Spires of Stone is the third book in Annette Lyon's "temple series". Ironically, this book takes place chronologically before her other temple books. Fans of House on the Hill and At the Journey's End will love the cameo appearance of Abe Franklin--as a young boy.In the author notes, Lyon mentions that the plot is loosely based on the Shakespeare play, Much Ado About Nothing. So I went to her website to see if she expounded on it. And of course she did. It doesn't follow the play precisely, but there are fun elements that you will recognize.Spires of Stone is centered on the building of the Salt Lake Temple. It's filled with rich historical details of both a slice of time in the temple-building process (remember it took 40 odd years to complete) and an epilogue scene that ties everything together so the most avid historian will be satisfied.But what I liked best were the characters. Essentially there is a romance thread between two brothers and two wome--who happen to be sisters. Most fascinating is the Ben and Bethany match. They absolutely despise each other in the beginning because of a terrible misunderstanding that took place before Ben's mission. The second pairing is really a love triangle (one of my favorite plot elements in any romance) between Hannah, Claude, and Phillip. Will the good guy get the girl in the end? I'll let you read it to find out. I do not read a lot of LDS fiction. One reason being that it is difficult to find LDS themed books in my neck of the woods. I'd have to buy them, which leads to the second reason I don't read a lot of LDS fiction. I don't want to spend money on a book I am not likely to enjoy, which has been my experience with most of the LDS fiction I have read.So why did I decide to read Spires of Stone by Annette Lyon? Because, like Shannon Hales books I have been reading a lot about this book on other people's blogs. Thanks to inter-library loan and the good people at the Davis county library in Utah, I was able to read this book without having to buy it.So, I did not know what to expect from this book but decided I needed to keep an open mind. I'd heard it was a redux of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, my favorite Shakespeare play, so I figured I'd either hate it or love it. It turned out I just kinda liked it, but did not totally hate it.Here is the teaser from the book:"Bethany Hansen wasn't sure when or if she would ever see Benjamin Adams again. She also told herself that it didn't matter. But when Ben and his two brothers come home after more than two years of serving a mission to the Eastern states, her feelings of heartache and anger also return—fiercer than ever. And so do Ben's feelings for her.Good-naturedly, Ben's brothers attempt to reunite the two, even as they separately vie for Bethany's younger sister, Hannah. What follows is a charming historical romance complete with wonderful characters and witty dialogue that explores the redemption and power of finding—and rediscovering—true love."I did enjoy the Bethany/Ben storyline and thought Lyon did a decent job with the interpretation of the original Beatrice/Benedick story. However, I felt most of the characters were underdeveloped and flat. (This is one of the problems I have with this genre.) Claude was supposedly a ladies man who could charm anyone but he seemed dopey and uncommunicative. I've never seen a ladies man who spent so much time moping around, shuffling his feet and looking at the dirt at his feet. I only knew he was a ladies man because I was told he was. Not because that is how the character was developed.I did not really ever get a feel for Phillip at all and I thought there were several parts of the story that did not make much sense. Like when Phillip confesses his feelings about Hannah to Claude but nothing is ever said or done about it again and they go on as if there is not this big huge elephant standing in the room. I also did not know if the brothers hated Claude or loved him. They were hitting him, calling him a loser and then were surprised when he moved out?I did enjoy the Much Ado About Nothing overtone and was glad that the book was not preachy (another problem I have with this genre). The book seemed to be very well researched and Lyon even included a historical note at the end which was interesting.You can go to Annette Lyon's Website to read the prologue and first two chapters of Spires of Stone.
What do You think about Spires Of Stone (2007)?
Very interesting to learn about the temples in these LDS books. They are fairly well written.
—Jhuana
Enjoyable retelling of Much Ado About Nothing, set in the Salt Lake Valley 150 years ago.
—kie88
This book was a chick flick set when they were building the Salt Lake Temple.
—Dawn
