"Jessie" by Lori Wick

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Part of a series?: Yes, Book #3 of the Big Sky Dreams series
Genre: Christian historical romance
Format read: Physical book borrowed from the library
Sweet or hot?: Definitely sweet

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Lori Wick does something in her writing that I've never seen in other books. She inserts scenes with other characters that don't tie in with the main plot line or even go anywhere. It didn't occur to me until reading this book, the third in the Big Sky Dreams series, that these scenes are like commercials. You get a little break from the action to visit with other characters that you know from other books in the series. If I hadn't already read the other books, these little commercials might have led me to read them. However, they don't contribute much to the plot of the current book.

Jessie, the titular character, is the owner of the general store in Token Creek. When we met her in other books, she was already raising two daughters single-handedly. In this book, we go back several years to find out about her life before kids and her marriage to Seth Redding. Long-time readers of Wick's books may know that Seth was a character in a book from her Yellow Rose trilogy called A Texas Sky.

The spiritual theme of this book seems to be how to deal with people in your life who are not believers. The Bible references and devotional passages are integrated more smoothly than they were in the first two books. Wick's writing is at its best when she is describing the struggles in a male-female relationship, and the scenes between Jessie and Seth ring truer than anything else in the book.

Jessie is not the best book in the series, but if you have already read Sabrina then you will want to read this book. Jessie was a prominent figure in the second book and this gives you a chance to learn more about her.

P.S. The "that woman" problem that Wick had in the first book is not nearly as bad in this one :-).