Full Steam Ahead by Karen Witemeyer Book Review

// Full Steam Ahead //

By Karen Witemeyer 

{Review Written By Bethany}

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher
Genre: Christian Fiction
Number of Pages: 352
ISBN: 0764209671
Publisher: Bethany House

Publication Date: June 3rd, 2014

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

// Book Synopsis //

 Taken from Good Reads

" When Nicole Renard returns home to Galveston from an eastern finishing school, she's stunned to find her father in ill health. Though she loves him, he's only ever focused on what she's "not." Not male. Not married. Not able to run their family business, Renard Shipping.

Vowing to secure a suitable marriage partner, Nicole sets out with the Renard family's greatest treasure: a dagger personally gifted to Nicole's father by the pirate Jean Lafitte. Many believe the legend that the dagger is the source of all Renard Shipping's good fortune, though Nicole is sure her father's work ethic and honorable business practices are the keys to their success. Before she can board the steamer to New Orleans, Nicole finds her father's rivals—the Jenkins brothers—on either side of the gangplank, ready to grab her and steal the dagger. Quickly, she decides to instead travel north, to Liberty, Texas, where she can decide what to do next.

Darius Thornton needs a secretary—someone to help him get his notes in order. Ever since the boiler explosion aboard the "Louisiana," Darius has been a man obsessed. He will do anything to stop even one more steamship disaster. The pretty young socialite who applies for the job baffles him with her knowledge of mathematics and steamships. He decides to take a risk and hire her, but he's determined her attractive face and fancy clothes won't distract him from his important research.

The job offer comes at exactly the right time for Nicole. With what Darius is paying her, she'll be able to afford passage to New Orleans in mere weeks. But Mr. Thornton is so reclusive, so distant, so unusual. He can create complex scientific equations but can't remember to comb his hair. And his experiments are growing more and more dangerous. Still, there are undeniable sparks of attraction between them. But Nicole is leaving soon, and if she marries, it must be to a man who can manage a shipping empire. Darius certainly doesn't fit that description. And the Jenkins brothers have not given up on kidnapping Nicole and seizing the Lafitte dagger for themselves."

 

// Book Review // 

 

It's no secret that I'm a total Karen Witemeyer fan. She is one of my top favorite authors, and anytime I hear that she is working on a new book, I get extremely excited! So needless to say, I was very excited when I heard about Full Steam Ahead, and read it as fast as I could get my hands on it after months of anticipating it's arrival.

Being a fan of Karen Witemeyer's witty, fun and humorous writing style, filled with good sturdy characters, I knew I was in for a treat with Full Steam Ahead! I really enjoyed reading it, and even though it's not my favorite of Karen's novels, it was a very fun read that I read in under 24 hours.

The thing I loved so much about Full Steam Ahead was the fun story-line, humor and the characters. While I didn't find Mr. Darius Thornton to reach the character expectation level I had based on the Archer Brothers in Karen's Archer Brothers series, or other male characters in Karen's other books; he was still a very sturdy character who had lots of great development throughout the story. I liked Nicole and her determination and kind-heart. Again, while she wasn't my favorite female character out of all of Karen's novels, she was still a good character and brought lots of fun to the novel.

The story-line was well written and executed, and I especially enjoyed the latter portion of the story when the plot really sped up and got exciting in true Karen Witemeyer writing style fashion! The last 75 pages of the book flew by for me as I was so intrigued to learn what happened with the story, and how things work out in the end for Darius, Nicole and the family heirloom. As always, the ending was charming and well-planned.

Another thing I enjoyed about this novel was the historical aspect, which shed a new light on this important time in history where men were trying to research ways to make steam-ship boilers more safe to avoid explosions and ultimately lost lives. Mr. Darius Thornton had devoted his life to this work when Nicole arrived on the scene, and I loved seeing how she went alongside him and embraced his vision as her own, helping him with the experiments and in whatever other ways she could. It was neat being exposed to this often seemingly unimportant time in history, and I enjoyed the historical details that were added as well as the way the story was incorporated into the historical aspects.

In all, I really enjoyed this novel and would recommend it to fans of Karen's other novels, or those who enjoy historical fiction with a fun plot. It was a very pleasing read, and I can't wait to read more novels by this author!

D I S C L A I M E R :: I received a complementary review copy of Full Steam Ahead, provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review. I was not paid to write this review, and all thoughts expressed are my own, completely honest and unbiased.