"A Passion Most Pure" by Julie Lessman - passion, purity, jealousy, and redemption

Faith O'Connor has been in love with Collin McGuire since they were children, even though he is a cocky lady's man from the wrong side of the tracks--completely wrong for her. And then there's the fact he's secretly dating her sister Charity. Collin likes Charity--she's a woman he knows how to handle. But Faith just gets under his skin, between her temper and God-talk. As sister rivalry and Collin's place in the middle threatens to tear the family apart, another war looms on the horizon--the war with Germany that America can no longer keep out of. And once their men go to war, nothing will ever be the same.

The book is aptly titled; everything in it is full of passion: passionate kissing, passionate anger; passion within marriage, and undoubtedly passion for God. I get the impression the author really doesn't do things by halves . . . And within all that passion, there is also a striving for purity. For some characters, it takes longer to learn that lesson than others, and some have yet to learn it, but there is no doubt that purity is held to a very high degree of importance.

I read the story in light of the fact that it is a six-book family saga, and perhaps it influenced my impressions--knowing that the stories of the characters will be continued, and that even those we might initially despise are potentially redeemable, I didn't mind the more-than-usual number of points of view, or the fairly large cast of important characters. And it helped that--what with the grand length of the book--they had time to be properly developed, as I know they will continue to be as the series progress.

I did want to throw the book at some of the idiot choices people make (yeah, yeah, let he who is without sin cast the first stone . . . ), and sometimes I was incredibly glad that I don't have a sister (because after this, I'm thinking there is little worse than sister jealousy/rivalry--it's as bad as Leah and Rachel), but over all it was a riveting book, full of redemption. And I'm hoping that there is more redemption yet to come!

O'Connor Family Saga:

Prequel: A Light in the Window

Daughters of Boston
1. A Passion Most Pure
2. A Passion Redeemed
3. A Passion Denied

Winds of Change
1. A Hope Undaunted
2. A Heart Revealed
3. A Love Surrendered