A PROMISE TO BELIEVE IN BY TRACIE PETERSON

A PROMISE TO BELIEVE IN BY TRACIE PETERSON is the first book in THE BRIDES OF GALLATIN COUNTY series. The story takes place in 1879 in a remote area of Montana where Gwen, Beth and Lacy Gallatin run a stage stop called Gallatin House. They are running it on their own after their father has been tragically shot. His death is ruled an accident but the girls, especially Lacy, feel there could be more to it. Lacy is determined to procure justice for her dead father, who she believes was murdered, and cannot let this go. Lacy is the tomboy of the family and tends to try and do things in her own strength. She is trying to make up for her mother's death in childbirth which she feels is her fault.
Gwen, who is the oldest, feels her life is cursed and thinks The Lord is punishing her for her disobedience in going to a fortune teller against her mother's wishes and feels responsible for her mother's, father's and husband's deaths.
Beth, the middle daughter, is a hopeless romantic, and spends her life reading romance novels, imagining she is the heroine. She feels guilty that, although she dearly loved her father, she now feels relieved that they will no longer be moved all over the country by him. The constant moving from one place to another has affected her.
Gallatin House is next door to Rafe's saloon and the activities that take place there are most offensive to the law abiding neighbours.
When Hank Bishop, Gwen's deceased husband's brother, comes on the scene, the girls are suspicious of him. Gwen realizes that Harvey has been far from honest with her, and that makes her unwilling to open up to anyone for fear of being hurt again.
In this novel we see how Gwen comes to grips with her fears and comes to understand better the sacrifice of her Lord at Calvary and what this means in her life. She sees that He became a curse for her and her disobedience has been forgiven.
It is a charming novel with a fair share of intrigue, lovable characters and a good Christian message.

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BELONGING BY ROBIN LEE HATCHER

BELONGING by ROBIN LEE HATCHER -   is a book I can highly recommend.  It is beautifully written and has a strong Christian message.  In fact I have ordered the sequel, BETRAYAL, which is only coming on to the market today!
Felicia Brennan Kristoffersen comes to Frenchman's Bluff, Idaho, to be the new schoolmistress. Orphaned at ten and separated from her brother and sister, taken in by the elderly and unaffectionate Kristoffersens, she hasn't felt she belonged anywhere since her beloved mother died. One thing that she does have, however, is a close and personal relationship with her Lord, who has sustained her throughout her life. We see her love for Him throughout, and how she is reminded through the Scriptures to let go of unforgiveness and to be thankful for what she has. She is excited that she has been given this new start and is totally committed to inspiring the children, especially the girls, to carry on with their education and thus open up opportunities for the future.
Colin Murphy is on the school board and is Felicia's landlord. He is the owner of the mercantile. He has also had sorrow in his past, having lost his wife and being left to bring up his daughter, Charity, on his own. Along the way he seems to have lost his faith in God.
Charity is an outgoing little girl who soon becomes fast friends with "Miss K". Colin, who with Mrs Summerville, voted against employing a young unmarried teacher in case she got married and left the children without a teacher, soon becomes enamoured with this beautiful and godly young woman. At last he has hope that Charity will overcome her reading problems when Felicia helps her with her studies in the evenings.
Kathleen Summerville is the widowed mother of two daughters. Her mother-in-law is controlling and Kathleen longs to be free of her in-laws and have a home of her own. She and Felicia become friends in spite of Mrs Summerville's interference.
The interaction between the characters is an interesting study of human behaviour and the longing to belong flows throughout the story. The importance of standing up for oneself when controlling family members try and run one's life, and of letting go of the past, living in the present and looking forward to the future, is also brought out strongly in the novel.

