Book Review: A Great Catch by Lorna Seilstad (2011, Lake Manawa Summers #2)

A Great Catch

Author: Lorna Seilstad

Series: Lake Manawa Summers

Genre: Christian Historic

Year: 2011

My Rating: ★ ★ ★

Goodreads

Official Synopsis 

When twenty-two-year-old Emily Graham’s meddlesome aunts and grandmother take it upon themselves to find her a husband among the Lake Manawa resort guests, the spunky, slightly clumsy suffragette is determined to politely decline each and every suitor. Busy working in the suffrage movement, she has neither the time nor the need for a man in her life. The “cause” God has called her to is much too important.

Carter Stockton, a recent college graduate and a pitcher for the Manawa Owls, intends to enjoy every minute of the summer at Lake Manawa before he is forced into the straight-laced, dawn-to-dusk business world of his stern father. He has no plans for romance until Emily crashes into his life at a roller skating rink.

When subterfuge and distrust interfere with their budding romance, will the pitcher strike out completely? Or will the suffragette find strength in her faith and cast her vote for a love that might cost her dreams?

Go to my Historic Fiction page to find all my Christian historic fiction reviews!

While I enjoyed A Great Catch to some extent, it didn't live quite up to my expectations. For one thing, I didn't even remember Emily Graham from Making Waves, so I had no connection to her. I'm sure she was in that book; she must have been too vanilla of a character for me to notice.

In addition to that, I'm not fond of suffragette characters 90% of the time. There's a certain obnoxious quality to Emily that I just didn't appreciate. I'm also not much of a baseball fan and this entire book revolved around baseball and Emily bringing one of the Bloomer Girl baseball teams to Lake Manawa for a game. Now, I thought the Bloomer Girls was a fascinating bit of history, but it wasn't really enough to hold my attention. I found myself wanting to race through the book to the finish so I could start on the 3rd, which stars Lilly, Marguerite's maid, from Making Waves. 

Carter was too pushy with his intentions, another aspect that bored me. I guess I just wasn't sure why this story was needed when it felt much more important to tell Lilly's tale instead. And once again the reader had to contend with a heroine who wants to go her own way instead of God's way and has to be drawn back into the fold and reminded that God calls according to His purpose. I don't know, it just felt a tad cliched after having almost the exact same faith issue fed me in Making Waves.

Oh well, I guess you can't win them all. I guess I just loved Trip and Marguerite so much from Making Waves, that A Great Catch never stood a chance. It's not that the book was bad, and there's a good chance someone who loves suffragettes and/or baseball will love this book. It just didn't work for me.