Book Review Monday: It Happened at the Fair

I just got done reading It Happened at the Fair by Deeanne Gist.

First of all, I want to brag that I met Dee at the writer's conference I went to last week. She is so sweet!

Here is a description of the book from amazon:
"Gambling everything—including the family farm—Cullen McNamara travels to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair with his most recent invention. But the noise in the fair’s Machinery Hall makes it impossible to communicate with potential buyers. In an act of desperation, he hires Della Wentworth, a teacher of the deaf, to tutor him in the art of lip-reading.
The young teacher is reluctant to participate, and Cullen has trouble keeping his mind on his lessons while intently watching her lips. Like the newly invented Ferris wheel, he is caught in a whirl between his girl back home, his dreams as an inventor, and his unexpected attraction to his new tutor. Can he keep his feet on the ground, or will he be carried away?"

Here is my review: This book truly is amazing. It is seriously one of the best books I have ever read.It has made me experience so many emotions and it was so informative of so many subjects, I cannot even believe how well-written it is.
I completely love the two main characters, Della and Cullen. Typically, I don't care about the hero and heroine as much as I do in this book, but they are amazing. I completely "fell in love with" Cullen just like Della did.
Cullen is a cotton farmer from North Carolina who is allergic to cotton. He is great at inventing things, and when his father buys him an exhibit at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair to display his automatic fire sprinkler system, he reluctantly goes.
Della is a lip-reading teacher for young children, and her school moves to Chicago during the fair to display what they teach.
The Machinery Building that Cullen's display is in is extremely loud. Coupled with his already failing hearing, the noise makes it impossible to interact with his possible clients.
Finally, Cullen gives in and begs teacher Della to give him lip-reading lessons, which prove to be very hard for him because he finds himself having trouble concentrating while staring at the pretty young woman's lips.

The history and all the research Dee put into it made me become absolutely obsessed with the Chicago World's Fair. I want to learn way more about it now after reading this book. Also, the start of every new chapter included a real photo from the fair. How awesome is that???

Seriously, this book is one of the best I have ever read. Words cannot describe how amazing it is.

Go, buy a copy, and read it. You will not regret it.