Katherine Galloway is the widowed mother of two daughters living in Baker City, Oregon, in 1880. She is managing to make ends meet running a local boarding house when her life is made more complicated as her demanding mother moves in, two new boarders arrive, and she offers rooms to the local blacksmith and his son after the livery burns to the ground. Katherine is attracted to the handsome widowed blacksmith, but even that is complicated: her mother dislikes him, and her daughter appears to be interested in his son. A big part of Blowing on Dandelions was the conflict between Katherine and her mother, Frances, and between Frances and one of the boarders, Wilma Roberts. While this theme of dysfunctional relationships and misunderstandings was central to the novel, I found the character of Frances to be too abrasive, and I didn’t enjoy the scenes she featured in. (That’s funny, because I don’t like novels with no conflict—perhaps the conflict in Blowing on Dandelions was a bit close to home).
This is the first book in the Love Blooms in Oregon series, and while I found reading about the relationship between Katherine and her mother difficult, the writing, plot and characters were all strong, and the Christian element was strong without being preachy. I’m interested in reading the next book in the series, Wishing on Buttercups (to be published in February 2014).
Thanks to David C Cook and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Miralee Ferrell at her website.
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