The Reluctant Tutor by Paula Hampton

I'm starting to wonder if the problem is me.... but this book really did have serious problems.  I need a good book, though!  It's beginning to get discouraging.

The Reluctant Tutor by Paula Hampton
(2000, American)  7/4/12
Grade: 2

Set at the turn of the century, this is the story of Kate Delaney, who has made arrangements to be apprenticed as an architect to Gabe Murray Senior - only to find his son instead.  Gabe doesn’t believe women belong in business and he’s determined to make Kate give up and leave - but she has no intention of doing so.

This was a very frustrating book.  It felt like the author had taken a 500 page book and randomly cut sections out of it to fit into 300 pages.  The characters were inconsistent and the story jumped around - but at first I kept reading because the writing was good and the individual scenes really worked.  But as it went on, I found myself getting more and more frustrated.  I kept reading because I was interested in the plotline - the architecture aspect of the book was fascinating, but much to my annoyance, even that was dropped by the end.  This came close to being a wall banger.  At least it was a fast read.

Although there was a scene in the book involving a windmill, 95% of the book is set in NYC so I don't understand the cover.  Why make a book look like a Western when it's really not?