Molly Married?

By Tamra Norton
Bonneville Books, 157 pages
Reviewed by Michele Ashman Bell

Tamra Norton has a new fan . . . me!  I thoroughly enjoyed the book, Molly Married? sequel to Molly Mormon?  This book took me back to my college days of midnight runs to Albertsons with my roommates (in our pajamas of course), for red licorice and Twinkies.  Not to mention dating, cramming for tests, sharing clothes, and having more fun than sleep.

I had not read the first book in the series but didn’t feel like I was at a disadvantage at all.  The simple, yet well-paced, plot pulled me in from the very first page.  Each of the characters is well developed and kept my interest.  Norton’s writing style is fresh and humorous, but she manages to insert emotion and reality in just the right places.

The book begins with Molly Chambers and her best friend/cousin Shannon outside the Magic Valley Regional Airport in Twin Falls, Idaho, waiting for Molly’s missionary, Brandon Mace to return from two years in Texas.

Norton’s witty dialogue and charming characters set the stage for a story both young adult and adults will enjoy.  She also masterfully weaves in background information from the first book so we understand each character’s past experiences and current attitudes and feelings.

I giggled a lot and even laughed out loud several times, as Molly reacts to the excitement of finally having her “missionary” home, after two years of faithful letter writing.  Adding to Molly’s amazement and delight, she finds out that Brandon will also be attending BYU-Idaho, along with her and her cousin, Shannon.  Life just couldn’t be better . . . or could it?

This is Shannon’s first year away at college and Molly’s second.  Shannon brings with her a past she can’t quite put behind her.  A series of bad choices when she was fifteen led her to an unwanted pregnancy and the difficult decision of giving up her baby for adoption.  A decision she lives with every day.

Two of Molly’s roommates return from last year, and two new girls, join them.   At first, they all seem to get along, but Molly soon suspects that one of her roommates, a Spanish girl named Elena, has designs on Brandon.  It doesn’t help that Elena lived in one of the wards in Texas that Brandon served in while on his mission.  

She overhears Elena talking to someone on the phone, confessing that she has feelings for a returned missionary.  Molly is heartbroken.  She soon finds out that she’s jumped to the wrong conclusion and that Elena isn’t falling for Brandon, but Brandon’s roommate and former missionary companion.

Several times Tamra uses misunderstandings to move her plot along.  While misunderstandings are, well . . . understandable, they sometimes weaken the plot development because they come across as contrived, rather than a natural outcome of circumstances.  In the case of the first misunderstanding, the readers are saying in their minds, or maybe even out loud, “Just ask him if he likes her already!”

Then there’s the other misunderstanding where, after a huge plot twist that comes as a surprise to the reader, Molly doesn’t give the guy enough time to finish explaining something and she completely jumps to the wrong conclusion.  The dramatic effect is lost in the scene because it is once again a forced event, rather than a natural action born out of the circumstances.

Still, this is easy to forgive because the book is nicely written and the characters are truly delightful.

I did however feel that the ending was rushed and instead of showing us how Brandon and Molly’s relationship falls apart, because she’s more involved with her studies, her dance class and her dance partner, we get several paragraphs of explanation, telling us that it happened.  We miss a huge part of the story because the whole plot of the book was based on Molly waiting for the return of her boyfriend.  So when things don’t turn out like she expects them to, we, the readers want to experience that with her.  I didn’t feel as though that happened.

Overall though I enjoyed this book tremendously and felt it had a satisfying ending, taught important gospel principles along the way as Shannon found peace through the atonement, and as Molly sought guidance in her life through prayer and the scriptures.  It proved to be a truly enjoyable journey from start to finish.

I highly recommend this book for young adult women because of the great entertainment value and the valuable messages it shares, and I guarantee that women of all ages will enjoy it.

Now, my question is, is there a third book in the series?  Perhaps, Molly Mommy?  If so, I’ll be first in line to get my copy. 

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