Regina Jennings' "Courting Misfortune" - Joplin Chronicles, book 1

Calista York needs one more successful case as a Pinkerton operative to secure her job. When she's assigned to find the kidnapped daughter of a mob boss, she's sent to the rowdy mining town of Joplin, Missouri, despite having extended--and extremely meddlesome--family in the area. When Matthew Cook decided to be a missionary, he never expected to be sent only a short train ride away. While fighting against corruption of all sorts, Matthew encounters the reckless Miss York, whose bad judgment consistently seems to be putting her in harm's way. Calista doesn't need the handsome pastor interfering with her investigation, and she can't let her disguise slip. Her job and the life of a young lady depend on keeping Matthew in the dark.

This was a fun story. A part of me dreaded to keep reading out of fear for what scrape Calista would get into next--though that's also what made it so entertaining. That and the Kentworth relations--the cousins, uncles, Granny. All of them are a hoot and wonderful when they aren't one's own lovingly embarrassing family.

Matthew is a brick--solid, endearing, what you see is what you get. I'm glad that Calista readily recognized his faith and good qualities (once past the initial misunderstanding of his employment, that is), and never viewed him as just a country hick, even though they clearly come from different backgrounds. Calista might be a little reckless, and not as good a liar as she thinks, but she has spunk. At one point she experiences a significant interruption to her plans that is about the last thing she ever wanted, yet she recognizes God's hand in it, and I loved her prayer following it:

Thanks for making me do what I didn't want to do. Thanks for making me be a better person than I want to be today (p.198). 

Would that I would view interruptions with the same spirit and to think to thank God for them! 

I look forward to getting to know more of the Kentworth cousins better!

Thank you Bethany House and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.

Joplin Chronicles

0.5: "Intrigue a la Mode" (prequel novella originally published in the Serving Up Love: A Harvey House Brides Collection)
1. Courting Misfortune

2. Proposing Mischief

3. Engaging Deception