ALL THINGS NEW BY LYNN AUSTIN

ALL THINGS NEW by LYNN AUSTIN is set in the South in 1865 at the end of the American Civil War.
Eugenia Weatherly, who has fled White Oak plantation to live with her sister and family in Richmond Virginia, and who has lost her husband Philip and oldest son Samuel in the war, decides to take her daughters back home.  They have been reduced to poverty by the war, their home has been vandalized by the Yankees, and they are left with only two of their former slaves, Otis and Lizzie, who are still at White Oak with their three children.
Eugenia is a very strong woman and she is determined to salvage  their old way of life out of the ruins.  She has a very imperious attitude towards the former slaves and has instilled this attitude into her children.  When her son Daniel comes home from the war his attitude towards the Negroes and the Yankees nearly gets him into serious trouble.
We see how clinging on to the old ways brings hatred and dissention.  Eugenia is very conscious of her family's social standing and is shocked when her oldest daughter Josephine refuses to see the importance of behaving in a socially acceptable manner and instead helps Lizzie with household chores and in the vegetable garden.  Her youngest daughter, Mary, is timid and longs for life to come back to normal.  Eugenia hates seeing her children suffer and does all she can to win back the five years that the Yankees have stolen from them.
Otis and Lizzie are also concerned for their children and are delighted when Alexander Chandler of the Freedmen's Bureau opens a school for coloured children.
Otis has a strong faith in God and Lizzie relies heavily on her husband.  They are afraid to move away as the other slaves have done because they want a better life for their children and want them to better themselves by getting an education.
Relationships are very tense all round and when the Negroes are attacked and the school is burned down by vigilantes who want things to go back to the way they were, where the slaves "knew their place" and the Yankees were still the enemy, it is largely through Jo's intervention that all out fighting does not break out again.
Jo keeps telling her family that all things are to become new and that they can no longer strive to bring back the past.  They need to all work together to grow cotton again, to grow vegetables and concentrate on the things that are truly important in life. 
She has been brought up to listen to the men in her family but she is disappointed in her brother's disinterest in farming and antagonism towards Mr Chandler and the former slaves.  She doesn't want to hurt her mother, but she does not want to be forced into the social scene nor does she want to marry anyone she does not love just because he comes from an aristocratic family.  In spite of all the heartache, the war has actually set her free to marry for love and to live the life she chooses to live.  All things are indeed becoming new.  It takes her a long time to realize this, even as it takes the former slaves a long time to realize that they are truly free.  We see how behaviour and attitudes are ingrained in people from childhood.
Alexander Chandler and Jo become friends, much to Daniel and Mary's horror.  Alexander is a committed Christian who believes that the Lord has sent him to the South to show love and forgiveness towards the enemy.  He comes from a family of Quakers and only joined up because he felt that God hated slavery and wanted him to help set the slaves free.  In joining up he goes against his upbringing and is estranged from his family until he chooses to never again take up arms.  He is implementing a share-cropping plan where the Negroes work on the plantations as free men with a share of the profits.  The local white population treat him as their enemy but Jo comes to see the true goodness of his character and he is instrumental in leading her back to faith in the Lord.
In the end we see mercy and forgiveness triumphing over hatred and bigotry.
It is a sensitively written book and one that teaches us a great deal about relationships in a family, in a community and in a country.




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ATTRACTED TO FIRE by DIANN MILLS

 ATTRACTED TO FIRE by DiAnn Mills is a book that is well worth reading.  It is a story of intrigue and romance and has a good Christian message.
Ash Zinders is the Secret Service agent in charge of the team of six agents sent to guard the vice president's daughter, Lindsay, at a remote Texas ranch belonging to her father's best friend.  Ash is not at all impressed with the fact that one of the team members is a woman, Meghan Connors, as he is against women agents in general.  Meghan's dedication to her job, her efficiency and her beauty eventually win him over.  
Meghan has been chosen by the vice president specifically as she has had experience with addiction.  Her sister's addiction to drugs is very hard on Meghan and her mother.  
Lindsay is addicted to drugs and alcohol and has tried to take her own life.  There have been threats against her as well, and her wild behaviour whilst under the influence has the media in a feeding frenzy.  She is taken to the ranch in secret, but it is soon obvious to the agents that there is a mole in their midst who is working with the man who is trying to destroy Lindsay and her family.  When her father becomes president the attacks become more intense.
It is interesting to see how Lindsay responds to the agents and caregivers and comes to trust Meghan with her secret fear which leads her and Ash, with Chip's help, to the evidence they need to bring the conspiracy to an end.
We see this young girl, who has been controlled from her youth by an unscrupulous man who introduced her to drugs and alcohol, and who told her lies to make her feel unloved by her parents and not worth anything to anybody, finally able to make the right decisions for her life.
In this novel we see dedication to duty, to one another, and the effect that committed Christians have on those round about them when they live out their faith.  We also
see the singleness of purpose amongst those who have been entrusted with Lindsay's well being.  It is a very exciting book and hard to put down.  I really enjoyed it.

