"Stranded" by Dani Pettrey - more than I bargained for!

In book three of her Alaskan Courage series, Dani Pettrey outdoes herself in mystery, suspense, and adventure.  Something isn't right on the Alaskan cruise ship the Bering.  When Darcy St. James' friend Abby discovers some mysterious crimes lurking just under the surface of the cruise, Darcy revisits her undercover reporter past to help Abby out, not knowing what to expect until Abby briefs her in person.  However, Abby doesn't show, and word has it a young woman went overboard, but no one is saying anything about the woman - if she is all right, where she is, or even who rescued her.  Gage McKenna and his Last Frontier Adventures company - primarily comprised of his siblings - have been contracted to provide adventure excursions for the wealthy vacationers, and Gage quickly finds himself dragged into Darcy's investigation, as much as he dislikes the duplicity involved in her undercover role.  Together with the rest of the McKenna clan, they have to figure out what happened to Abby and what big story she was onto before that trouble finds them . . .

While this book could be read as a stand alone, it is best to read the first two novels - Submerged and Shattered - beforehand.  While there is a main couple that each novel focuses on, the books do a good job at further developing the whole McKenna family so that by book three, personalities, family dynamics, and relationships are fairly well established, and thus tensions between characters do not need much explanation.  Each novel also sets up the following one by weaving in the thoughts of the main subjects of the next - so while Gage and Darcy are the main characters in Stranded, the point of view occasionally shifts to Jake and Kayden, who will star in the fourth novel of the series.

As a Christian, I really appreciated Darcy's convictions in the story - while there is a thrill to undercover work, she really struggles with the lies and deception involved.  Her heart aches for those that she loves who have yet to meet Christ, and she struggles with the fact she is falling in love with an unbeliever, no matter how good the chances are that he will some day return to Christ, given the number of people praying for him and his strong Christian family.  She knows that before it happens she cannot get into a relationship with him, no matter how much she wants to.  It is a hard message to hear, but it could save so much heartache. 

Another hard subject Pettrey discusses - which proves to be the turning point for Gage - is the loss of a child, and why God would allow such a thing to happen.  Surprisingly, I had never heard Pettrey's view before reading it in the story, but it makes sense and I believe is biblically solid - that God has created us for eternity, and though a baby may only spend a few moments breathing on earth, that child still has eternity with God, just as those of us who know Jesus will each join Him for eternity.  So while we may not have that time here on earth, we will be united after our short lives are over, but only if Jesus is King in our hearts. 

While I enjoyed the first two books of the series, this one so far is my favorite - the publisher's description really is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the mystery, suspense, and adventure, just as Abby's disappearance is the tip of a much larger criminal enterprise than we are initially led to believe.  Hooray for the good guys for figuring it out and not relying on bad guy confessions!  A great story with a great message - 5 out of 5 stars!

Thank you Bethany House and NetGalley for a free e-copy for the purpose of review; I was not required to make it positive, and all opinions are my own.

Alaskan Courage
0.5: "Shadowed" (Sins of the Past romantic suspense novella collection)
1. Submerged
2. Shattered
3. Stranded
4. Silenced
5. Sabotaged 

"A Talent for Trouble" by the talented Jen Turano - absolutely hilarious

In the third novel of her Ladies of Distinction series, Jen Turano focuses on the unlucky-in-love Felicia Murdock and the dashing, mysterious Grayson Sumner, Lord Sefton.  When the minister Felicia had hoped to marry weds another, Felicia gives up on the pious, quiet facade she has built up over the years hoping to attract the preacher, along with a poor fashion sense cultivated to please him.  Grayson, trapped in her company by scheming friends and mothers, suddenly finds himself quite attracted to her, but given his dark past, he feels a sweet, charming girl like her should not be tainted by the likes of him.  Unfortunately, in spite of his efforts to protect her, Grayson's past catches up with him and puts her in the danger he was trying to avoid.  Will they survive their talent for attracting trouble long enough to fall in love?

Having read Turano's previous novels in the series, I was expecting another amusing story, but this one gave my abs a workout - I laughed so hard, several different times in the book, that it was verging on painful.  Hats off to the author for such talented writing!

There are some definite trends between the three novels of this series, but the author deals with them in a creative way by allowing the characters to acknowledge the trends and (occasionally) learn from them from book to book.  Which makes me wonder if in the fourth book they will get it right or not . . .  So in some sense these novels are a little formulaic, but it works for the series - it's part of what makes them so delightful.

