At Every Turn By: Anne Mateer

She's off to the races!

Caught up in a whirlwind of religious enthusiasm, Alyce Benson impetuously pledges three thousand dollars to mission work in Africa. Now she just has to find a way to get the money.

Alyce harbors a secret passion for speed and automobiles, and she's spent many an afternoon driving around the rustic track in the field behind her home. When she discovers that her father's company has sponsored a racing car that will compete in several upcoming events--races in which the driver will be paid and could win as much as five thousand dollars in prize money--she conspires with her father's mechanic, Webster, to train and compete.

But when her friends cast aspersions on Webster's past, she realizes she may have trusted the wrong person with her secret. Will Alyce come up with the money in time, or will she have to choose between her hasty promise and the man who holds a piece of her heart?

Goodreads Summary


We’ve all felt that thrill of wanting to help some amazing mission in some
important way.  Still, I just cringed when Alyce popped up and made a huge
pledge of help.  You just know that she is going to have all kinds of
trouble raising that money.  Maybe I’m too old now to understand, but her
zeal and recklessness as she goes about raising money, donating it, and
losing it seemed frustrating.  Some of the societal situations could have
included more humor; I expected it, but didn’t find it there.  I loved her
relationship with her grandmother.  Grandmother’s faith contrasts with
Alyce’s – one is so steady and calming, and the other is so flighty and
questioning.
I think most readers will feel the sinister undercurrent of one of
Alyces’s suitors.  Yet, Mateer still managed to make me doubt the
sincerity of the other man who Alyce daydreams about.  It’s great that
Webster is so talented in the early years of car construction and racing.
His support and pride in her driving accomplishments really shine through.
 As the author slowly introduces all the terrific qualities about Webster,
it just makes you like him better and better as the story goes on.  When
Alyce learns to accept disappointment with humility, when she loves even
when she’s unsure that it is returned, she grows into a much more likable,
engaging character.
It’s wonderful to read and imagine what the jouncing and dirt felt like
for a young woman racer driving laps around a board track at 89 miles per
hour.  I hadn’t realized that the cars reached such speeds in 1916.  This
historical Christian fiction delivers delightful reading in all three of
those categories.

Four Stars

*Reviewed by Colleen*


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