Book Review

The Pattern Artist
by Nancy Moser
ISBN:  9781634097925
Published by Shiloh Run Press, An Imprint of Barbour Publishing Inc.
Canadian paper-book price:  $20.99
Genre:  Fiction / Christian / Romance

The Pattern Artist by Nancy Moser only came to my attention via a mention in Vogue Pattern magazine. There is even a link to the book via the Butterick website. I was intrigued. And this set into motion my search for the book to discover more. I will admit that I did have a challenging time to find the book while in the bookstores because the last place that I thought to look was the religious section and that is where it was, not the fiction section where my search was focussed. 

I hoped this piece of fiction would be filled with rich sewing details. I really wanted to love this book but to be honest, I had a hard time getting into the story. Unlike, The Pink Suit by Nicole Kelby, the sewing and design details appeared to be an after thought. Sure, there were turn-of-the-century historical details throughout regarding the history of Butterick, Macy's department store, and the Titantic but as moved as I thought I would be by the details I was left feeling like these details were after thoughts or page fillers.

Sure, Annie and her friends are likeable characters, I just found the story line to be predictable and kind of preachy. Don't get my wrong, I wasn't offended by the religious aspect of the novel, I actually enjoyed the find-your-calling quest story line but there really wasn't any surprise or building action that kept me on the edge of my seat or wanting to turn the page to find out what will happen to Annie or the story's villain Grasston. I just felt that too much was revealed before you had a chance to enjoy figuring things out on your own.

It wasn't until Chapter seventeen that I felt some satisfaction from the words on the page. The characters and descriptive language felt as flat as a pre-folded pattern. Perhaps my expectations were too high for this read.

It is a cute story and yes, I did reach for a tissue by the end of the book. I didn't hate it, I guess I just hoped for more. Or maybe I should say I wish for a bit less, I wished for more to be left to the imagination. It almost felt like I was reading a young adult piece of fiction when I expected to be reading an adult piece of fiction.  

Well, now that I can cross this off my reading list, I can get back to sewing. And get into my next read, Fake Silk by Paul David Blanc. What's on your book list?