Customer Reviews

THE ENDEARMENT

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I love this book, one of my favorite Spencer novels!! She takes the concept of the "mail order bride" and crafts a beautiful, engaging love story around it. Karl and Anna are wonderful characters that readers will be able to relate to; Karl is strong, traditional, and of the quiet persuasion while Anna, typically, is his opposite, possessing an out-spoken, fiery personality. However, the central part of the story and the issues in their lives are often surprising and keep the story flowing, as do their reactions to it. "The Endearment" is a wonderful novel about how love can grow in unlikely places and that the heart can survive, build upon, and ultimately become stronger through many trials.

How one could find this boring, I have no clue...I guess everyone is different because I was ABSOLUTELY SWEPT AWAY by "The Endearment". I could not put this book down..I was addicted to it from page one. I LOVED Karl and Anna. I adored the way he talked to her..how he called her "Onnuh"...yes he angered me at times, but oh!!! Have I mentioned how much I LOVED this??!!! The lovesecenes were so emotional and sweet..not a hint of purple prose in sight. Karl and Anna were so unsure and in need of one another my heart was practically splitting in two just imagining them. This is one of those stories where I walked away in disbelief that the characters were not actually real people. I cannot say enough about this book..I would DEFINITELY recommend it.

If you are only looking for a "lust and thrust" bodice ripper type book this is not the book for you. This is a sweet love story with realistic characters in believeable situations. I was fascinated by the details of pioneer life, and the subtle details of what it was like to make a home in the wilderness. I found the book hard to put down and I was sorry when it ended.

Mail order marriage at its best. Take a "perfect" gentlemen and a young, streetwise woman (with a younger brother no less) and you have a relationship made in heaven. To watch the two build a relationship almost makes you feel like you're intruding. Truly a wonderful story that you will read again. Not to mention that if you're not in love, you will want to be. This book made me start reading this author and I've now read every one of her books.

This is one of LaVyrle's best books. She truly is the master of tender love stories. The characters were real, funny and warm. I just loved it.

LaVyrle Spencer is one of my favorite authors. True to form this novel is unique and stands on its own. She writes in such a way that you can't help but picture the characters and relate to what they're feeling. Her historical research also throws you back into a time you can now live right along with the characters. LaVyrle also knows how to write a love story that anyone can relate to. She knows how to begin with ordinary people who aren't attracted to each other in any way. Then she weaves a web that pulls you in as a participant who emotionally cheers for this couple to finally get together. The best part is that she knows how to use the entire story to carry you to that end.

In this story a very young and naive mailorder bride arrives in Minnesota to meet the lonely Scandinavian man who has left his homeland to work a farm he hopes will be his family's future. She answers the ad hoping that it will be her answer to a better life. He picks her up at the station expecting a woman who can cook, clean and physically help with the many chores that are necessary to building their life together. Neither one is very happy after the initial meeting and their future unfolds with you caught up in the middle of it. I could NOT put this book down and I will be surprised if you can.

I have read almost all of LaVyrle Spencer's books, and have decided that this is my absolute favorite! I loved the period detail, the love story between Karl and Anna and the growing relationship between James and Karl. I ached for both Karl and Anna by turns: he, when he learned Anna's secret and she when she yearned for reconciliation. LaVyrle Spencer combines humor, sensivity and setting to write a fabulous novel! I just wish she hadn't retired! Oh, well.

When 25 year -old -Karl arranges marriage with a mail-order bride he believes he is getting a 25 year-old woman who knows how to run a farm and help him begun his homestead. Instead the woman who shows up is an illiterate 17 year-old orphan who doesn't know the slightest thing about farmwork or anything else domestic. Plus, she arrives with her 12 year-old brother whom Karl knew nothing about. Karl finds himself in the position of either having to marry Anna or send her and her brother away with nowhere else to go. Karl decides to go ahead with the marriage and soon finds himself wearing the hats of not only husband, but teacher and father as well.

The Endearment is the story of Boston-bred Anna (and her brother James), and Anna's attempt to make a better life for herself - by becoming the mail order bride of Karl Lindstrom, who's arrived in Minnesota from Sweden and is looking for a wife. What Karl doesn't realise is that Anna's told him a passel of lies in order to make him agree to marry her - and the greatest deception is one that takes a long time to be revealed.

Don't read this book if you're looking for a bodice ripper; this is a quiet, feel-good read that'll warm the cockles of your heart. The hero and heroine both have their flaws - Anna's lied through her teeth and isn't particularly hygienic; Karl is sometimes just too good to be true. But overall, their romance is what I look for in a love story - love, affection, friendship, not just lust.

The descriptions of the woods, the many chores they do, etc, got a bit tedious at times (I could have done without knowing each step of how to harness a horse!), but what the heck. Great book anyway.

The story was slow to start and also it doesn't take a genius to know what's brewing. However, this book seems to be a more balanced book in that it gives the reader a glimpse into the minds of the both sides and how they each struggle to manage their expectations, disappointments, forgiveness and love for each other. Author certainly knows how best to tug at the heart strings of readers. Should read.