A Cup of Dust - Susie Finkbeiner

4 Stars!

ABOUT THE BOOK -

Where you come from isn't who you are
Ten-year-old Pearl Spence is a daydreamer, playing make-believe to escape life in Oklahoma's Dust Bowl in 1935. The Spences have their share of misfortune, but as the sheriff's family, they've got more than most in this dry, desolate place. They're who the town turns to when there's a crisis or a need―and during these desperate times, there are plenty of both, even if half the town stands empty as people have packed up and moved on.

Pearl is proud of her loving, strong family, though she often wearies of tracking down her mentally impaired older sister or wrestling with her grandmother's unshakable belief in a God who Pearl just isn't sure she likes.

Then a mysterious man bent on revenge tramps into her town of Red River. Eddie is dangerous and he seems fixated on Pearl. When he reveals why he's really there and shares a shocking secret involving the whole town, dust won't be the only thing darkening Pearl's world.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR -

Susie Finkbeiner is a stay-at-home mom, speaker, and author from West Michigan. Her previous books include Paint Chips (2013) and My Mother’s Chamomile (2014). She has served as fiction editor and regular contributor to the Burnside Writers Guild and Unbound magazine. Finkbeiner is an avid blogger (see www.susiefinkbeiner.com), is on the planning committee of the Breathe Christian Writers Conference, and has presented or led groups of other writers at several conferences.

Visit her website - HERE

MY THOUGHTS -
It was so nice getting back to a historical fiction was like coming home to a good book.
I loved that this story was told through the eyes of a child. It tells all. And - being told through Pearls point of view, you don't really know what is happening for sure till the end. So that is a two edged sword. I wish there was a little more detail about the "Dust Bowl" I feel like it just skirted around the edge. It was a little slow for me in the first half of the book but definitely picked up for the second half.

The character development was great. You really got to know Pearl of course, what a sweetie and brave little girl. You can't help but fall for her.
The descriptions are equally as good, but like I said I wish there was more about the hardships of living in that time, but being through Pearls eyes, she doesn't know everything that is going on.

The ending was a little predictable for me, it was as I guessed. But I did like the ending so that was fine that is wasn't a surprise.

A very touching, sad but enjoyable story. Definitely worth the read. I would read another one by this "new to me" author, she had a style that was nice and easy that I liked.

Thank you Kregel Publications for sending me this book for my honest review.

Get your copy from Amazon - HERE