Skip Rock Shallows By Jan Watson

I received this book from Tyndale House Publishing for no charge in exchange for my honest review of this book. The thoughts expressed here are my own.


Book Description:

Lilly Gray Corbett has just graduated from medical school and decided to accept an internship in the coal camp of Skip Rock, Kentucky. Her beau, Paul, is doing his residency in Boston and can’t understand why Lilly would choose to work in a backwater town. But having grown up in the mountains, Lilly is drawn to the stubborn, superstitious people she encounters in Skip Rock—a town where people live hard and die harder and where women know their place. Lilly soon learns she has a lot to overcome, but after saving the life of a young miner, she begins to earn the residents’ trust.

As Lilly becomes torn between joining Paul in Boston and her love for the people of Skip Rock, she crosses paths with a handsome miner—one who seems oddly familiar. Her attraction for him grows, even as she wrestles with her feelings and wonders what he’s hiding.



My Thoughts:

Skip Rock Shallows by Jan Watson is the first novel I have read from Jan Watson and I loved it!  The story takes place during 1908 in Skip Rock, Kentucky, a small mining community.Dr. Lilly Gray Corbett is there for the summer to provide medical care for the miners and their families.  When she gets to Skip Rock she is not very welcomed because of her being an outsider, which Lilly expected because she grew up in a small community like Skip Rock. Lilly has a fiancee who is working in Boston and expects her to join him at the end of the summer. After Dr. Lilly Corbett saves the life of a miner the townspeople start to warm up to her.  Lilly feels God's calling her to stay there in Skip Rock but knows her fiancee will not move there and is torn.

Skip Rock Shallows is an awesome book that really moved along at a great pace and truly kept my interest from start to finish.  As a fan of historical fiction I was drawn to this book and I am so glad I read it.  Jan Watson weaves a story of love, suspense, action, and faith that really draws you in.  Jan Watson writes with authority not only about 1908 but Skip Rock, Kentucky and mining. Also through out the story the theme of faith and trusting God's calling adds depth to this story.  The descriptions are fantastic, I could see everything she described as I read it.  I found this book hard to put down.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Christian Historical Fiction, you will not be disappointed.