start with the title. The title scared me at first. How in the world was I going to keep up with sixteen different people in one book? Thankfully, the "brides" were narrowed down to only 6 that I had to keep straight. I am a mother to three young children, so several days might go by without picking up a book. This made it challenging to keep up with even just 6 women. The "brides" were taken to Nebraska on the pretense of homesteading. When they discovered they had been deceived and were intended to be brides, several of them decided to go no farther. They chose to homestead as they originally intended. I enjoyed the story line, but I think it was a bit too much for one book. I found myself having to reread in order to keep everything straight. When I read a book I want to be able to remember and follow the story line even if it is a couple of days since I last picked up the book. I appreciate the fact that God's provision, watch care, and forgiveness is evident throughout the book. The ending seemed rather abrupt to me. The women had just finished setting up their homestead and now most of them are going to get married. I don't know how it could or should have ended. There were just too many loose ends to tie up. I felt like I was left hanging. All in all I'm really not sure about this book. It was an interesting read but awfully confusing.

Thank you to Bethany House Publishers for sending me a free copy of this book to preview.