The Winter Rose

 

So I decided to lose sleep over this book last night.  I just couldn't put it down.  First, let me say that there is very little romance--as in ooey-gooey kisses and long, loving looks type of romance--in this book, but there are examples of deep, abiding love that lasts through the ages. 

This is what is commonly known as a time-slip novel, where there are parallel plots that cover more than one era.  In this case, it is World War II and present day.  Grace Tonquin has seen too much of the evil of men and works to save children from the Nazi regime and spirit them into Spain, and ultimately, to Lisbon, Portugal, where they can be shipped out of Europe. Her whole raison d'etre is taking care of the children.  Two of the children she is responsible for become as her own when she finds there is no uncle living in the United States to care for them.  She takes them with her back to Oregon to her family's vineyard. Elias, soon to become known as Charlie, is a bundle of rebellion, anger, and regret.  He's seen far more than a child of his age should see. His sister, Marguerite, is an artist from a very young age.  She has synesthesia--an ability to see emotions as colors--and can tell at a glance where danger lies, even though she is quite young. She thrives with Grace's love and gentleness, where Charlie kicks at the goads hard and often.  

Roland is the man who guided Grace and the children out of France, and who has fallen in love with Grace.  He has promised he will find her and come back to her, and he does, but not until after he was interred at Dachau Prison Camp for the waning years of the war.  Together they build a home for Elias and Marguerite and Louis--another child who was hidden away by Roland's aunt Helene. Louis never really connected to Grace and Roland, instead choosing to live with Grace's mother--a once upon a time movie star. 

Addie is a protégé of Charlie and Emma, who ran the Sale Creek Home for Girls.  She had gotten in trouble with the law and was offered this option or time in jail.  She chose the Home for Girls. Afterward, she got a scholarship to a Bible College where she met her husband who was a pastor of not very high integrity.  When Charlie gets sick and needs a bone marrow transplant, Addie goes looking for family members who might be a worthy donor.  She finds more to Charlie's story than she ever knew before, and in the meantime finds a bit of herself in the process.  

For having so many characters in the book, Melanie Dobson does a fantastic job of fleshing them out and making them come alive on the pages of the novel.  The Winter Rose is the kind of book that will make the readers think, and feel, and take stock of themselves.  Which is not a bad thing at all. 

Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a hike over the mountains to safety. 

Tyndale House and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own. 

A Flicker of Light

 Once upon a time, there was a man named Miner McGee who sought after the greatest treasure and riches. He heard that there was a great diamond in the Montana mountains.  He hiked up the mountain and got caught in a blizzard.  When the authorities were about to go up the mountain to find him, they saw the light of his headlamp flicker on. 

This was a story Juniper Jones often told her granddaughter, Bea, and it was Bea's favorite story.  Bea is at a cross-roads in life--her husband has lost his job, they have moved in with her father who doesn't seem to like her husband, and she just found out she's pregnant. Other kinks in the works are that Bea's mother passed away a couple of years ago and neither Bea nor her father have fully grieved her passing.  While the turmoil of moving in with her father and all that entails is going on, Juniper, her father's mother is sliding into Alzheimer's dementia, and her father's next door neighbor has the hots for him and he's just not ready for that kind of relationship.  

This book is about grief, about secrets, about standing on your own two feet, and about grace.  I am not sure what I expected for the end of the book to be, but I felt it was rather abrupt and wished the book had been longer even though Katie Powner tied up the loose ends rather nicely. I was just left wanting something more, I'm not sure what, but just more. For that reason alone I give it four stars.  I loved the setting--my daughter once lived in a small Western Montana town and was actually an EMT/first responder for her county there. Imagining the places, fictitious as they were, was not a difficult thing to do, and there is no better place to set a story like this one. 

Bethany House and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own. 

Love on the Range

 

This is the third book in the Brothers in Arms series.  I read the first one and got a rather ho-hum impression of the book.  I didn't read the second one and found myself lost from the get-go on this third one.  It's hard to tell where all the characters fit in because I didn't read the second one.  Most of the time when I read something I don't particularly like by an author I have really liked previously, I will give that author the benefit of the doubt and just say it was a one off kind of thing.  Love on the Range and the whole Brothers in Arms series does not fit that description. The reader has to begin with the first book and read them in order to keep up with the characters and where they fit. Even doing this, the readers may find themselves a bit lost.  With so many in the mix, it is hard to keep in mind that this is Molly's and Wyatt's story. Everyone seems to be trying to take a starring role, and no one is willing to be a supporting cast member. 

