What I’m Reading: Hattie Ever After

I just finished up listening to the audio book Hattie Ever After by Kirby Larson. If you are a reading of my blog you might remember that I was excited about this book.

It is sequel to a book that I dearly loved Hattie Big Sky. In that book an orphan girl from Arlington, Iowa finds out that inherited her Uncle Chester’s claim and goes to Montana to see if she can “prove it up”. I loved that book for so many reasons starting with that Arlington, Iowa is on the opposite corner of the county I live in. I love anything farming, orphan, Oregon trail, type stuff and this book was perfect for me.

Recently after listening to and reviewing the book Duke by the same author I discovered that the author had written a sequel to Hattie Big Sky. My on line library didn’t have the book so I checked Audible and got it there. I am glad I did. The book was good. It was juvenielle fiction so there is always a bit more of simplicity to them but still good.

Here’s what Amazon had to say about the book, “After leaving Uncle Chester’s homestead claim, orphan Hattie Brooks throws a lasso around a new dream, even bigger than the Montana sky. She wants to be a reporter, knowing full well that a few pieces published in the Arlington News will not suffice. Real reporters must go to Grand Places, and do Grand Things, like Hattie’s hero Nellie Bly. Another girl might be stymied by this, but Hattie has faced down a hungry wolf and stood up to a mob of angry men. Nothing can squash her desire to write for a big city newspaper. A letter and love token from Uncle Chester’s old flame in San Francisco fuels that desire and Hattie jumps at the opportunity to get there by working as a seamstress for a traveling acting troupe. This could be her chance to solve the mystery of her “scoundrel” uncle and, in the process, help her learn more about herself. But Hattie must first tell Charlie that she will not join him in Seattle. Even though her heart approves of Charlie’s plan for their marriage, her mind fears that saying yes to him would be saying no to herself. Hattie holds her own in the big city, literally pitching her way to a byline, and a career that could be even bigger than Nellie Bly’s. But can making headlines compensate for the pain of betrayal and lost love? Hattie must dig deep to find her own true place in the world. Kirby Larson once again creates a lovingly written novel about the remarkable and resilient young orphan, Hattie Inez Brooks. “

After reading the first book there was a big opening for a second book to be written but sadly, this time, I don’t foresee a sequel. Amazon readers say 4.4 stars…I’d agree. I’d give it a little higher rating but would have liked to see 20 or so more pages added to the book so that the ending didn’t conclude quite so quickly.