Review #3 for the Elsie Dinsmore series of books by Martha Finley. To avoid giving out too many spoilers, I'm trying out a new way of writing these reviews - I'll list the back-cover summaries first, and then, because I think it would be best for readers to know what they're in for, I plan to provide the teensiest bit of information on the book before expressing my thoughts. Enjoy!
Book 3: "Elsie's Girlhood"
Back-cover summary: Elsie's father remarries, giving her a mother she adores - and a brother and a sister. But not everybody has the young woman's best interests in mind!
In this book of the Elsie Dinsmore series, Elsie receives a new mama and two precious siblings. Soon after Elsie's father's remarriage and her little brother's birth, Martha Finley springs our heroine up three years in age, and now she's a young, delicate woman of fifteen.
And this is where the climaxes set in.
Elsie is asked to marry a childhood friend, but her papa gently shows her that the time and the boy are not right, and Elsie, as always, gives in without a fuss. However, in a visit with an old family relative, she meets up with another man - one she falls earnestly in love with, and one whom she can't imagine her life without.
Then Horace Dinsmore comes and tells her that the man is a cheat, a scoundrel, a liar - in short, a man who is unutterably unworthy of Elsie's hand. And, for probably the first time in her life, Elsie doubts her father's decision - she will not, she cannot, believe such things about the man who has completely stolen her heart. She pushes her father off and, at more times than one, is tempted to absolute disobedience.
Thankfully, the book ends happily, with the truth being revealed to Elsie, and then her true husband-to-be finally managing to get his "little friend" to admit her deep love for him (and I believe we all know who this husband-to-be is *smile*). Horace gives his consent to the engagement, and with this "Elsie's Girlhood" draws to a close.
My thoughts upon this book are mixed. As always, I find Martha Finley's work well-written, and the ending is so sweet and dear, but the whole book seemed to be centered around young boys and young girls falling in love with one another and their hearts being shattered in the process.
These kinds of books make me feel uncomfortable.
The man Elsie at one time loved (the same one who was shown to her as an outright criminal) did, at one time, get physical with Elsie (she allowed him to kiss and hug her), and, well, I can't even bring myself to reread that one scene. After all, Elsie will never get her affection back . . . her words back . . . all she poured into that man, she will never get back.
If you enjoy books that include boy-girl relationships, you would love "Elsie's Girlhood." If, however, your thoughts are like my own - that marriage is sacred and that a girl should save herself for her husband - you should probably refrain from reading this story.
All things considered, my overall rating for this book would have to be 3 stars.
Sounds like a very interesting book. I can handle a bit of boy-girl relationships, but nothing really physical or intense.
ReplyDeleteThe descriptions of the physical interactions between poor Elsie and the criminal are much the same as when her Papa kisses or hugs her, the only difference being this man doesn't have the right. Elsie never lets the criminal kiss her lips, though, which is a huge plus.
DeleteEmily
Same here, Lilly. Sometimes those things make me feel a little uncomfortable, too, Ellen.
Delete~Hannah
P.S. Thank you for not giving too much away, Ellen. ;-)
Yes, I was sad about Elsie's relationship with the scoundrel too! She can be taken in so easily, its torture. I was also sorry that the other young man proposed and got his heart broken, I don't care for love triangles. But the ending is lovely, and the true prince is the epitome of southern-gentleman manliness.
ReplyDeleteEmily