Like Eliza and Arabella, Felicia is spunky, lively, and not pinned down by social rules - at least not anymore, now that she is no longer hiding her personality so she can win the minister.  Unlike in a lot of books where the main characters learn their lesson most of the way through the book, Felicia figures it out at the beginning and spends the novel working her way through it.  Granted, Grayson takes a long time to figure out that 1) God can and has forgiven his multitude of sins, and 2) he is not to blame for events beyond his control.  

It's not often that I would choose a book that focuses more heavily on the dialogue than descriptions, character development, and plot, but Turano pulls it off - through the dialogue and thoughts of the characters we see them grow and change, and the witty conversations and repartees are hilarious.  It's a completely feel-good novel, but not without a lesson or two to be learned; it's just that sometimes one needs that teaspoon of sugar to help the medicine go down, and this books provides a healthy dose.  5 out of 5 stars.

Thank you Bethany House for a free copy of the novel for the purpose of review; I was not required to make it positive, and all opinions expressed are my own. 


I highly recommend reading the entire Ladies of Distinction series:
1. A Change of Fortune
2. A Most Peculiar Circumstance
3. A Talent for Trouble 
4. A Match of Wits

"A Bride for Keeps" by Melissa Jagears - a keeper!

In Melissa Jagears' debut novel, A Bride for Keeps, our hero, Everett Cline, has lost four brides before they arrived at the altar: three to other men, and one to the grave.  Though he has given up on marriage, to his surprise a beautiful Boston girl - Julia Lockwood - steps off the train expecting to marry him.  Thanks to the scheming of his best friend's wife, Everett now has another chance at getting married, but why would a beautiful, wealthy young woman like her want to marry a poor farmer like him?  And what is she running from that she would gladly take his name and slave for his home without knowing a thing about farming?  And the biggest question of all - will she really stay with him until through death they do part?

There are a lot of mail order bride stories out there, but this is one of the best.  Though it is not without humor, it also covers serious issues regarding love and marriage.  The focus is on two strangers coming together and deciding to make their marriage work, in spite of their faults, in spite of going about things the wrong way, and in spite of their fears.  The main characters are far from perfect - sometimes I wanted to shake them so they would just understand - but they really are likeable and admirable characters in spite of it all.  Everett and Julia are depicted in such a way that I could both rejoice for them and hurt with them in all the trials they go through before and after their wedding while learning to be a couple. 

Jagears does not gloss over the fact that marriages take a ton of work.  She hints at the give and take of Dex and Rachel's marriage, in which we can see the fruit of their effort by the love they share.  Ned and Helga's marriage is a sham - one takes all the other has to give and then some; there is no success for them.  However, it is through Everett and Julia that we see the effort that needs to be involved.  Both of them physically work hard to make the farm a success, but even though they willingly share the workload, their marriage is on shaky ground.  They need to learn to be intimate - to share their hopes and dreams and to practice trusting each other, to open themselves to vulnerability.  And being vulnerable is much harder than building a new cabin!

It is so easy to hold back when one is afraid of being hurt.  Everett has lost his bride so many times he expects Julia to leave him, marriage vows or no, and he does not want to risk his heart over someone who could so easily steal it.  Julia, too, has been hurt in the past by a man that would marry her, and her family history terrifies her away from intimacy.  Both get hurt by holding back, and that holding back further hurts their spouse, but both fear the hurt that could exist by moving forward.  It really comes back to I John 4:18 - that there is no fear in love.  Yes, one can be terribly hurt by offering up one's heart, but to let the fear of it take control - that will not only shut out their love and one's own love, but also God's love.  To love is a risk, but it is a risk that is always worth taking.

A Bride for Keeps is an lovely novel with moments of humor and moments of sorrow intertwined, much like life.  Excellent debut!  5 out of 5 stars!

Many thanks to Bethany House and Netgalley for providing a free e-copy of the novel for the purpose of review; I was not required to make it positive, and all opinions are my own.

