Book Review Monday: Stealing the Preacher

Hello, all!
I just finished reading Stealing the Preacher by Karen Witemeyer, so I will give you a review of that today.

This comes after her previous novel, Short-Straw Bride.

Here's a brief description of Stealing the Preacher.


"On his way to interview for a position at a church in the Piney Woods of Texas, Crockett Archer can scarcely believe it when he's forced off the train by a retired outlaw and presented to the man's daughter as the minister she requested for her birthday. Worried this unfortunate detour will ruin his chances of finally serving a congregation of his own, Crockett is determined to escape. But when he finally gets away, he's haunted by the memory of the young woman he left behind--a woman whose dreams now hinge on him.
For months, Joanna Robbins prayed for a preacher. A man to breathe life back into the abandoned church at the heart of her community. A man to assist her in fulfilling a promise to her dying mother. A man to help her discover answers to the questions that have been on her heart for so long. But just when it seems God has answered her prayers, it turns out the parson is there against his will and has dreams of his own calling him elsewhere. Is there any way she can convince Crockett to stay in her little backwoods community? And does the attraction between them have any chance of blossoming when Joanna's outlaw father is dead set against his daughter courting a preacher?"

My thoughts:

I really liked this book! I probably enjoyed it as much as Witemeyer's last book.

I honestly loved the characters. Crockett was very admirable, and I loved kind of seeing through the eyes of a preacher, as I can when I read his point of view.

I also really liked Joanna. She was awesome, and I found myself really liking and rooting for her throughout the whole book.

This story also focuses on Silas, who is Jo's father, an ex-train robber. He has a wonderful spiritual arc through the book.

Anyway, this starts out with Crockett being kidnapped from a train--because Jo wants a preacher. Things work out eventually so that Crockett become's Jo's town's preacher, and she pleads with him to help her bring her father back to faith.

After a short amount of time, the two want to court each other, but the question of whether or not Jo's father would allow their courtship remains.

This is truly a great book. The characters were very well written, and I would recommend it to friends.

What are you reading now?