When You Are Near has mystery, murder, and romance, that said, it doesn't read like a normal Christian fiction/historical romance. I was surprised that central character Lizzy Brookstone's potential love triangle became more focused on her personal grieving journey adding layer of interest and depth I wasn't expected from the summary. This shift, I felt, allowed for more character development with the other female characters which was a refreshing change. Having the interactions with Mary, Ella, and Rebecca made the book more enjoyable and really sets up potential focuses for the later novels in this series.
Truly, this reads much more as a historical fiction than a romance with Peterson investigating grief's expressions through Lizzy, Rebecca, Mary, Wes, and Oliver's individual stories. I appreciate how while they all shared the varying losses the expressions were unique to the characters established personas.
That said, I'm not sure how to give a full review of this novel as it feels very incomplete. When You Are Near is book one of the Brookstone Brides series and it very much feels somewhere between incomplete and an excellent groundwork novel for what's to come.
The mystery of August's death, the challenge for Lizzy's heart, the future of the Extravaganza all felt like they were just starting to pick up as I closed the last page. I was left wishing I could grab the next book. Thankfully, it appears that Peterson has anticipated this desire in other readers with book 2 slated for June of 2019 and book 3 possibly slated for October, a blisteringly fast pace for most series release and lends to the possibility that Peterson has purposely interwoven the three books to function more as a single narrative over three books.
Either way, I'll be looking forward to seeing if this series lives up to its strong start in When You Are Near.
4 out of 5 stars.
"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc."
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