I Found My Heart In West Virginia

The book was offered to me as a free promotional copy and I was ever so happy to accept it given the fact I loved all the previous work of the author.

Cheyenne, the protagonist is a 24 year old woman with four kids of the age 8, 6, 4 and 2 who happened to be quite unlucky to have a jerk of a husband, David. After catching him while cheating on her with a 18 year old woman, she finally decides to divorce him and move on with her life. West Virginia being one of her favorite place since childhood she takes up this chance to start a new life over there. The story would then go one with all the events that follows while she settles in the new country side making new friends, raising her kids and finding her own heart.

The book had many similarities with all other novels written by Chelsea. Large families, teenagers who willingly take much responsibilities for their tender age, young parents who are ever so excited to have as many as kids they would be blessed with irrespective of their income, all had their fare share in this book. The story being set in the country side and being lead by strong men and helpful women made me realize my favorite stories in childhood “Little House on the Prairie” by Laura Ingalls. It is always soothing to come across family stories like this.

Somehow, I always felt that the story belongs to an era of 80’s or 90’s rather than in the millennium because I used to read modern day tales set up in sophisticated cities with stylish women and men with white color jobs unlike the story here. Hence, this one being soothing and different was a good break for me after reading a chain of books which belong to the bustling cities and noise.

Being born and brought up in a totally different culture, I was amazed to know how easily a young woman with kids could move on after a divorce and how lovingly and respectfully she was accepted by the society and family. I couldn’t stop falling in love with all the people Cheyenne met in West Virginia and appreciate for being such understanding and helpful. In fact, the characters sound too good to be true and sometimes even made the story look little unrealistic. For example, they all were quite ok with having so many kids despite the shortcomings in their income and also Cheyenne and Will were too selfless to be caring someone else’s children as their own without a single complaint or a sigh.

In my view, story lacked plot twists. It sure was full of surprising turn of events, but unfortunately they were not properly emphasized. An incident like unexpected pregnancy or an accident or a family dispute, they all were meant to be just few paragraphs or pages and were unsuccessful to build the tension of the situation and appropriate effects on the reader’s feelings. May be it’s because the book was having too many events and too many characters that none has enough time to develop into a major one. Even Cheyenne, the protagonist’s character had almost same joys and worries as the other characters so her life story didn’t stand out well or was unique from others’.

The events to occur next were quite predictable hence the story lacked the charm in triggering the curiosity of me. It mostly portrayed the daily life of few struggling young people. At times the details were too much and painfully slow that I really had to push myself through the pages. In other times the story was too fast paced that there wasn’t enough time to settle in that incident and take in what’s happening. Problems were shot with the answers tailed so there was no time to even ponder over the difficult situations.

However, I noticed that the writing style of the author and the quality of the story has improved a lot. The incidents were well connected to make a smooth flow and there were hardly any typos or grammar mistakes. Starting and the epilogue were well written. Even David’s character was nicely developed for all of us readers to hate him and his sinful behavior. All in all it’s a good and light read therefore I rate this 4 stars. The book would be suitable for anybody who love to read family stories set up in country side.