Book Review - Hatteras Girl by Alice J. Wisler

At the beginning of the year, I resolved to do my best to post at least one book review a week. I had a stack of books I had promised to review for publishers and friends. I felt very bad seeing this stack of books, knowing that I loved to read, but was not accomplishing what I said I would. So this year, I made a RESOLUTION! Resolved: To read and post one book review a week.

The first two books went quickly and easily. I finished last week's on Monday. It was great. That left me a whole week to re-read a book by one of my favorite authors, Lori Wick, and still complete my book review book. I read my Lori Wick book and started my book review book. After a few chapters, I picked up the next book in my Lori Wick series, The Californians, and finished that one. Then I read a few more chapters in my book review book, and picked up the next book in the Lori Wick series, and the next. Then I realized I really needed to get my book review book done, so I picked it up and pushed through to finish it.

Hatteras Girl is centered on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The main premise of the story is about a single Korean-American girl who has two dreams. One to be married, and one to be the owner of The Bailey House with her best friend, Minnie. Both were childhood dreams, and it looked like they were going to come true and be intertwined. What more could a girl want?

Well, for starters, a girl might want a main character who put a little more thought into her life. While Jackie Donovan (a good Korean name) is very easy to relate to, she seems a little shallow. There does not seem to be a lot of depth to her, except when it comes to Bailey House, but even then it's still not that deep. You are left to assume she has a relationship with God by the fact that she goes to church and there is one page where she and her good friend, Buck, talk about God. Other than that, she seems to leave God out of every decision.

There are other parts of the book that are fairly predictable. I figured out who she would end up with early in the story, even though they never really had but one time of really close interaction. The plot itself had a lot of holes in it for me. We never really got below the surface of anything. Even when she ended up with her man, it was a little unexciting for me.

All this to say, I really didn't hate the book. I am still not a great fan of first-person stories, and this one was a prime example, but I found myself liking the character if I did want to yell at her a couple of times. I was very intrigued by her roommate, and would love to see a story about Minnie and her young son, Zane, as they heal from the loss of Minnie's husband and find life and joy again. I thought the book had a lot of potential, I just wished that it had more depth to it.

All in all, I think Ms. Wisler shows promise and will definitely follow her to see how she grows in further books.

This book was provided to me for review by Bethany House Publishers.