I really wish I could have enjoyed the book more, but it didn't seem to have the element of fun I've experienced in other Mary Connealy books. Ultimately, how much a reader likes a book comes down to personal taste.  There will be other readers who absolutely love this book and will rate it highly.  I wish I were one of those readers, but I am not.  Two stars. 

Bethany House and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own. 

The Heart of a Cowboy

 

I sincerely hope that Jody Hedlund is having as good time writing this series as I have been having reading it.  

Flynn is taking his younger brother and sister, and a herd of shorthorn cattle west to another brother's ranch in Colorado. 

Linnea and her grandfather are on a botanical expedition for the Smithsonian Institute along with some other botanists.  Linnea is newly widowed and all she wants to do is prove her mettle as a botanist to the point that she sometimes loses herself in her work and neglects her environment. 

In order to keep her safe, Linnea's grandfather pays Flynn to keep her out of trouble and act as a bodyguard, but Flynn is not to tell Linnea about it.  This arrangement gives Linnea and Flynn a lot of time together. Flynn begins to fall for Linnea but he thinks he doesn't want a wife.  He doesn't want to  put a woman through what his mother went through with his stepfather.  

The Heart of a Cowboy takes childhood trauma, and delicately moves through the healing that must happen for health to come.  It also takes on dealing with girls growing up without mother figures and feminine influence. Flynn has had to be both mother and father to his younger siblings since his mother passed away and his stepfather kicked him off the farm.  

There is a bit of "romance formula" in this book, but it is not so overwhelming to the story that it detracts from the plot, but it adds credibility to the plot.  It is ultimately an enjoyable read that will give a few hours of solid entertainment.  Four Strong Stars. 

Bethany House and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own. 

A View Most Glorious

I did not realize that this book was the third in a series, because it does so well as a stand-alone.  None of the books' characters seem to be repeated in the series, so the reader is not lost due to prior circumstances in the earlier novels.  

Coraline Baxter is a suffragette who wants to make her mark on the world in a way that does not include being arm-candy.  Her mother believes that standing is society for a woman is far more important than her brains. In fact, her mother believes that brains are a detriment to a woman, where Coraline believes that a woman has just as much intelligence as a man and can make sound decisions in business, politics, and life.  She is head-strong and quite argumentative, but not necessarily in a bad way.  Her suffragist friends entice her to climb Mt Rainier and show that women have just as much strength and ability as men do.  In order for her to make the climb, her mother makes a deal with her--if Coraline is successful, she can continue to live her life on her own terms: choosing her own husband, working at her stepfather's bank, and working toward the women's rights to vote. If Coraline is not successful, she must submit to marrying a man of her mother's choosing.  To fail is not something Coraline is willing to do.  And her stepfather will do whatever he has to do to help her succeed, and that includes hiring Nathan Hardee to guide them up the mountain.  

One thing that struck me in this book is the strength of Nathan's faith, the way he lived his faith in helping those around him, the way he showed his faith in how he did the job he was hired to do, and the very way he worshipped. It was more than  just lip service to him, and it impacts others around him. 

Regina Scott's handling of this novel and its incumbent quirks is nothing short of magical.  There isn't a bad guy, so to speak, in this book, but there is one sleazy character who is the character readers will love to hate (every story needs one).  The setting and the supporting cast of characters make this an extremely enjoyable read. 

Once again, five stars, two thumbs up, and an alpenstock to aid your climb. 

Revell Publishing and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own.  

 

The Stolen Lady

During World War II, the Nazis under Hitler ravaged museums and stole art pieces that were priceless, which caused people to hide the national treasures .  Laura Morelli has taken the story of hiding the Mona Lisa during World War II and worked in the history of the painting from 500 years previously.  There are a lot of characters in this book, each in their own setting and with their own sets of issues.  Laura has also brought out the historical tensions in both of the situations, making this an informative read as well as an entertaining read. 

The stories are told in serial chapters focusing on one character at a time, and bringing the lives of the characters into their own spotlights.  This book will require a concentrated effort to keep with the plots and people, but the effort will be rewarded in the end.  

Four Stars. 

William Morrow and Custom House and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own.