One of My Best Finds this Year ~ Wings of a Dream by Anne Mateer ~ Review

I cringe to think I was *this* close to not requesting “Wings of a Dream” to review. When I closed the cover on this book last night, after staying up nearly two hours past my bedtime on a Sunday night, I couldn’t have been more thankful for one of the best finds I’ve had this year in Christian fiction.

            Several things I loved about this book right off: it’s a historical, first person novel and the heroine is one I love to read about. She’s strong and faces each instance head on, but is tender and vulnerable on the greatest of counts.

            As I explored deeper within the novel’s depths I couldn’t help but wonder if the first person, especially in a historical novel, would leave the story feeling lacking or one dimensional. Completely opposite. I absolutely loved crawling into the skin of this character. I became her; she acted as I would want to react in a moment of panic, but had the emotions I know would be roiling my insides.

            Can I say “love” one more time about this book? I must. Because the romance was so perfectly done. So often in writing first person emotions can be overstated (I know, I’m trying to write first person!), but never once in this book did I feel I was being slammed over the head with the heroine’s romantic or faith insecurities.

            I’ve already more than overshot my allotted review word count, but I must say this in closing: don’t be like me and almost let this book slip you by. It’s a sweet story, content in the reading, but beautiful in the characters, setting and romance. I think it might just surprise you as it did me.

            This review is my honest opinion. Thanks to the publishers for my copy to review.

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More about the novel...

Rebekah Hendricks dreams of a life far beyond her family's farm in Oklahoma, and when dashing aviator Arthur Samson promised adventure in the big city, she is quick to believe he's the man she's meant to marry. While she waits for the Great War to end and Arthur to return to her so they can pursue all their plans, her mother's sister falls ill. Rebekah seizes the opportunity to travel to Texas to care for Aunt Adabelle, seeing this chance to be closer to Arthur's training camp as God's approval of her plans.


But the Spanish flue epidemic changes everything. Faced with her aunt's death, Arthur's indecisiveness, and four children who have no one else to care for them, Rebeka is torn between the desire to escape the type of life she's always led and the unexpected love that just might change the dream of her heart.