Book Review: Secrets of Sloane House

For whatever reason, this book, Secrets of Sloane House, took forever to read. Several factors played a role. I fought a terrible cold for two solid weeks and could neither focus nor rouse interest for reading. I've been in a general physical book reading slump. Most books I've consumed have been in audio form. Moreover, this was Christian fiction, and I lack a taste for strong "message" books. I think I carried this in my bag to the ranch for almost a month. Might be a record.

So what led me to even venture into the first page? I bought the third book in this series, with my credit at the library's book shop earned in their winter reading program. Wanting to read the books in order, I borrowed this one. It promised some interest, as it is about the Chicago World's Fair. But the backdrop of the fair was fairly inconsequential to the tale (did you catch that play on words?). Perhaps I would have been more engrossed with more details about the fair.

Rosalind leaves her home in Wisconsin and arrives in Chicago hoping to find out what happened to her missing sister, Miranda. She takes a position in the same wealthy household where Miranda had worked, but finds more secrets than answers. There is definitely an upstairs-downstairs feel to the book. The family treats their servants with disdain. Will Rosalind get out alive or will she meet the same fate as her missing sister?

I wanted to feel invested in the characters. I wanted to yearn to know what happened. Neither took hold. Now, I must decide whether I will seek book number two or donate the third book to Goodwill. A point in its favor - the promise of a clean read. While it would make a good discussion book for a Christian women's book club, it took me far too long to digest (although, as I said, my fault and not the author's).