Christian Fiction Review: Love, Charleston by Beth Webb Hart

Love, Charleston
by Beth Webb Hart
Copyright 2010
Thomas Nelson Publishers
314 pages
ISBN: 978-1-59554-201-4
Fiction/Christian/General

From the publisher:
Charleston's past is full of romance. Does Anne's future hold the same?

Charleston's Anne Brumley has long dreamed of love while ringing the bells at St. Michael's, but those dreams are beginning to fade. Her sister Alisha and cousin Della encourage the thirty-six year old to move somewhere new for a fresh start.

Widower Roy Summerall has happily ministered to the country folks of Church of the Good Shepherd for years. So why would the Lord call him and his daughter away to Charleston--the city that Roy remembers from his childhood as pretentious and superficial? Surely the refined congregation of St. Michael's won't accept a reverend with a red neck and a simple faith.

Meanwhile, Anne's sister, Alisha, struggles with her husband's ambition, which seems to be taking him further from their dreams of a happy family. And Cousin Della's former fiance has returned to Charleston, making her wonder if she chose the wrong path when she married her gifted but unemployed-artist husband.

Family, friendship, and faith converge in a beautiful story about how God's transforming love works in the Holy City of Charleston.

My Review:
I was really excited to read this since the cover was so beautiful and Beth Webb Hart was a new author to me. While I did like it Love, Charleston wasn't one of the best books that I've read. I believe that it is part of Thomas Nelson's women's fiction line so I wasn't expecting a lot of romance so I wasn't disappointed in that respect. I did like the characters but I felt that there were too many of them for one book! Lish, Anne, and Della deserved their own full length stories. There was just too much going on and the fact that the book covered so much time, April 2008 to June 2009, in so few pages there wasn't a lot of room for details and I don't think I became as attached to the characters as I should have. However, they were some of the most realistic fictional characters I've been introduced to in a while. They all had insecurities. They had to deal with things such as debt, marital issues, illness and death and they were dealt with in true to life ways. I would consider reading this author's work in the future because I like that authenticity and would like to see how she focuses on one or two characters rather than a big group.

To learn more about the author visit:
Her WEBSITE

*I received my complimentary review copy through Thomas Nelson's blogger book review program, Booksneeze in exchange for posting my honest review.*