This review first appeared on One Curvy Blogger

THE DOWN LOW

Once I discovered a love for audiobooks thanks to How It Went Down, I went on a mission for sites that give away audiobooks for review. One of my biggest surprises was that some Goodreads groups do this! I know some groups giveaway eBooks to review, and in some cases paper copies, but audiobooks? Who knew! Suffice to say I snatched Romancing Olive up as quickly as possible. I need to catch up with my 2015 Historical Romance reading goal, and this is the perfect way to get me out of my historical romance slump!

THE NARRATION

Even though I was excited about starting this book, once I officially began Romancing Olive I expected to not enjoy it nearly as much as I thought I would. I wasn’t a huge fan of the idea of just one voice narrating the entire book. You have to realize I started my audio journey with a book that seemed to have a voice for each character. I was pretty disappointed to discover a woman would be narrating the guy voices. As the novel progressed, however, I grew to enjoy her narrating style. She was far from robotic and seemed to really get into the novel. I laughed along with her and even teared up in certain parts! Lee Ann turned out to be a great asset to Romancing Olive and I can’t wait to listen to more books narrated by her. :D

THE STORY

Not only was I leery of the new narration style, I wasn’t a huge fan of Olive in the early chapters and didn’t know if I were going to be able to finish this one.

When Olive arrives in Spencer, Ohio it is a far cry from her life in Philadelphia. It’s small and run down, and not in the least concerned about the kind of propriety that is pretty much the focal point of life in the city. She comes off a bit snooty and judgmental at the beginning – and the worst kind of know-it-all without any life experience. I was about ready to throw in the towel until Olive finally realizes how wrong she had been about her younger brother all those years. I started to see Olive in a new light when her world is rocked on its axis, but instead of giving into hysterics she straightens her shoulders and moves on with her life, determined to give her new charges a better home filled with all the love and guidance they never knew with her gambling-addicted brother and his prostitute wife. I realized how strong Olive is and so did the other characters in Romancing Olive!

I grew to love all the main characters; Olive and her two new charges, Mary and John, Jacob the stubborn but loyal widower whom took them in and buried their parents, and Jacob’s three children. Each and every character had their own flaws but showed substantial growth by the end of the novel. I had times of irritation with all of them but couldn’t help but grow fond of them all as the book progressed.

I surprised myself by how much I enjoyed the slow progressing romance in Romancing Olive. I don’t usually find myself reading slow-paced romances these days and got a kick out of the different speed of this book. I also liked that the heroine in this book is older than the usual romance heroine. She’s referred to as an “aging spinster” a few times which irked me, but seeing as in the time period 35 was older than it is now, I let it go.

Historical fiction fans of every genre should give this story a try – I believe it could appeal to anybody who enjoys a historical novel every once in a while, romance fan or not, since it’s pretty clean when it comes to romance. I enjoyed Romancing Olive so much, I raced to beg another audiobook romance from the author. I can’t wait to dive in! ( )

This is my second Holly Bush book (the first being [b:Reconstructing Jackson|16067757|Reconstructing Jackson|Holly Bush|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349398179s/16067757.jpg|21859650]), and I enjoyed it just as much as the first one. The romance of Bush's books don't rely on constant sex and sexual tension (although there is some of that as well), but rather on the evolution of the main character's feelings, and everything that falling in love entails.

She created two interesting characters in Olive and Jacob - the 35 year old self-proclaimed spinster from an upper middle class family in Philadelphia and a 25 year old widower raising five children on his own on his small farm in rural Ohio. Two people seperated by age and upbringing who eventually come to realize a love that changes their lives. Olive comes to view her old life as one of "waiting" rather than living and is presented with the opportunity and choice to start over.

And similiarly to Reconstructing Jackson, the romance is only one layer of the story. The added storyline of Olive adopting her brother's children, becoming a mother to two traumatized children and helping them heal is the parallel storyline that adds that extra depth and takes it from being a good historical romance to a story of insight and transformation.

The one thing that I had trouble with (at times) was Mary. Yes, she had had a difficult childhood and was forced to grow up fast, so her sometimes insightful observations on the lives of the adults around her were believable. But toward the end, when she was supposed to be learning to trust Olive, and even Jacob, some of her actions felt just malicious. They would have made sense earlier in the book, but in terms of character development, it didn't feel like she came together in the end, but it was clear that thats what we were supposed to understand did happen. ( )

Romancing Olive is a very sweet tale. Olive Wilkins is living a staid, peaceful life in Philadelphia as a settled spinster when she learns that her brother's children have been orphaned and need a home. She sets off West to Ohio with the intention of bringing them back to her life. Little does she know that Life has something else altogether in store for her.

Once she arrives she finds not the perfect farmhouse with a white picket fence she envisioned her brother's farm to be but rather a run down, dirty shack. She finds her niece and nephew in the care of a widower on the next farm over. They are traumatized and unwilling to accept another move. They saw their parents murdered and are afraid of Olive. Jacob Butler, the farmer, while rough around the edges is doing all he can to care for the orphans and he offers Olive the chance to stay at his farm while they get to know her. She is of course SHOCKED at the impropriety of staying at a man's home when she is an unmarried lady. Olive soon learns that the standards she lives by are much more relaxed in this harsh new world.

As Olive puts Jacob's house in order she comes to love Ohio and the people in her brother's town. She also learns some hard facts about her brother and her father. She decides to stay in Ohio and build a life for herself and her niece and nephew. She finds herself attracted to Jacob but she is much older than he - could he possibly find her attractive too? There is also danger lurking as the children's grandfather comes looking for them to work his farm. He is an abusive man and has no compunctions about beating women or children.

I truly enjoyed this book. It was not perfect by any means. There were several questions left unanswered and it was clunky at times but I found myself smiling through most of it. Olive felt herself old and dried up and a confirmed spinster at 35 but was experiencing life for the first time. She let herself be free and going through that with her was an absolute joy. It made up for the deficits in other areas of the book. As she literally put her hair down and learned to love and be loved I almost cheered out loud for her. My problems arose with the "bad guy." There was minimal explanation as to why he was bad. He seemed to just appear when some tension was needed or a "ride to the rescue" would propel the story line forward. He had NO backstory and that was disconcerting.

Despite that, I found Romancing Olive to be a light, fun read. It's not long so it can be enjoyed in one sitting. The setting was well described and the ancillary characters - for the most part - added to the enjoyment of the novel. ( )