Unexpected Brides
1. A Bride for Keeps
2. A Bride in Store
3. A Bride at Last

Recommendations of novels along a similar vein:
A Promise to Love by Serena B. Miller and Serendipity by Cathy Marie Hake, two more good historical novels about making a marriage work
Sixteen Brides, by Stephanie Grace Whitson, a unique mail order bride novel that successfully follows the fates of a crew of 16 brides in Nebraska

"Whispers from the Shadows" by Roseanna M. White

Whispers from the Shadows continues Roseanna M. White's Culper Ring Series in the War of 1812.  The Culper Spy Ring was initiated during the American Revolution, and has been revived again now that the British once more threaten America.  After witnessing her uncle kill her father at home in Britain, Gwyneth Fairchild flees to America, uncertain as to whether she was spotted, and becoming a severe insomniac in the trauma.  Thaddeus Lane, son of General Fairchild's good friends, has been entrusted with her keeping after receiving a cryptic letter from the man.  While trying to figure out the hidden message from the General, they also are kept busy gathering information on the British movements and attempting to raise their fellow Americans out of their stupor to fight for the independence for which their fathers battled so fiercely.

Just as the War of 1812 was fought differently from the American Revolution - more by sea than by land - so the methods of spying differed.  Most intelligence was gathered by American privateers; there was little worry about it falling into wrong hands, and so the old invisible inks were out of style.  As an official Culper, Thad works as a privateer and spends hours gathering information in public houses, though we do not get to see much of the actual spying since so much time was taken up with Gwyn.  Because of his personable nature and reliance on the Holy Spirit, Thad is well liked by all and able to give them what they need at the moment.  However, in his desire to be that help for Gwyn, he oversteps the leading of the Spirit.  How easy is it to be doing what God wants us to do, but then we rush ahead of His plan?  Like for Thad, it can pretty easily land us in hot water.

Gwyn has never had to question her safety before, growing up with a general for her father in upper class England where she never knew want, she never had to worry about who to rely on.  However, when her father is killed, she no longer has that reliable safety net; she turns to Thad for her security, but as a man, he makes mistakes and cannot be there always for her.  After battling the hallucinations and whispers she hears in her state of insomnia, she finally realizes who should be her security and rest - the Lord.  Where does your strength and rest lie?  In yourself, in your spouse?  Or do you you place your trust in God, the Alpha and Omega, Beginning and the End, who is, was, and is to come, the Almighty?  Man is fallible and will disappoint, but God is a rock that cannot be moved.

I admit to knowing little about insomnia, but Gwyn's ability to sleep in the Lane house seems a bit far-fetched, though it is rather romantic.  On the other hand, Thad's "intuition," or rather, listening to the Spirit, is documented thoroughly throughout the bible and still exists today for those who listen - that little nudge that sends one in a direction one would not normally take, or to talk to someone to whom one has never spoken.  Good reminder to listen to the Spirit!

While I liked the more active intrigue of Ring of Secrets better, Whispers from the Shadows is still an excellent novel - romantic, suspenseful, and a strong message of keeping faith in God.  5 out of 5 stars

The Culper Ring:
1. Ring of Secrets
1.5. Fairchild's Lady (novella)
2. Whispers from the Shadows
2.5. "A Hero's Promise" (short story)
3. Circle of Spies

Lori Benton's "Burning Sky" - a beautiful novel of restoration

In her debut novel Burning Sky, Lori Benton writes a sweeping tale of restoration after the American Revolution.  With her Mohawk family dead, white captive Burning Sky leaves the life she has known these past twelve years and makes her way back to the home of her white family, taking back her birth name: Wilhelmina Obenchain.  At the border of her father's land, she finds an unconscious man with a broken arm - the botanist and doctor Neil MacGregor - and she drags him with her to the abandoned farm that her family had once owned.  Because her parents were suspected Tories when they disappeared during the Revolution, their land was confiscated and has now come up for auction, though Willa intends to prove her parents were loyal to the Patriots and save it.  Finding herself pulled many ways, Willa seeks the truth of what happened to her parents, while her clan brother Joseph Tames-His-Horse encourages her to return with him to the Mohawk nation, and Neil plants himself firmly in her life, slowly thawing her frozen heart.

It is with good reason this novel has received three (yes, not one, but three) Christy Awards: for Best Historical, Best First Novel, and Book of the Year (2014). Believe me - it deserves all three!

Without sounding like a textbook, Benton does an excellent job incorporating the history of upstate New York into the novel.  At the border of British Canada, many villages suffered raids by marauding British and their Iroquois allies even after the war was officially won.  While I was taught in school about Paul Revere and Boston Tea Party, I knew nothing of the civil war being fought amongst the Iroquois nations in the northeast.  Although the six Iroquois nations had been united for centuries, most of the Oneidas and Tuscaroras sided with the Patriots in the Revolution, while the rest joined the British.  While it is not a main focus of the novel, Benton brings out the sorrow of the People who were forced to fight against their brothers in a war that ultimately led to the loss of their homeland for all six nations. 

