Sometimes a novel does everything right and still just doesn't click with a reader.

Such was the case for me with "Prayers for Sale" by Sandra Dallas (ISBN 9780312385187).

Set in a Colorado mining town during the Great Depression, "Prayers" is the story of the friendship between a veteran mountain woman and a young woman new to the region. It's a glimpse into a way of life I'm certainly not familiar with.

Dallas creates believable characters (I've got to say I'm hope I'm as strong at 86 as Hennie Comfort!), her pacing is terrific, the descriptions are detailed without bogging the story down, and yet...

While I enjoyed reading it, I just didn't have that connection with the characters that takes a novel to the next level for me.



- Tricia Ambrose