It Happened at the Fair by Deeanne Gist

The story follows Cullen who travels to the 1893 Chicago World's Fair with his invention.  His father basically forces him to go.  I was kind of confused at first reading this because the way she wrote things made me confused as to if the people couldn't speak correctly or something else was going on.  It took me a little while into the story to figure out that Cullen was losing his hearing and that was another reason he didn't want to go.  He meets Della who is a teacher to the deaf and recruits her to help him.  The story then follows him trying to sell his invention and Della helping him learn to read lips and the course their relationship takes.  I enjoyed this book with the exception of the confusion at the beginning.  Now that I know why the characters talked like that, it clears up a lot of things, but that would have been helpful at the beginning.  I will definitely read this one again.  It definitely had my happy ending!  G

Deeanne Gist's Site

Up next on the Shelf:  Stealing the Preacher by Karen Witemeyer