Fancy Pants

I found this book to be very sweet and heartwarming. The characters are written well, and made me smile at some points. The plot line is good although a bit rushed in the end. Altogether a great book!

The story is about Lady Sydney Hathwell. Raised in a very rich, cultivated society Sydney travels

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to America to meet a man who has asked permission to marry her. When she arrives, she finds him cold and rude. While he is away Sydney decides to go to live with her Uncle whom she has never met. When she receives her uncle's letter in reply, he assumes she is boy and so she decides to dress like a boy so that her Uncle will continue to want her. When she arrives her uncle is not only gone for several weeks, he has also left in charge "Big Tim" the man determined to make "Syd" into a man! Through all the hard work Sydney learns many lessons, and finally her disguise has been discovered. Will Sydney be able to stay at her Uncle's Ranch? Will Time ever see her for who she is and realize that she loves him?

One part I thought were a little questionable about this book, was when Sydney is still pretending to be a boy and is at the saloon with the "Soiled Doves". Granted, this was the only place she could take a bath without people knowing about her disguise, but I did not like that she had to pretend that she had used their "services". I understand that she was not saved yet, but I am surprised she would have considered it proper, even when pretending to be a boy!

I also did not like the rushed ending as I mentioned before. I felt that the "bad guy" of the story, the man Sydney traveled to America for, gave up way to easy in the end. He had spent 6 months tracking her only give in in the end. It would have been far more interesting if he had put up more of a fight!

I know some people don't like Christian Fiction to sound preachy, but I am the opposite. I enjoy learning from the books I read and Cathy Marie Hake's books have that quality! From little life lessons throughout the book to Tim giving Sydney the Salvation message, this book has some wonderful spiritual qualtities to it!

Other Authors you might enjoy:
Deeanne Gist

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Really stupid! It started out okay, but 2/3 through god very religious. Trust me ... don't bother.

I did not realize before reading this book that it is a Christian Historical romance. Actually, the Christian aspect is not overly emphasized until about three-quarters into the book. Had I known this, I probably would not have selected this book. Knowing it after the fact, I believe the book would

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have been better for me if the scripture-over-the-head was removed or significantly de-emphasized, but that is just me.

If you enjoy scripture references in you historical fiction, you probably will enjoy the comical interactions between the H and the h and enjoy this book cover to cover.

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I was disappointed in this book. It acts like a romance but is really all about religion and accepting God into you life.

I enjoyed this quite a bit. I think I found a new favorite Christian historical fiction author.

I have since read several others of hers. It seemed unfortunate that the spiritual content felt lumped more toward the end. The author's other books have a better balance throughout.

First half was fun but the second half seemed choppy and not well edited. I found myself rereading sentences and paragraphs not understanding the jokes(?) being made- like why did the widow start singing Beautiful Dreamer to one of the cowboys? Also had sone theological ideas I disagree with.

I liked this sweet love story. Sydney is a loveable, spunky heroine, characterized by human traits. Good, but only if you don't mind romance. :)