At first I was learning about Lowell MA textile manufacturing life in early nineteenth century and was enjoying it. Then about 1/4 of the way through it things kept bothering me.Lily is determined to ruin the manufacturing business in the town of Lowell, MA. In her estimation it has ruined her happy farm life by buying up all the farmland and by putting up monstrous buildings, and destroying the beauty of her town. After losing everything she goes to work in one of these plants hoping to wreak havoc enough to make them fall, and thereby bringing back the farmland. Mind you, this is a perfectly sane young lady who actually believes this is a mission from God. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say she was deluded. As a Christian and a bible reader, she can't possibly believe God could cause her to seek retribution by destruction of property, and put to death the only source of living hundreds of people are depending on. That's the first item. (She does start a fire, which causes her some heartache, but she repents, works double to help her friend out who was burned, and that's the end if her retribution).But throughout the book travesties happen at the hand of truly rotten people, travesties which are either swept under the rug, ignored, or dealt with in such ways that NONE of them are caught, disciplined, or in many cases, stopped. Some are found out, but instead of bringing the law into it, they are actually given accolades and encouraged in a higher position of responsibility, in order to bring about "a change of heart".A member of the company's board is seen coming out of a hovel after he's the cause of a woman screaming in the poorer Irish slum area where prostitution is sought out. It is ignored and Matthew (Lily's ex-boyfriend and lawyer for the plant) is told to just accept it.A man (supervisor of women-workers) who gropes women employees, and who seeks "favors" for rewards, is never reported for this behavior nor brought to justice. The working conditions are atrocious, the pay is low, and accidents abound. Nothing is done, nor is anyone seriously seeking to improve any of it.Everything is done in a passive way, and the authors seem okay with this, since none of it was approached differently.It was frustrating. I won't give it a lower rating because it was well written, for the most part, and low ratings should be reserved for books you either want to throw against the wall, or you just can't stand finishing. I did want to finish it, but Lily's complete acceptance in the end of all the conditions disappointed me.I won't be reading this again, nor can I recommend it.Just thought of one more thing... I don't know who came up with the title, but it's wrong. Lily is no daughter of any loom. She's a farmer's daughter and hates anything having to do with the textile looms. So why they call it this is baffling to me.
I downloaded this free for Kindle and enjoyed it. I didn't think the romance was the best aspect at all--I was more drawn to the friendship between the girls and the side story romance, than the relationship between the so-called "hero" and the heroine. There are the standard misunderstandings causing problems, and the heroine does at least one really stupid thing that causes major problems, but those are fairly common for the genre.I would have actually preferred to see more detail about the mills, but I know in historical romance, the history is supposed to take a back seat. Still an enjoyable book (for free).
What do You think about Daughter Of The Loom (2015)?
I was interested in the setting of this story and I generally like these authors, but I did not like this book. (For one thing, despite the action in the story, I got bored with it and put it aside, reading several books before going back and finishing it.) I enjoy a story of redemption. I do believe in forgiveness of sin and the God given grace for people to completely change their lives. However, it seems the author forgets that forgiveness of wrong doing does not mean that individuals won't o
—Rachel Merriman
If you enjoy sweet romances set in a historical setting to completely move you away from real life and any true conflict or character growth then this is a good book for you. I had to force myself to finish this book. I kept seeing hopeful elements that this book would deviate but kept getting annoyed and yelling at the book. Not because I was emotionally involved and cared about the characters. I could not relate with a single one and they all seemed surfacfy happy go lucky Christians who live in a world where everyone automatically forgives each other and is nice to people. Except for the main character who erratically get angry and offended at every little thing. Lilly's attitude aggravated me to no end. All the characters lacked development and were not used to their full potential at all.There were several potentially great moments to exhibit character growth and challenges. A couple examples are when Lily has the chance to stand up against an abusive husband or where she makes a foolish choice that harms a a friend. It all ended easily with just a ""sorry", "it's ok". This book was hugely disappointing. It left me completely disgusted with the "happy Christian world" of "romance" that plagues the Christian market which has absolutely no basis in truth or reality. There. Tried my best to be positive.
—Mercy Cobb
This was a VERY BORING story. I had a really hard time getting through this. It seemed to take years just getting past the 1/4 mark. All that business talk at the beginning, majorly dull time there. The author should be glad that I didn't just do one star. I gave it two because I liked Miss Addy, she was a sweet character. I did like how she and her sister, Mintie, both ended up with someone special. I don't think I was really a fan of anyone else in the story. I didn't feel connected to anyone either, so whatever happened to them...well whatever, didn't really care. I just wanted to the book to end already. Thankfully I finished it!! Yeay! I would have liked the author to finish the part dealing with the little boy though, considering Lilly thought her brother had a child. I get it's a series, but I don't think I could manage dealing with another book by this author. So no thanks.
—Melissa Levine
