Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin {Review}

Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin

Kindle Edition, 400 pages

Published (first published 2011)

Lynn Austin Will Delight Readers with Her Winsome Heroine

Alice Grace Ripley lives in a dream world, her nose stuck in a book. But happily-ever-after life she's planned on suddenly falls apart when her boyfriend, Gordon, breaks up with her, accusing her of living in a world of fiction instead of the real world. Then to top it off, Alice loses her beloved job at the library because of cutbacks due to the Great Depression.

Fleeing small-town gossip, Alice heads to the mountains of eastern Kentucky to deliver five boxes of donated books to the library in the tiny coal-mining village of Acorn. Dropped off by her relatives, Alice volunteers to stay for two weeks to help the librarian, Leslie McDougal.

But the librarian turns out to be far different than she anticipated--not to mention the four lady librarians who travel to the remote homes to deliver the much-desired books. While Alice is trapped in Acorn against her will, she soon finds that real-life adventure and mystery--and especially romance--are far better than her humble dreams could have imagined.

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My Review: 5 Stars

"If my life were a book, no one would read it. People would say it was too boring, too predictable." Right from that very first line, I felt myself identify with Alice. I look at myself at times and wonder what I've accomplished in my life. Like Alice, I often find my nose in a book and love to escape "real" life and live the lives of fictional characters. As she unfortunately discovered, that kind of life can't protect a person from heartache. When her life falls apart, she comes up with a plan, but like most plans, it doesn't go anything like she....well...planned.

Lynn Austin managed to transport me straight into the heart of the Kentucky backwoods during the Great Depression and left a lasting impression on me through her fantastically sumptuous writing, splendid characters, and outlandish experiences. The whole book is vividly imprinted on my mind and I've been thinking about it for days now. The events are so unbelievable, but don't they say that sometimes real life is stranger than fiction?

The characters are an unlikely bunch that melted into my heart like a chocolate left in the sun. Literally forced to help these Kentucky residents, Alice learns so much about herself along the way and the growth she exhibits is stunning as she truly comes to life. I think I need to learn from her and actually live in the here and now. I loved these characters so much, especially the plucky 100 year old, Miss Lillie.   

I love the library system that is used in this rural area and had no idea that it actually existed. I love learning a little history, along with being entertained.

Content: very mild romance; mild+ religious elements; mild violence.

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