Books for Christian Girls: "The Librarian of Boone's Hollow" by Kim Vogel Sawyer

About this book:

“During the Great Depression, Addie Cowherd dreams of being a novelist and offering readers the escape that books gave her during her tragic childhood. When her adoptive father loses his job, she is forced to leave college and take the only employment she can find--delivering books on horseback to poor coal mining families in the hills of Kentucky.

The small community of Boone's Hollow is suspicious of outsiders and steeped in superstitions that leave Addie feeling rejected and indignant. Although she finds an unexpected friend in an elderly outcast, the other horseback librarians scorn her determination to befriend Nanny Fay.

Emmett Tharp grew up in the tiny mountain hamlet where most men either work in the coal mine or run moonshine. He's the first in the community to earn a college degree, and he has big dreams, but witnesses the Depression robbing many young men of their future.

Then someone sets out to sabotage the library program, going so far as to destroy Addie's novel in progress. Will the saboteur chase Addie and the other librarians away, or will knowledge emerge victorious over prejudice? Is Emmett the local ally that Addie needs--and might their friendship lead to something more?

Inspired by the real WPA program that sent librarians on horseback to deliver books to hill families in Kentucky, Kim Vogel Sawyer immersed herself in Appalachian history to tell this captivating story.”

Series: A sequel was released in 2022, "Return to Boone's Hollow". Review Here!

Spiritual Content- Luke 6:27 at the beginning; Many Scriptures are quoted, mentioned, remembered, thought over, & discussed; Many prayers; Church going, hymns, & sermons; Witnessing; Many Talks about God, faiths, His paths for each of us; ‘H’s are capitalized when referring to God; Many mentions of God, Jesus, faiths, & His paths for each of us; Many mentions of prayers, praying, thanking God, & blessings over food; Many mentions of blessings & being blessed; Mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, & those in the Bible; Mentions of churches, church going, pastors, services, sermons, & hymns; Mentions of a ministry; Mentions of Christmas; A few mentions of Heaven; A few mentions of sins; A mention of a miracle;

*Note: People in Boone’s Hollow think Nanny Fay is a witch & have outcasted her for this (she is not a witch); Many mentions of superstitions, luck, people thinking Nanny Fay is a witch, & spells/potions; A mention of the superstitious belief that mirrors can steal one’s soul; A mention of Emmett’s mother believing card games are of the devil (he does not share her view, but respects her too much to partake in such games).

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: an ‘idiot’, a ‘sissy’, three ‘stupid’s, thirteen form of ‘dumb’; A little bit of eye rolling; Injuries, Pain, & Blood/Bleeding; Many mentions of Bettina’s injuries from a family member’s beatings, the physical and verbal abuse, & pain (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a mother being beaten by her own mother and husband, injuries, blood, & her death from it all (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a 13-year-old girl being sold by her parents to wed a complete stranger; Mentions of alcohol, drinking, & a mean and violent drunk; Mentions of threats & having a gun aimed at you (including a man threatening to blow some officers’ brains out); Mentions of hatred, prejudices, & jealousy; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars (Bettina tells some lies in regard to her relationship with Emmett); Mentions of gossip & rumors; A few mentions of The Trail of Tears, being left to die, & deaths; A few mentions of tobacco & a cigar box; A couple mentions of mine cave-ins & injuries; A couple mentions of stealing; A couple mentions of vandalism; A couple mentions of poison; A couple mentions of smoking some loco weed; A couple mentions of chicken carcasses; A couple mentions of mice being caught in traps (barely-above-not-detailed); A mention of slavery; A mention of throwing up; A mention of hunting;

*Note: Mentions of authors, books, series, actors, & movies.

Sexual Content- A forehead-to-forehead touch; A couple embraces & blushes; Some noticing; Mentions of kisses/kissing & sparking (barely-above-not-detailed, Bettina talks about kissing Emmett a bit and later catches him with his shirt unbuttoned and hints to Addie that they were spoonin’ (they actually weren’t)); Mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of flirting; A few mentions of sashaying hips (Bettina tries to do it like the movie starlets do); A couple mentions of making sheep’s eyes at someone; A mention of a woman becoming a man’s wife in every way three years after their marriage; A mention of a man only being good at is making new little family members; A mention of cute boys; Some love, falling in love, & the emotions;

*Note: A few mentions of stillborns & not being able to nurse those babies.

-Adelaide “Addie” Cowherd, age 21

-Emmett Tharp, age 22

P.O.V. switches between them, Nanny Fay, & Bettina

Set in 1936

368 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

{Please note the topic of abuse (though never detailed) and adjust the stars according to each girl in case of triggering content.}

Ohhhh. This was such a wonderful book and I’m so thrilled to mark this as my first five-star book of 2020.

{Psst, if you’re looking for a video review, please check out this video—it’s pure fangirling over this plot and characters, but, oh well. 😉 }

I’m not sure where to begin, so let’s just start:

We see the point-of-view of four characters, Addie, Emmett, Nanny Fay, and Bettina.

Starting of with my favorite character—and now one of my favorite characters of all time—Addie. Addie is an absolutely precious human being. She kindness and caring for everyone and living out the Golden Rule of treating others how you would like to be treated was so beautiful. That message is something I believe in needed not only in this crazy year but in everyday life. I think some may think her to be too perfect, but I thought there were quite a few glimpses into her thoughts and actions of her having to remind herself to look for the blessings—no matter how small of a blessing—and her realistic emotions. I loved her attitude towards life, others, and how level-headed she was. I could go on and on, but let’s just wrap up with that this character inspired and challenges me to be better.

Emmett. As far as leading guys go, he wasn’t my absolute favorite, but he was a really good guy. He treated others with respect and was a likeable character.

Time for a side note: Addie & Emmett. This “romance” was so incredibly clean with not even a single kiss or noticing of an ankle. (Did I just poke at the majority of historical Christian Fiction? Ooops.) Their relationship was so sweet but yet so innocent and calm. None of the major amounts of butterflies or accidental touches like in other books. It was so clean and so sweet, it was so lovely.

Nanny Fay. She’s been branded as a witch in Boone’s Hollow because of her late husband’s family having Cherokee blood and because she makes helpful teas and balms with natural ingredients. When you find out her story, you realize that she had many opportunities to turn bitter and angry, but she did not. She held fast to the Lord and was so kind to everyone even when others didn’t treat her kindly. I adored Nanny Fay and Addie’s faith conversations and that truly added even more to my enjoyment of the story. The faith content was phenomenal and both of those characters were so refreshing to see.

Bettina. Ah, Bettina. If we didn’t have her point-of-view, we probably would dislike her and not feel much—if any—compassion towards her and her situation. The negative content/content warning for this book comes from Bettina’s parts. Her father is a mean drunk that verbally and physically abuses her. She wants out of her current circumstances and has a plan for it to change.

I so enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the characters—especially Addie and her mindset. I enjoyed the wonderful faith content and I enjoyed the sweet, clean romance. I feel so satisfied at the ending and how everything wrapped up. Please do expect me to chat about this book often on my BookTube channel, because this has become a new favorite my mine. :)

See y’all on Friday with a new review!