"My Dear Miss Dupré" by Grace Hitchcock

About this book:

  “Willow Dupré never thought she would have to marry, but with her father's unexpected retirement from running the prosperous Dupré sugar refinery, plans changed. The shareholders are unwilling to allow a female to take over the company without a man at her side, so her parents devise a plan--find Willow a spokesman king in order for her to become queen of the empire.

  Willow is presented with thirty potential suitors from the families of New York society's elite group called the Four Hundred. She has six months to court the group and is expected to eliminate men each month to narrow her beaus until she chooses one to marry, ending the competition with a wedding. Willow reluctantly agrees, knowing she must do what is best for the business. She doesn't expect to find anything other than a proxy . . . until she meets Cullen Dempsey, and she must discover for herself if his motives are pure.”

Series: Book #1 in the “American Royalty” series.

Spiritual Content- Psalm 40:3 at the beginning; Scriptures are mentioned, read, & referenced; Prayers; Talks about God & dreams; ‘H’s are capitalized when referring to God; Cullen says he ignored God for a while, but starts praying again soon after meeting Willow; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers & praying; A few mentions of Bibles & Bible reading; A few mentions of churches & Sunday school;

             *Note: A mention of Cullen having a “physique of a Greek god”.

 

 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘stinking’, a form of ‘stupid’, two ‘blasted’s, two forms of ‘shut up’; Cullen holds back from saying a curse; Some eye rolling; Being attacked & kidnapped (up to semi-detailed); Fighting, Injuries, & Blood/Bleeding (semi-detailed); Throwing up; Mentions of murders & how they happened (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Mentions of accidents, injuries, & blood/bleeding; Mentions of fighting (including boxing), injuries, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of illegal activities, criminals, thieves, stealing, stolen goods, & prison; Mentions of threats & blackmail; Mentions of gambling & debts; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of rumors & gossip; Mentions of throwing up; A few mentions of cheating; A few mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of cigars; A couple mentions of alcohol; A mention of a casino.

 

 

Sexual Content- Many hand kisses (as greetings), five cheek kisses, two almost kisses (up to semi-detailed), two not-detailed kisses, an accidental barely-above-not-detailed kiss, three semi-detailed kisses, and a border-line semi-detailed // detailed kiss; Staring at lips & Wanting to kiss; Touches & Nearness (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes, Flirting, & Winks; Noticing (including muscles, barely-above-not-detailed); Many mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of a woman giving into a man before they were married, being caught, & a possible child out-of-wedlock; Mentions of jealousy; Mentions of reputations, chaperones, women being ruined, & compromising situations; A few mentions of Cullen’s father having mistresses; A few mentions of a man entertaining and conquering women (this includes his comments about having a woman prove her devotion (physically) before proposing to her); A mention of a man not taking advantage of a woman; A mention of a man loving his wife as they have many little ones; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;

             *Note: A couple mentions of a woman’s form-fitting bathing suit & her ankles; A mention of a man being willing to help a woman button her dress; A mention of women showing off their assets.

 

-Willow Dupre, age 24

-Cullen Dempsey

                                P.O.V. switches between them & Teddy

                                            Set in 1882-1883

                                                        364 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

This book was one I was anticipating due to it having all my favorite parts of a historical novel—the right time period (1880-1914 is my preferred time period to read about), set in a big city, and because of it being Christian fiction, faith content. These three elements were great in “My Dear Miss Dupré” and I enjoyed those elements, but especially the faith content tremendously. The faiths shown from Willow and Cullen made this book for me and I wish I could have given it a four-star rating because of the prayers and Scriptures highlighted in this story.

 

As you can tell, this book only received a three-star rating, though, let me explain on why.

 

I struggled at the beginning to keep tract of who-was-who. (Thankful for reading an e-book copy with a search feature in books like this.) Along with lots of descriptions of what Willow was wearing and the surroundings, it took me a bit longer than I expected to get into this story. I did find the plot of a competition for Willow’s hand to be outlandish, but entertaining.

 

There was certain comments from others about mistresses, a man using multiple women in a physical way, and other lewd suggestions. While this may go over younger readers heads at times and while it wasn’t strongly directed, I was a little disappointed by these suggestive comments.

 

I went back and forth liking and… tolerating Willow and Cullen. I would enjoy their faith scenes, but then Willow would seem a little fickle at times (which I can understand because she wasn’t used to being around men that are flirting) and Cullen would start fighting with someone to protect Willow. Which, some readers might find romantic, but I don’t personally find that attractive (especially the scene of him knocking someone’s tooth out and hanging from a thread of gum and also “enjoying the crush of bone beneath his knuckles”).

 

Another note: This didn’t bother me, but some readers might not like the love triangle in this novel. We see Willow’s point of view, but also Cullen and Teddy, who are both after her hand. Ahh, love triangles. There’s always someone who gets hurt.

 

All of that said, this book had good potential and I’m willing to try out the rest of the series. It might not be one I squee and fangirl about, but I’m glad I tried it and will be looking out for the next book.

 

 

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.

*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Bethany House) for this honest review.

 

"The White City" by Grace Hitchcock

About this book:

  “Mysterious Disappearances Taint the Chicago World’s Fair
Step into True Colors -- a new series of Historical Stories of Romance and American Crime
  While attending the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, Winnifred Wylde believes she witnessed a woman being kidnapped. She tries to convince her father, an inspector with the Chicago police, to look into reports of mysterious disappearances around the White City. Inspector Wylde tries to dismiss her claims as exaggeration of an overactive imagination, but he eventually concedes to letting her go undercover as secretary to the man in question—if she takes her pistol for protection and Jude Thorpe, a policeman, for bodyguard.
  Will she be able to expose H. H. Holmes’s illicit activity, or will Winnifred become his next victim?”


Series: Part of the “True Color” series, but does not seem to be connected to any other book.


Spiritual Content- Psalm 27:1-2 at the beginning; Scriptures are remembered & read; Prayers & Thanking God; Talks about God; ‘H’s are capitalized when referring to God; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Mentions of churches, church going, pastors, & services; A few mentions of a Bible & Bible reading; A mention of a book of sermons;

             *Note: Mentions of the devil behind White City’s disappearances; A few mentions of angels; A mention of a man’s demonic flame in his eyes.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘who is tarnation’, two ‘darn’s, two ‘stupid’s, and five forms of ‘blast’; Eye rolling and some sarcasm; Fighting, being beat-up, injuries, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); A fire, smoke, pain, injuries, blood/bleeding, & a near death experience (up to semi-detailed); Witnessing a kidnapping; Winnie does lie for her safety; Many mentions of murders, murderers, autopsies, bodies, & makeshift coffins (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of kidnappings, kidnappers, criminals, crimes, being held at gunpoint, & ransoms; Mentions of a fire, the intention of burning someone alive, arson, & smoke (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of thefts, swindlers, thieves, & pickpockets; Mentions of insurance fraud; Mentions of fights, injuries, & blood/bleeding; Mentions of threats; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of gossip; A couple mentions of an officer with a gunshot would; A couple mentions of poisons; A couple mentions of throwing up; A mention of divorce; A mention of hunting;

             *Note: Mentions of authors & books (each chapter starts with a quote from a famous author or book).

Sexual Content- Hand & finger kisses, a cheek kiss, three top-of-the-head/forehead kisses, an imagined kiss (barely-above-not-detailed in Winnie’s recalling of her dream the night before), a barely-above-not-detailed kiss, a semi-detailed kiss, and a detailed kiss; Remembering kisses (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to kiss/be kissed; Touches & Embraces (barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to touch/embrace (barely-above-not-detailed); Noticing, Nearness, & Blushes (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of men staring at Winnie’s figure; Mentions of flirting; A few mentions of a man being a bigamist & unfaithful; A few mentions of seeing hand and cheek kisses; A couple mentions of men stealing kisses from ladies; A couple mentions of the possibility of a man touching Winnie; A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of Jude’s hungry gaze towards Winnie; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;

             *Note: A mention of a sister having better assets than the other sisters; A mention of a woman’s ample chest.

-Winnifred Wylde, age 19

-Jude Thorpe, age 24
                                P.O.V. switches between them

                                              Set in 1893
                                                        256 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

{Add a star for older girls who enjoy criminal justice topics and/or serial killer mysteries.}

Hmmm. A historical mystery, I do like trying those out.

While the romance of this story was a little too instant for my liking, my enjoyment of both Winnie and Jude allows me to overlook that little detail. I do wish there were a few parts not included in regards to their romance (such as Jude kissing Winnie twice under the pretense of distracting someone from looking at them, that bothered me), it was overall a decent mystery.

Instead of hunting down the criminal, we know who it is and are hunting down evidence. I liked this difference from most mystery/suspense books I’ve read. There obviously was the serial killer and mentions of how he killed his victims, but it wasn’t over-the-top at all, which I was very appreciative of. Probably not for those sensitive to murders, but it wasn’t gory which gives it a bonus in my eyes as the majority of serial killer books (even in Christian Fiction) I’ve read either border-line or are gory in the details.

One other part I want to mention that I liked was that both Winnie and Jude prayed when they were in danger or a dangerous situation. This has been one of my biggest complaints of Christian Fiction mystery/suspense books—that the main characters never pray when they’re faced with the criminal/murdered. I have to thank the author for including her characters showing their faiths and I ended the book with a smile because of it and the couple’s cuteness together.  

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.