With all their humanity - their flaws, failings, attributes, and accomplishments - Benton's characters feel very real; none is perfect, but none is wholly evil either. Even Richard, as contemptible as he is, was once a loving young man, and I can pity the vicious man that emerged from war. Joseph Tames-His-Horse, the Colonel, Anni, Goodenough - all are decent people, friends to Willa, but like real people, they each have their faults and blind spots.

I really like Neil; he is not the tallest or the strongest or maybe even the best looking man in Willa's acquaintance, and since his near scalping, he can no longer even read or write, but what he lacks physically he more than makes up for spiritually.  Granted, he is not perfect - he still questions God and disobeys His instruction, but he learns.  He repents.  He makes changes.  It says much of his character when Willa realizes that "of the two men most concerned with their lives, the man the children had wanted to defend them wasn't the warrior, Joseph, but the healer, Neil.  As [did she]" (p324).  Of all his good qualities, Neil's ability to be content is most impressive; as a doctor, scholar, and scientist, words have been his world, and to lose the ability to read and write could throw any person into depression and bitterness, but he continually - though imperfectly - practices being content in the circumstances God has allowed to befall him.  My life is a breeze in comparison, but I still have much to learn from him!

More than anything, this is a novel of healing and restoration.  So many of the characters are broken inside, hurting, and afraid.  Although Willa trusts in God, she is afraid to let others into her heart, for fear of losing one more person she loves.  After being stolen from her birth family at fourteen, she has also lost her Mohawk husband to war and her children to smallpox.  However, in spite of the loss of two families, God restores her heart and provides her with a motley party that becomes her new family. 

After growing up on Lois Lenski's Indian Captive and Elizabeth George Speare's Calico Captive, both about young women as they grow up in captivity, it was good to read about what happens when the captive returns to her people, the changes in her, and the whites' attitudes towards her.  Benton  has written a beautiful, in-depth novel that I highly recommend.  5 out of 5 stars!

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.  All  opinions expressed are my own.

Benton's Kindred Series, Mountain Laurel and Shiloh, (and follow-up novella The Journey of Run's Far)is basically a sequel to Burning Sky; and her Pathfinders series, The Woods Edge and A Flight of Arrows, are also connected lightly as something of a prequel to Burning Sky, and I highly recommend reading them also! 

Recommended other novels on a similar vein: Courting Morrow Little and The Frontiersman's Daughter by Laura Frantz; Ghost Fox by James A. Houston (non-christian)

Jody Hedlund's "Rebellious Heart" - when should we rebel, and when should we submit?

Based on the courtship of John and Abigail Adams, Jody Hedlund's Rebellious Heart is a beautiful romance set amongst the first rumblings of rebellion prior to the American Revolution, when the British were abusing their authority over the colonists and cracking down on their laws of importation.  Benjamin Ross is a poor country lawyer, the son of a farmer, lacking the wealth and good birth needed to improve his reputation.  The younger daughter of a well-to-do clergyman, Susanna Smith improves her mind the best she can on her own, unable to have the education she desires - the education her younger brother takes for granted.  Ben and Susanna do not get along very well, as he thinks she's snobbish and she disagrees with his traitorous politics.  However, when Susanna finds a young woman in need of help, she feeds, clothes, and hides her, even though she is clearly runaway indentured servant, and therefore illegal to help.  Trying to find a way to protect Dotty from her cruel master, she turns to Ben for legal help, which introduces them to an unexpected friendship and places them in a dangerous game of keeping one step ahead of the man chasing Dotty. 

While Ben and Susanna are first friends before they are lovers - enjoying matching wit, debating politics, and working together to rescue Dotty - the author does an excellent job at creating an ever-present romantic tension between them.  Their friendship, though, is what holds them together while Ben is still pursuing another woman and Susanna is caving to her parents' preference.  It is a slow route to love, and certainly not without trials and stumbling blocks, but it is a sweet romance and solid basis for a relationship. 

One of the biggest issues in the book - and it is one that has probably plagued Christians since Paul first wrote about it to the Romans (if not since Jesus provided the ultimate example) - is the command to be subject to the authorities, for God has placed them over us.  But what is one to do when the authorities abuse their power?  How far should one go before one says "enough!"? 