WHEN THE NILE RUNS RED BY DiAnn Mills

WHEN THE NILE RUNS RED by DiAnn Mills takes place in war torn southern Sudan. It is an exciting book and hard to put down.
Dr Larson Farid and her husband Paul are based in a small village where they have a clinic. They work all over southern Sudan amongst the very poor, looking after the sick and injured and ministering to their spiritual needs.
Paul comes from a prestigious Muslim family who are trying to kill him for converting to Christianity and are willing to use any means to do so.
Colonel Ben Alier is a hardened warrior who is fighting to liberate the south from the dictatorship of the north. He is in love with Larson, but knows he can never have her now that she is married to Paul. He is committed to keeping her safe. He is not interested in Paul and Larson's message of Christianity until after he is reunited with his nearly grown up son and the young woman he abandoned years ago, who are also Christians. We see Daruka and David's forgiveness and their unconditional love for the man who has come back to them, with selfish motives in the beginning, and also the change in Ben who ends up loving the woman he only married in order to be close to his son. The softening in his attitude towards others and to the message of Christ is due in part to an unexpected illness for which he refuses treatment until he sees that he has something to live for with the family he has just found.
It is a story of a couple living out their Christian beliefs in the most difficult and dangerous circumstances, of unconditional love for the people of this sad and beautiful land, of forgiveness and betrayal.
With the Farid's adopted son, Thomas, and Larson and Daruka's pregnancies, there is a strong message of hope for the future.
This novel is realistically written and the setting and the people of the land are beautifully described. We see the incredible faithfulness of God towards His servants and His protection and deliverance in extremely dangerous situations, which makes this an encouraging read. I can highly recommend this novel.

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THE WIND HARP BY B J HOFF

THE WIND HARP by B J HOFF is set in a mining town called Skingle Creek in 1904. It is the second book in The Mountain Song Legacy series, and after reading it I have ordered the first and third books! Although the novel can be read on its own, I want to read more about the very real characters portrayed in It.
Life in this mining town is hard and the author gives us a real insight into the kind of life that was led by the miners and their families at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Maggie MacAuley is a young woman of Irish descent with flaming red hair and
a vibrant personality. She has come back to Skingle Creek where she grew up in order to help her parents who are trying to make ends meet after her father has been badly injured in a cave-in at the mine. Maggie is a qualified teacher and has been teaching in Chicago since finishing college and is delighted when she is asked to teach the younger children at her old school by her old teacher, Jonathan Stuart. Mr Stuart is a caring teacher and is well loved by everyone in town, but with Maggie it is something more. She has always had a crush on him, but now that she is grown up she finds she is falling in love with him.
Jonathan and Maggie both care deeply for the children they teach and are very worried by the situation in the Lazlo household. We see the contrast of that awful set up with the MacAuley household where there is also very little money but where family affection and godly values are very strong.
The contrast between darkness and light runs throughout the story. We see the light of Christ that is brought into the darkness and abject poverty of the mining town and the people who have been swallowed up by it. The light is brought in by people like Maggie and Jonathan, Dr Gordon, Pastor Ben and his wife Regina, who are willing to lay down their lives by serving others. This light brings hope into even the darkest situations.
B J Hoff has blended her characters and setting into a story that is enjoyable and has a strong message of hope.


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TROUBLED WATERS BY RENE GUTTERIDGE

TROUBLED WATERS by RENE GUTTERIDGE is a book about relationships, forgiveness and restoration.
Macille (Macey) Steigel is a successful news anchor, with the chance of getting into television broadcasting in New York, but she is neither happy nor fulfilled.  Her inability to sustain relationships is largely caused by a secret which keeps her tied to her past.
She was brought up by loving Christian parents on a farm in a small tight-knit community.  Her father, a godly man and a deacon in the church, had very strict rules about right and wrong, and, when she overstepped the mark, he reacted in anger and condemnation.  Macey is devastated by this rejection and leaves home at seventeen to make a new life for herself.  She turns away from the faith of her youth as she failed to see love and forgiveness in her father, the man who she wanted to please above all and by whom she had always felt loved and accepted until she failed to meet his standards, and wants nothing to do with God if He is anything like her father!
Her feelings are conflicted when she gets a message that her father has died, but she goes back to her childhood home for the funeral to be with her mother, Evelyn.
Evelyn has been praying for years that her husband and daughter will be reconciled, for she knows things that Macey has never known, and is angry that her prayers are unanswered.  However, her joy at seeing Macey again and the loving support and wise counsel of her friend Patricia, who had nursed her husband Jess until he died, make her realize that the Lord is indeed in control and His ways are not our ways.
Noah and his twin girls, with their unashamed love for the Lord and their desire that all should  come to know Him, have a lot to do with her restoration.  
It is a sensitively and beautifully written novel with believable characters. We learn a great deal about human nature and the importance of not trying to make things better in our own strength, which often makes things worse, and also of not being quick in jumping to conclusions.
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