Behind the Scenes (#01 in Apart From The Crowd Series)

I loved the delightfully crazy conversations between the two main characters in this book, something I've come to expect in any of Jen Turano's books! The characters have a habit of circumventing tradition, making life all that bit more interesting. There was more intrigue than I was expecting but it certainly kept me interested all the way to the last page wondering how on earth they were going to make it to the end with all the shenanigans they were getting up to. I liked the overarching theme of finding not just who you are and valuing yourself for it but also the acceptance that God made you like that for a purpose. Great story and can't wait for more. \\r\\n

Jen Turano is one of my favourite Christian historical romance authors. I love her characters, her witty dialogue, and the underlying truth (Truth) in her novels. And Behind the Scenes is no exception. \\r\\n\\r\\nThe story has touches of Cinderella, with Permilia as the motherless girl, a self-centred stepmother and an even more self-centred step-sister, an absent but loving father, and Mr Asher Rutherford, the owner of one of New York's biggest department stores, as Prince Charming. \\r\\n\\r\\nBut there is also a suspense element, after Permilia overhears a death threat against Mr Rutherford . . . and he doesn't believe her. This leads a quirky troupe of characters on what is best described as a merry chase as Permilia and Asher spend more and more time together as they attempt to find the source of the threat. \\r\\n\\r\\nMy one issue was that there were parts of the story I didn't quite understand, almost as if I'd missed something . . . I had. I'd missed At Your Request, the free novella introducing this new series (partly because the novella didn't release until January 2017 and I couldn't resist reading this as soon as the review copy was available. In December 2016). Anyway, I suggest you don't make the same mistake. \\r\\n\\r\\nRecommended for fans of witty historical romance. \\r\\n\\r\\nThanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

I fell in love with this book from the start. Permilia is just as unique and fun as her name. The situations she gets herself into and her interactions with Asher are funny and intriguing. I loved all the complimenting characters too. As this is the first book in a series I can't wait for the next ones and have had fun guessing which characters from this book will be the main ones in the next book.