Even though in New Testament times the authorities of the temple not only allowed but encouraged moneychangers and the sale of animals for sacrifice in the temple courts!, Jesus came twice and chased them out - once at the beginning of His ministry, and once just before they crucified Him.  God made the temple a place for worship, to honor Him, not to provide a lucrative business for the corrupt leaders.  As Jesus proved, ultimately, God's authority trumps man's authority - sometimes, to honor God, we must break from the authority of sinful man.  

In Susanna's case, her decision essentially comes down to this - which is worse: to be brought before the courts for showing compassion, or to stand before God in the judgement and answer why she failed to help those in need?  Her heart leads her to the right decision, even if her mind balks at the thought of the consequences.  Jesus says in His word, "Behold, I send you out as sheep amidst the wolves.  Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless a doves" (Matt 10:16).  In protecting Dotty, Susanna is compassionate, harmless, and if anything, righting wrongs - but to elude the Wolf, she and Ben must be wise as serpents. 

Hedlund has written an excellent novel - not only is the plot thrilling and the romance sweet, but she has imbedded so much to ponder spiritually.  We may not be on the cusp of revolution ourselves, but the tension with authority still bothers us today, whenever officials fail to choose the godly path or their corruption would have us join them.  Thankfully, Jesus says, "all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth," so we can always appeal to His higher authority when our leaders fail.  5 out of 5 stars! 

Thank you to Bethany House for providing a free copy of this novel for the purpose of review; I was not required to make it positive, and all opinions are my own.  

"The Quaker and the Rebel" by Mary Ellis

In the first of her series of Civil War Heroines, Mary Ellis pits an abolitionist Quaker maid against a Rebel leader of a band of rangers.  Having no family left, Emily Harrison agrees to be a governess in the Bennington household in Virgina, making it clear that her Quaker convictions cannot abide slavery.  When her charges are sent to Europe for safety, Emily stays on as a companion to the lady of house so that she can aid slaves through the underground railroad.  Alexander Hunt, nephew of Mrs. Bennington, has fallen far from the Quaker ideals his mother imparted in his youth, though he refuses to harm or kill in his role as the Grey Wraith, the leader of a band of gentleman who plague the Union by stealing their goods.  In spite of strongly differing opinions with Emily and the danger he flirts with in pursuing a Yankee, he finds himself falling for her.  Can two people so firmly on opposite sides of the war fall in love without compromising their convictions?

For a Quaker, a person of peace and simplicity, Emily is extremely strong-minded, apt to lose her temper, and tempted toward vanities - she likes pretty dresses, a touch of make-up, and a bit of male attention.  She is quick to judge the Benningtons and Hunts as evil for keeping slaves, even under much fairer and more positive conditions than much of the South, yet she promptly lies to them and uses them to further her own ends, not to mention judges them (and does so unfairly).  Given her tendency toward bigotry, an apt verse for her would be, "How can you say to your brother, 'let me remove the speck from your eye,' and look, a plank is in your own?  Hypocrite!  Remove first the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye" (Matt 7:4-5).  She has far to go to realize the kindness and goodness in her employers.

Given that Emily and Alexander are firmly planted on opposite sides of the war, I could not anticipate how they were going to compromise enough develop a relationship in the first place, let alone forge one strong enough to survive the war.  Both Emily and Alexander are stiff with pride; she is strongly prejudiced against the South and he against the North, and though they both agree that slavery is wrong, they disagree on how to abolish it.  However, they both grow - Emily out of her bigoted idealism, and Alexander out of the dissipated lifestyle into which he had fallen. 

The story grew on me.  At first I was frustrated with both of the main characters - Emily especially - but as the plot increases in danger and excitement and they learn to set aside their prejudices, they improve remarkably.  Since neither the North nor the South embodies "good" or "evil," and since neither character is secretly working on the same side as the other, I could not anticipate what the outcome of the story would be, other than supposing that the two would find a way to compromise and fall in love and knowing that the Union would ultimately win.  Would Alexander abandon his role as the Grey Wraith to be with Emily?  Would he join Emily in helping slaves to freedom?  Would Emily get herself caught while freeing slaves?  Would battle catch up with them and strike them with the deaths of friends and family?  It is nice to read a novel in which the plot could go so many different ways that one cannot expect what is to come.  3.5 out of 5 stars. 

Thank you Harvest House and Netgalley for providing a free, advance e-copy for the purpose of review.  I was not required to make it positive; all opinions expressed are my own.