The Magic of Ordinary Days

Ann Howard Creel

Review By: Shelby"

Oooh Shelby has been reading! This book was really good. It was turned into a hallmark movie that they showed on CBS. Since i'm a sucker for contract/arranged marriage stories, i wanted to watch it again. That's when I found out it was a book and got the book from the library.

The story is set during World War II in .. um.. Colorado or somewhere. The protagonist, Olivia, got pregnant and so she won't shame the family, she's put into an arranged marriage with Ray Singleton, a lonely and boring farmer. Olivia is very smart and likes history and so she doesn't like being cooped up in a farm the whole day with some guy who only likes to talk about seeds and crap. She explores the farm's history and makes friends with some Nisei girls who work on the farm and live at a camp (the camp is really lax, they let them go into town and everything).

Although Olivia is very uncomfortable at first she grows used to the farm, and being pregnant, and Ray and everyone. This is a really nice book to read. Olivia is a great protagonist, and the characters are likeable, even the ones who turn out to be assholes in the end. And even though Ray has a bald spot he is a good unlikely heartthrob type character i guess. Yup. It's a good book... read it and watch the movie too! A real nice heart-warmer...er... whatever.