Renegade Husband

By: DiAnn Mills

Narrated by: uncredited

Length: 5 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

One of your favorite inspirational romances, Renegade Husband, is now available as a complete and unabridged audiobook. When Audra moves to frontier Colorado to marry the local pastor, she is assured a life of adventure.

She never realizes how much adventure until her stagecoach is robbed - and she learns it's her future husband's twin brother who committed the crime. Through his life, Caleb Windsor has been blamed for the sins of his brother. But when he tries to stop his twin's outlaw lifestyle by arranging a marriage for him, Caleb doesn't realize how it will affect his own heart - especially when it seems Audra is much better suited to himself. Could Audra ever love a renegade husband? Can Caleb clear his name in time?

©2013 DiAnn Mills (P)2013 Barbour Publishing, Inc.

Interesting story line

Interesting story line, but done in a way that made it highly unlikely to happen in real life. A pathological killer with a conscience?

Cute

Easy listen, the story line very predictable but I always enjoy a story with a Christian lesson to it.

Didn't live up to its potential

I wanted to like this book. Although I thought the title was a little cheesy, it sounded like an interesting premise, and so I decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, however, it wasn't very well-executed, either in writing or narration.

"Renegade Husband" is a story about Audra, a Nebraska girl looking for an adventure. When her pastor suggests she move out to the Colorado territory to marry one of his sons, also a pastor, she is eager for the opportunity to experience something new and exciting. She winds up in the midst of more adventure than she bargained for when her stage is held up on the way to her new home. It turns out that not everything is as it seems as she finds herself caught between twin brothers, one who, to quote Jane Austen, "has got all the goodness, and the other all the appearance of it."

My problem with this story was that everything about it felt rushed. Without more of a chance to get to know the characters, it was difficult to find their actions and choices believable. The romance aspect was very fast-paced, and it seemed as though Audra went from a strong dislike of the hero one minute to fervent devotion the next. The several points in the story that could have been suspenseful weren't because they ended so quickly with little, if any, description of the action, and the resolution was so brief that I probably would have been checking the battery on my ipod had it not been for the "Audible hopes you have enjoyed this program."

I'm not sure who was reading (it doesn't say in the site's book info or in the book itself), but she is definitely not my favorite narrator. Although she's clear enough, I wasn't a huge fan of her voices, and she has a habit of plowing through spots where there should be slightly longer pauses, either because of a change of thought (like a new paragraph) or change of time. It left me feeling like I was left behind and had to hurry to catch up. You can get some idea of what I'm talking about by listening to preview, but I found it got worse later in the book. This may not be a big deal to some, but I found it irritating and distracting.

The one thing I did appreciate about this story was the message of forgiveness and also of following God's plan rather than making plans and expecting Him to bless them. I've read similar messages in better-written books, though, so unless you enjoy this fast-paced kind of story, I'd recommend looking elsewhere.