Despite just meeting each other, Tillie and Noah’s lives have been mysteriously intertwined for many years in Ta’Mara Hanscom’s The Pretender. From the moment they met, Tillie and Noah wanted to spend the rest of their lives together, but a deliberate omission will keep them apart – and that same omission will be responsible for the escape of a murderer, and a bride’s deception.
About the book:
Set in South Dakota in 1975, where eighteen-year-olds could order beer in a bar, and loaded guns were kept under the counter.
Frankie Valli sang “My Eyes Adored You,” and American soldiers returning from Vietnam struggled with their new reality.
It’s within this tumultuous season of American history that Tillie Caselli meets Noah Hansen, and they are never the same again. Their lives were mysteriously intertwined – and had been for many years – yet they had no idea.
From the moment they met, Tillie and Noah wanted to spend the rest of their lives together, but a deliberate omission will keep them apart—and that same omission will be responsible for the escape of a murderer, and a bride’s deception.
Learn more and purchase a copy.
My review:
Due to an email problem on my end, I got a late start on The Pretender and am presently 1/4 through the book. I’ll have to update my review here later in the week, but I can say what I’m enjoying so far:
- The 1970s setting. I am a child of the ’70s, so I enjoy reading about the familiar days before cell phones and Internet. I’ve read so few books set in this time period, and it’s a shame. I hope the book will continue to explore Noah’s experience as a Vietnam veteran.
- Noah and Tillie. Their sweet and innocent romance is charming.
*Full Review: Updated, 10/18/2017*
I so enjoyed the setting of The Pretender – post-Vietnam, 1970s Black Hills of South Dakota. At least in the genres I commonly read (Christian fiction topmost among them), that time period is often overlooked.
The premise of a former “blackguard” connecting and falling in love with an innocent artist only to have their love thwarted by age, distance, and misunderstanding, is intriguing. While I enjoyed the characters’ love-at-first sight, whirlwind romance, there were a few areas that kept me from appreciating the story as much as I’d have liked.
The omniscient point of view kept me from connecting deeply with Angel/Tillie and Noah as the story progressed. In fact, in the last third of the book, the reader is rarely “inside”either of their heads as the narrative’s focus switches to their other love interests and extended family members.
I was disappointed that after a fairly lengthy story, no real resolution is offered. In fact, after multiple opportunities for either Angel/Tillie or Noah to re-discover one another – nothing. While a series requires that some questions go unanswered and some issues remain unresolved, virtually nothing was resolved here, the result of a story progressing without a climax or resolution. If you graphed it, it would look more like a child’s growth chart than a story arc.
All that said, The Pretender isn’t without merit. Fans of the family saga, especially Italians families (curiously non-Catholic Italian families), will probably enjoy it.
About the author:
Find out more about Ta’Mara at https://www.tamarahanscombooks.com.
Join Ta’Mara in celebrating the release of the second printing and new covers by entering to win her $75 prize basket giveaway!
One grand prize winner will receive:
- A copy of The Pretender
- A $75 Amazon gift card
- A decorative box containing measuring cups, ten recipes from the book, a potholder, a kitchen towel, pepper and salt grinders, kitchen utensils, and an olive oil dispenser
Enter today by clicking the icon below, but hurry! The giveaway ends on October 11. The winner will be announced October 12 on the Litfuse blog.
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