My Bookshelf: For the Record by Regina Jennings

Betsy Huckabee might be a small-town girl, but she has big-city dreams. Writing for her uncle’s newspaper will never lead to independence, and the bigger newspapers don’t seem interested in the Hart County news. Trying a new approach, Betsy pens a romanticized serial for the ladies’ pages, and the new deputy provides the perfect inspiration for her submissions. She’d be horrified if he read her breathless descriptions of him, but these articles are for a newspaper far away. No one in Pine Gap will ever know.

Deputy Joel Puckett didn’t want to leave Texas, but this job in tiny Pine Gap is his only shot at keeping his badge. With masked marauders riding every night, his skills and patience are tested, but even more challenging is the sassy journalist lady chasing him.

For the Record is Regina Jennings’ most recent stand-alone novel, and is only the second book I’ve ever read by her. I really enjoyed her writing when I read A Most Inconvenient Marriage, so I knew that I wanted to read more of her books in the future, and finally I got the chance when I had extra gift card money and was able to preorder this novel! Regina’s stories are always funny, but also have serious parts that really make you think, and I just love how plucky her heroines are, especially Betsy. Betsy is not the typical won’t-rest-until-she’s-found-her-man type you would expect to see in a time period like this, but is actually completely independent and frankly doesn’t really care that she hasn’t found someone to spend her life with, until she meets Deputy Puckett.

Joel Puckett also wasn’t at all what I expected when I picked up this book! But don’t worry, that’s not a bad thing, I just didn’t expect his past to be the way it was, or for him to still be paying for it when we meet up with him in Pine Gap. While I knew from the get-go there had to be a real valid reason for him to leave his beloved Texas to come to a backwoods town like Pine Gap, but once I found out the real explanation, I was so sad for him, and completely astonished! He knew some terrible people out in Texas, that’s all I’m saying.

Anyway, Regina did a fabulous job with this novel, and I’m really even now still thinking about it even though I’ve already finished another book since I put down this one. There was just the perfect amount of drama and suspense without this becoming a suspense novel, and I really didn’t expect all the twists and turns that took place throughout the story. All in all, I definitely give it all five bookshelves, and I know that I am very glad I purchased this one. Especially since it’s now on my all-time favorites list.

Happy reading!

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

All credit for the italicized synopsis goes to Regina Jennings and Bethany House Publishers.