An Appalachian Summer by Ann H. Gabhart ~ Book Review

It's 1933 and many have lost their fortunes in the stock market crash.  Piper Danson's parents, however, managed to make it through and Piper's mother is bent on keeping things just as they were before the crash including having Piper's debut party, albeit a couple of years later than the norm.  Piper's father has chosen Braxton Crandall to escort her in the hopes that Braxton would court his daughter.  Braxton's family is railroad money and so in her parent's eyes Braxton can give her the kind of life she's used to and even better.  But Piper's heart belongs to her childhood friend, Jamie, who's family unfortunately did not weather the crash so well and whom she hasn't heard from in a while.  When Mary Breckinridge comes to town and Piper attends the tea held in her honor, she is taken with Mary's stories and pleas for workers for her horseback Frontier Nursing program helping pregnant women and children in the Appalachian mountains.  In an effort to stall the courtship and marriage plans her parents have for her, Piper convinces them to let her have one last summer and go and help Mary Breckinridge.  Once there Piper finds the work hard but rewarding and she soon loves the people of the mountains and the job she is doing.  Then against all odds, who shows up to write a newspaper story about the Frontier Nurses but Jamie himself.  As does Braxton.  

This historical Christian fiction romance features the historical Frontier Nursing program as it's base, something I've never read about before.  It was an enjoyable though predictable story.   I found it a nice clean summer read that allowed me to just get lost in the story without a lot of thinking.  There is elements of hope and faith and a young girl standing up for herself and the life she feels she should be leading as opposed to what her family insists upon for her.  And of course, there is the clean romance in it as well.  There seems to be a lot of stories out right now about the Appalachian mountain people and different aspects of horseback "helps" given to them, but the Frontier nursing program in this story is unique in that sense.  It was interesting looking up Mary Breckinridge and her program.  Though a nice easy going story that I liked, I wished for more of the grittiness that I'm sure went along with this nursing program. 

I rated it a 7.5/10

Reading Goals Met:  Reading Your Shelf Challenge prompt "A book with a summer vibe", A book purchased between 2020 - 2022