“Louisa Bell never wanted to be a dance-hall singer, but dire circumstances force her hand. With a little help from her brother in the cavalry, she's able to make ends meet, but lately he's run afoul of his commanding officer, so she undertakes a visit to straighten him out.
Major Daniel Adams has his hands full at Fort Reno. He can barely control his rowdy troops, much less his two adolescent daughters. If Daniel doesn't find someone respectable to guide his children, his mother-in-law insists she'll take them.
When Louisa arrives with some reading materials, she's mistaken for the governess who never appeared. Major Adams is skeptical. She bears little resemblance to his idea of a governess--they're not supposed to be so blamed pretty--but he's left without recourse. His mother-in-law must be satisfied, which leaves him turning a blind eye to his unconventional governess's methods. Louisa's never faced so important a performance. Can she keep her act together long enough?”
Series: Book #1 in the “Fort Reno” trilogy.
Spiritual Content- Prayers; Talks about God & Jesus; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Louisa doesn’t think that God cares about her and thinks that she has to get past the church people to meet God, but they weren’t moving out of her way; Louisa avoids going to church services; Louisa makes the sign of the cross (“or at least something close”) when pretending to pray; Towards the end, Louisa hears that God doesn’t care about what you’ve done & is witnessed to which causes her to truly think about Him; Many mentions of Mennonite missionaries & a mission; Mentions of God, Jesus, & Him being near; Mentions of prayers, praying, thanking God, & blessings over food; Mentions of churches/chapels, church going, & a chaplain; Mentions of sins & sinning; A few mentions of when Louisa was little, she was invited to church but then told her singing was not welcome after she sang a song that wasn’t appropriate; A few mentions of religious books; A couple mentions of King David sending his rival to his death; A couple mentions of hymns; A mention of a Bible; A mention of meeting your Maker; A mention of a seminary; A mention of Louisa thinking that she’s a sinner pretending to be a saint;
*Note: A couple mentions of luck; A couple mentions of a siren tempting a man to linger in the underworld (but that thought doesn’t line up with what Daniel knows about eternity); A mention of a godforsaken place; A mention of a piece of clothing be considered as worthy of hellfire (scandalous).
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘blast it’, a ‘darn right’, a ‘horsefeathers’, a ‘shoot’, two forms of ‘dumb’, three ‘idiot’s, four ‘what in tarnation’s, five ‘Great Saturn’s rings’s, and five forms of ‘stupid’; A mention of uttering oaths; Eye rolling; Fighting, Pain, & Injuries (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of lies, lying, liars, & deception (While Louisa doesn’t technically lie to get the job, she doesn’t correct some of the misunderstandings either; she feels guilty about this as the book continues); Many mentions of a saloon, alcohol, drinks, drinking, & drunks (including Louisa’s abusive mother and Bradley’s thinking that “what was life, if you didn’t drink it to the lees?”); Mentions of an allergic reaction, a near death, pain, & injuries (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of pain, injuries, blood/bleeding, & passing out (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of fights & fighting (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of the possibility of someone being shot; Mentions of stealing/robbing, stolen items, & criminals; Mentions of arrests & prisoners; Mentions of Indian raids, attacks, being under a siege, & threats; Mentions of hunting (barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of a war; A few mentions of smoking, cigars, & tobacco; A couple mentions of starvation & children dying; A couple mentions of whippings as a punishment; A couple mentions of eavesdropping; A couple mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of poker & gambling; A mention of a scapling; A mention of a man’s bad burn after a gunpowder explosion; A mention of butchering animals;
*Note: A mention of Mennonites being peace-loving people and their consciences not allowing them to fight.
Sexual Content- A (semi-detailed) hand kiss; Recalling a kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Many Touches, Embraces, Nearness, & Warmth (including sitting in someone’s lap, up to semi-detailed); Lots of Noticing, Staring, & Smelling (including Daniel noticing Louisa in her house robe and it having an effect on him, her ankles and shoulders are shown as well and he thinks about them, semi-detailed); Louisa has her standards that includes “no drinking, no carousing, and no fraternizing with the customers”; Louisa and her brother don’t know and/or keep in touch with their biological fathers (it’s implied that they didn’t care enough to stick around); Mentions of some dance hall singers having to do things “upstairs” and Louisa being afraid that she could have to do that and/or being accosted (she says she was propositioned, threatened, and witnessed things she wish she hadn’t, but was lucky); Mentions of flittering eyelashes & flirting; Mentions of jealousy; Mentions of reputations & chaperones; A few mentions of a man’s next ladylove & her sharing his bed; A few mentions of the dangers of a woman being alone & the possibility of a man touching her; A few mentions of kisses & kissing; A few mentions of songs with inappropriate lyrics for children; A few mentions of men being overly interested in Louisa; A couple mentions of lonely men & their temptations; A couple mentions of catcalls & whistles; A mention that most minds think that a woman who performs on the stage is no “different than the one who performed in the bedchamber”; A mention of a boss being interested in Louisa, but she refused his advances; A mention of a coquettish performer; A mention of Louisa calling herself not a prude, because she was raised in a bawdy house; A mention of looking like a soiled dove; A mention of a secret tryst; A mention of what the Cheyenne did to their female captives (not said); Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
*Note: Louisa is helped out of her dress by a man who is like her father (he does turn red); Mentions of women showing skin, modesty, & inappropriate/too-small and tight clothing; A few mentions of low necklines; A mention of some Indian men wearing only a loincloth; A mention of a Louisa’s biological father that was a “wastrel that sired her”.
-Louisa Bell
-Daniel Adams
P.O.V. switches between them & Bradley (a handful of times)
Set in 1885
345 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it probably many more times: The hidden identity trope is one of my favorites to read. (I think it’s because of all the humorous misunderstandings, maybe?) That’s why I decided to pick up this book. It’s been more than a few years since I last read a book by this author and I thought I would try out one of her books again
There was positives and negatives, personally.
Positives: I really liked the faith content and Louisa’s development throughout the story—it wasn’t rushed at the very end like most stories I read and I really appreciate that. It was different to see the children in this story be 16 & 10, and not young kiddos. It made it more believable in different regards.
The parts I didn’t like: Certain comments about Louisa and other women in the same career hinted to sexual content (some just bluntly said), and while it was kept mostly quite clean, I would still say this would be better for older girls. Louisa and Daniel noticed each other a lot. A lot. There were a few moments of sexual tension as well…when those parts weren’t happening, they had their cute moments together, but there was quite a bit of noticing and touches. :/
So, hmm. I liked some elements, but I wasn’t a fan of quite a few others. Because of all the noticing and attraction (plus certain comments), I wouldn’t recommend this one for girls in BFCG’s target ages, personally.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
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