'My Rock and My Refuge' Virtual Book Tour | Review

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I had the privilege of being an advance reader for Rachel Kovaciny's latest novel, My Rock and My Refuge, which retells the classic fairytale "Beauty and the Beast" in an Old West mining town.  I genuinely enjoyed it, and for today's stop on the virtual book tour, I'll be sharing my Goodreads review. 😊  Read on, Lizzy!

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Another satisfying installment of the Once Upon a Western fairy tale retellings, My Rock and My Refuge features my favorite love story in the series so far.  It is what we could call swoon-worthy. 😉  Retelling the “Beauty and the Beast” romance can be tricky, but I genuinely loved what the author did with it here.  Definitely the healthiest, most relaxed, most adorable take on the couple I’ve ever encountered.  I won’t say too much here, because I don’t want to spoil the fun of experiencing it firsthand, but I loved how well-adjusted and forthright it was.  There’s no pretense, there’s no melodrama; everyone is pretty upfront about how they’re feeling and what their intentions are, and it’s absolutely delightful.


Arthur (the Beast character) was definitely my favorite.  I loved him.   I liked Marta (the Beauty character) for the most part, although there were times when she became a touch preachy.  I love that Ms. Kovaciny included Jakob, since the sibling elements of the story’s original iterations are too often left out of retellings.

There are so many “small” details in this book that elevate it so much:  It’s told from Marta’s POV, and the flow of her narration is ever so slightly “foreign” (even when she’s describing her own headspace, her syntax isn’t quite what it would be for a native English speaker, which is such a clever way of fleshing out her immigrant experience).  There are subtle nods to Jane Eyre to be found throughout the book if you look for them (and, lucky for me, I was looking for them 😉).  One of the characters opens her own bakery partway through the book, and it’s made clear that she will maintain the bakery after her marriage, which is excessively satisfying.


My primary complaint is that the faith content occasionally felt didactic.  The characters’ strong personal relationships with God were actually refreshingly organic, but the discussions on various non-doctrinal points of Christian praxis (church attendance, etc.) often turned a little heavy-handed.

All in all, though, heartily recommend!  Again, I don't want to spoil anything, so I'm not going to squeal over all my favorite bits, but make no mistake — squealing could have happened. 😉

I received a free ARC of this book from the author. A positive review was not required.


Visit the links below to learn more about My Rock and My Refuge and Ms. Kovaciny!


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Have you read any of the Once Upon a Western books yet?
If you have, which is your favorite?

Comments

  1. Hamlette (Rachel)November 13, 2022 at 6:44 PM

    :-) I'm glad you love Arthur. I love Arthur too -- he requires many hugs, so of COURSE I do.

    Where is that last picture from? Is it Old Tuscon from a weird angle I'm not used to? The rock formations look wrong, but I spy a saguaro cactus, and they don't really grow anywhere but the Sonoran Desert...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OliviaDecember 29, 2022 at 11:37 AM

      I do, I really do -- he's a dear man. *hugs him*

      Alas, I could not tell you. It's just from Pinterest. :-P I'm impressed that you could identify the probable location from the cactus, though! I don't know anything about Western topography...

      Delete
    2. Hamlette (Rachel)December 29, 2022 at 4:40 PM

      Hee! We tend to assume there are saguaro cacti all over the southwest, but it's not true -- they're native to one part of one desert. They just happen to grow all around Old Tucson, which is a ghost town that's been used for gazillions of western movies, so we think they're everywhere :-D

      Delete

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