rebelbelle13 's review for:

These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

3.0

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I have to say I was a bit disappointed with this installment of Little House. It felt quite repetitive and difficult to get through in parts. It covers about three years of Laura's life, from the time she is 15 until the time she is 18. It focuses primarily on the courtship of Laura and Almanzo. I was initially excited for this, but I found that there was zero chemistry at all between them. Laura has little to no interest in him romantically in the beginning, but he gradually wears her down by picking her up on the weekends from her dreadful teaching position, giving her gifts and sleigh rides and carriage rides. There aren't very many other prospects, to be fair to Laura, but he is also a decade older than she. Even her mother worries that Laura is only courting him because she enjoys the horses and the rides. Laura tells her sister Mary that they just seem to belong together. She says nothing about love. Almanzo seems smitten with her, but she is altogether indifferent. I felt bad for him, honestly.
There were also some questionable decisions made, like spending $100 on an organ that Mary could only play once a year on visits home.
That aside, this was a 'just fine' read. I'll get to the last one, after I have some distance from this one.