Claiming Her Inheritance

Reviewed by:

Connor Salter, Professional Writing alumnus from Taylor University, Upland, IN.

Title:

Claiming Her Inheritance

Author:

Debra L. Butterfield

Publisher:

CrossRiver Media

Publication date:

March 11, 2021

Format:

Paperback

Pages:

252

OVERVIEW

Sally Clark isn’t sure what to think when she is told that she may have inherited part of a Montana ranch. It turns out that a millionaire she met years ago during her Marine service in France remembered her… and thought they had a family connection. Cautious, but with little to lose, Sally heads to Montana. Chase Reynolds isn’t sure what to think of this woman mentioned in his father’s will, but is willing to give her a chance. As they get to know each other, mysterious events suggest someone wants Sally dead. Getting to the bottom of these events, and what the Reynolds patriarch wanted to happen to his estate, will leave everyone surprised.

Butterfield gives readers a typical Christian Romance plot – someone leaving the city for the country, trading in streetwise cynicism for community, family and romantic melodrama as the characters get to know each other. There are references throughout to the good father making unexpected choices, discussions about who deserves inheritance and how to handle “interlopers,” all having a quasi-biblical flavor. The story doesn’t retell the parable of the prodigal son or any other Bible story, but plays on that parable’s “unusual patriarchs” idea, and on the “unexpected changing of heirs” language that New Testament writers use to talk about Gentiles entering the Kingdom of God. In that sense, it’s similar to Covenant Child by Terri Blackstock – not quite an allegory, not a retold Bible story, more a dramatization of a Biblical concept.

While the characters and setting could be more realized, Butterfield does a perfectly decent job with these elements. She doesn’t rise above genre constraints like Valerie Fraser Luesse does in The Key to Everything, but she gives something enjoyable and tender. Readers familiar with Christian Romance will be pleased and satisfied.

ASSESSMENT

Rating (1 to 5 stars)

4 stars

Suggested audience

Fans of Christian Romance, with an emphasis on cowboy or ranch stories.

Christian impact

Main characters struggling to overcome cynicism factors heavily in the plot, as do discussions about what it means to be family, and whether anyone deserves inheritance. As noted above, these elements appear to be riffs on Biblical concepts or parables, without deliberately allegorizing or retelling any particular story.