Operation Bonnet by Kimberly Stuart

If you like Sassy Heroines, then you'll really like this offering from Kimberly Stuart. It isn't your "usual" Amish Bonnet novel. 

Nellie Monroe has one deep desire and that is to become a private investigator; and she even took a course to do it. She has no hope for a case until one young man asks her to find out if his true love is going to marry another because he left the Amish circle to live with The English. 

Nellie is a very charming, and quite disarming character. Her wild, red hair depicts her wild and sassy personality which is just as tangled as her hair. Kimberly Stuart does a good job with character development even with some of the background characters, but it seems a bit heavy-handed. The jokes and quirks of each character get tiring.

The first few lines of chapter one make you want to laugh out loud, but when she takes such a long time to get to the point (Nellie actually going undercover at the Amish which is promised prominently on the back cover) you wonder if that really is the point. Characterization is a tricky thing. If the author doesn't do will with the characters then the story falls flat. Certainly, this story is far from that, and there is everything right with quirky and a bit eccentric in the storyline. 

This is a great Sunday afternoon read. I rate it three stars.

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Operation Bonnet David C. Cook; New edition (February 1, 2011) by Kimberly Stuart



ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kimberly says:

I am a writer of comedic fiction, and would like to suggest that you laugh regularly when reading my books. Let’s also try for one to two teary moments. If you are crying more than that, you don’t understand my sense of humor and should move on to another author.


I grew up in a book-loving home. Actually, that’s not entirely accurate. My mom loves books. My dad loves to read the first chapters of books and then make us all listen as he recites his favorite passages. I, however, enjoy reading books in their entirety and came into writing as a result of book-love. After earning two fancy degrees in education and Spanish, I promptly let the thinking part of my brain take a breather and instead became pregnant. (I’m sure a lot of other things happened between early literacy and pregnancy but I don’t really remember any of that. If you also have shared your uterus with another human, you understand.)


In an effort to author a book that would entertain my sassy, irreverent, breast-feeding/drooping friends, I wrote my first novel, Balancing Act. People were so nice to me after that, I decided to continue with writing. Also, I can’t craft, knit, or scrapbook, so what else was a nice, Christian girl to do?


In addition to writing books to make my friends laugh and cry, I observe the chaos at the home I share with my unfailingly supportive husband and three offspring. We’re doing our best and so far, no one’s been to prison.


ABOUT THE BOOK

Twenty-year-old Nellie Monroe has a restless brilliance that makes her a bit of an odd duck. She wants to be a private investigator, even though her tiny hometown offers no hope of clients. Until she meets Amos Shetler, an Amish dropout carrying a torch for the girl he left behind.


So Nellie straps on her bonnet and goes undercover to get the dish. But though she’s brainy, Nellie is clueless when it comes to real life and real relationships. Soon she’s alienated her best friend, angered her college professor, and botched her case.


Operation Bonnet is a comedy of errors, a surprising take on love, and a story of grace.



If you would like to read the first chapter of Operation Bonnet, go HERE.


Watch the book video trailer: