Feeling Cheated

At AAR reviewers pick what they'd like to review from a huge list mailed out by the editor-in-chief on a sporadic basis.  She gives the title, author, and subgenre which doesn't leave much to go on if the author's name isn't familiar within a subgenre.  Typically, I go through the list looking for subgenres I haven't burnt out on (paranormals and Regencies are definitely out for me these days), then take out the titles I've already reviewed for Booklist which has an earlier publication schedule.

Then with the ones left, I go to Amazon or the author's web page or blog, and read about the title.  This works well as long as the finished book does what she (or sometimes he) posts that the book is about.

In the case of Cowboy Father by Linda Ford, the book that's reviewed on AAR today, I chose to review the book even though it sounded a little on the heavy-handed side of Christian because it was set in Alberta, Canada, during the Depression.  Since I've never read anything else with that time and place setting, I thought I'd get an insight into what it was like there during the time period.

Alas, that was not to be.  Ford's book could have been set anywhere in the North America.  Maybe Canada wasn't too different than the United States during that time period, but at least Ford could have given some feel for Alberta since I'm sure not all Canadian provinces aren't alike.  I'd like to know how they differed then.

So I was cheated.  Ford didn't hold up her end of the promise with this book.