Book Review: The Trouble with Patience by Maggie Brendan

Patience Cavanaugh has lost hope in romance.

The Trouble with Patience, set in a Montana mining town, is the first book in Maggie Brendan’s new series, Virtues and Vices of the Old West. 

Patience Cavanaugh is a twenty-five-year old single woman trying to make a go of a boardinghouse she inherited from her grandmother. Due to her mother’s lack of uplifting comments and warmth, Patience struggles with low self-esteem. She doesn’t consider herself pretty enough or thin enough to capture the interest of a man … but she does.

U. S. Marshal Jedediah Jones is a former member of a group of vigilantes who dealt with “road agents” before the law was formally established in Montana Territory. They hung their share of men, something Jed regrets. While he wants a wife and family, as far as he’s concerned, he’s too old and unattractive for Patience to take a second look … but she does.

I’ve read a couple novels by this author in the past and found them satisfying. I’ll be honest, though, this wasn’t a favorite, because, for me, nothing earth-shattering happened in the first half of the book. 

I liked Patience and her struggle to accept the way God made her. I liked Jed’s simplicity and his endeavor to forget the past. I liked the sweet love story and the subtle humor. What I would have preferred was to have experienced something more compelling in the first 140 pages. After that, it takes off and becomes an enjoyable, relaxing, and interesting read.

If you’re looking for a sweet romance for those snowbound days, check out The Trouble with Patience, but be patient through the first half, because I think you’ll find pleasure in the second.

Disclosure of Material Connection: This book came to me free from the publisher, Revell Publishing, with the hope that I would mention it on this blog. There was no requirement for me to write a positive review and the opinions I have expressed above are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.