Review of "Minding Molly"

Review of Minding Molly

(The Courtships of Lancaster County #3)

by Leslie Gould

Capable and optimistic Molly Zook has a slight issue with control: She doesn't like giving it up. So she's chafing against her mother's wish that, to save the family farm, she marry Mervin Mosier--especially after she meets Leon Fisher. He's from Montana but is working in Molly's district, training horses at a nearby ranch. He is tall and muscular, with a confident demeanor. Molly has never met anyone like him, and he seems to feel the same about her.

Determined to let nothing get between them, Molly decides the best course of action is to get Mervin to fall back in love with her best friend, Hannah. Molly organizes a weekend camping trip hoping to bring them together, but things quickly go awry and it seems Leon and Hannah might be falling for each other instead. Will Molly keep struggling to control everyone and everything around her? Or will she learn to let God handle the twists and turns of her life?

MY REVIEW:  Poor Molly!  Who wants to be told who to marry by their mother?  and all to save the family farm after the death of her father?  Molly wants to control things since she could not control the things that mattered the most in her life.    I think many of us have experienced this.....I know that I certainly have problems with wanting to control and fix everything, and I am learning that it is impossible and even unhealthy.  

Molly is a delightful character.  She is organized and a go-getter.   She reminds me of an amazing teacher.   Others in her life attempt to teach her how to give up the desire to control it all.  This was a delightful book and would make a wonderful book for young teens as well as adults.   5 Stars  *****

I received a free pdf version of this book from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

About the Author:

From the Author's bio on her blog:

Some of my strongest memories from childhood include stories—and how those stories connected me to my family and friends. As a preschooler, I remember playing Island of the Blue Dolphin with my three siblings and the neighbor kids, my father reading A Street of Flower Boxes to us before bed, and my mother reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn on long car trips. I also soaked up Bible stories and accounts of grace and redemption during Sunday school and Good News Club. Along with my love of stories, my love of writing began in those early years with my very first written word—S-K-Y.

Even though I knew I wanted to write fiction by the time I was in the sixth grade, as I grew older I pursued other things instead, such as majoring in history and communications, and then working as a museum curator, then a public relations specialist, and finally as a magazine editor. Once I finally started writing fiction, it was another ten years until I sold my first novel. By that time I’d been married for nearly 20 years and had four children of my own to read to.

In the decade since my first contract I’ve written fifteen books, fromBeyond the Blue, a story about international adoption set in Vietnam, toCourting Cate, a retelling of Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew” set in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. No matter what I write, I aim to reveal truths about God’s love, beauty, and redemptive work in our lives. My goal is to connect more deeply to God, family, and friends through my writing. My hope is that my stories encourage readers to deepen their own connections too.