My Bookshelf: Out of the Ordinary by Jen Turano

Working as a paid companion may be quite commonplace, but Miss Gertrude Cadwalader’s eccentric employer makes her job unpredictable, to say the least. She finds herself carrying out an array of highly unusual tasks, including wearing peculiar outfits and returning items the woman pilfered. But when the wealthy Mrs. Sinclair catches Gertrude sneaking around the Sinclair yacht with some of the missing items in her possession, she immediately jumps to the wrong conclusion.

Shipping magnate Harrison Sinclair is caught in the middle of a misunderstanding between his mother and Gertrude, but he can’t help coming to his friend’s defense. Even as he hopes their friendship might become something more, Harrison is unprepared for the outlandish escapades that seem to follow the lovely, anything-but-ordinary Gertrude at every turn.

 

Out of the Ordinary is the second book in Jen Turano’s Apart from the Crowd series, coming after Behind the Scenes. Now that I have finished this particular story, I have read every one of Jen’s novels—so far anyway. I’m still greatly anticipating the final book in this series, which comes out in just a matter of days. I’m really looking forward to getting to read more about Temperance and find out more about her story, and I am curious to see which book of the series will be my favorite once I’ve finished them all. So far, however, my favorite is most definitely this one. While I absolutely loved Behind the Scenes, both for its hilarity and its adventure, and for Permilia and Asher, something about Out of the Ordinary proved to be even more memorable for me.

First, it might be because Harrison was by far one of my favorite characters of all time. He was just so sweet, and thoughtful, and he constantly looked out for Gertrude, taking care of her as she seemed to find herself in all manners of scrapes and adventures. No matter what happened, he always just loved his dear friend Gertrude for who she was, and that was just the sweetest thing for me to behold. As someone who is personally learning what that kind of love is like, and what it’s like to have someone love me that way, it really touched me to read about it in the midst of this story.

I also just really loved Gertrude myself. With everything that she had been through, all the pain of her past and her determination to not go through the same thing in the future, I couldn’t help but love her and long for her to find the redemption and forgiveness she thought she needed. And even though my story is far different from her own, I couldn’t help but learning from her as she overcame her doubts and pain and fears.

Through all of this story, I was constantly entertained, whether by the more hysterical moments, or by the hint of mystery weaved in, or even just by the aspects of God’s grace, love, and redemption I found all throughout this novel. I can’t imagine not giving it all five bookshelves, because there wasn’t a thing about this story that I would criticize or change. Jen knocked it out of the park again—what else would she really have done—and I am now anticipating the next release all the more. I highly recommend this novel, and all of her others, as Jen is most definitely one of my favorite authors of all time.

Happy reading!

To see where I’m linking up, check out my Where I Party page.

All credit for the italicized synopsis goes to Jen Turano and Bethany House Publishers.