These Healing Hills by Ann B. Gebhart - a book review and blog tour

First of all, I need to preface this book review with an explanation.  This was supposed to be posted a week earlier but we've had an interesting time here the last couple of weeks and it just didn't get done.  First of all, our newest grandchild decided to make her appearance a few days early and then I got slammed with the cold of all colds!  I haven't even met our newest baby yet and she only loves a couple of streets away.  So....that's my excuse.

And now for the review.

These Healing Hills by Ann B. Gabhart

To call this book a Christian romance is stretching the term.  This is decidedly a Christian story.  But the romance aspect is very underplayed.  The history of the main “character” takes a front seat to any romance there might be.   The main character, in my humble opinion, is the Frontier Nursing Service.  This book is a really interesting telling of how they formed, who they were and what they did.  The author does a great job of covering that.

The story is set in the Appalachian Mountains at the end of World War 2.  The author does a really good job of painting a picture of what the living conditions were, the superstitions, and the speech patterns and phrases.

The main female character, Francine, is a city girl who has been jilted and enlists in the service to not only fulfill her desire to help others but also to not be home when her former fiancé returns from the war with his new girlfriend.

The main male character, Ben, is a mountain boy, who  has been injured in the war.  Actually, his young brother, Woody, meets Francine first and we see a sweet platonic friendship develop.  Ben and Francine do not actually meet until chapter 11.

While the author hints at a romance between Francine and Ben, she takes a long time to develop it.

This was not my favorite book to read.  It was very wordy. I found myself wanting to skip paragraphs to move it along. 

This is what the publisher’s website says:

“Francine Howard has her life all mapped out--until the man she loves announces his plans to bring home an English bride from war-torn Europe in 1945. Devastated, Francine seeks a fresh start in the Appalachian Mountains, training to be a nurse midwife for the Frontier Nursing Service.

Deeply affected by the horrors he witnessed at war, Ben Locke has never thought further ahead than making it home to Kentucky. His future shrouded in as much mist as his beloved mountains, he's at a loss when it comes to envisioning what's next for his life.

When Francine's and Ben's paths intersect, it's immediately clear that they are from different worlds and value different things. But love has a way of healing old wounds . . . and revealing tantalizing new possibilities.”

You can read an excerpt HERE

The author includes a reader’s note about the Frontier Nursing Service at the end of the book that was very interesting.  Read more about the author HERE

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell Books and Baker Publishing Group through their book review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed above are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The Return by Suzanne Woods Fisher - blog tour and book review

This is the third book in the An Amish Beginnings Series.  The series focuses on the early Amish and the hardships they faced in their new and wild country in what we now call Pennsylvania.  This particular book begins in 1762.  Many of the characters are carried over from the other two books.  The author includes a list of characters and their relationships at the front of the book that was very helpful. 

The story begins with a love triangle. Tessa and Betsy both love Hans, but Hans only has eyes for Betsy.  Unfortunately, Betsy and her brother are taken captive by a tribe of Indians after her parents were brutally killed.  As the story unfolds we learn more of the details. The author does a good job of conveying the horrible brutality without being overly gruesome.

While the Amish community live a pacifist life, the neighboring Mennonite community does not.  One man stirs the emotions of many and encourages revenge.  So, while Betsy and her brother are battling with coming to terms with their situation, their friends and families are battling amongst themselves.  

This is from the publisher's website:

"In a wild country, the true cost of love may be more than they can bear

Beautiful and winsome, Betsy Zook never questioned her family's rigid expectations, nor those of devoted Hans--but then she never had to. Not until the night she's taken captive in a surprise Indian raid. Facing brutality and hardship, Betsy finds herself torn between her pious upbringing and the feelings she's developing for a native man who encourages her to see God in all circumstances.

Greatly anguished by Betsy's captivity, Hans turns to Tessa Bauer for comfort. She responds eagerly, overlooking troubling signs of Hans's hunger for revenge. But if Betsy is ever restored to the Amish, will things between Hans and Tessa have gone too far?

Inspired by true events, this deeply layered novel gives a glimpse into the tumultuous days of prerevolutionary Pennsylvania through the eyes of two young, determined, and faith-filled women."

This is a story filled with emotion, suspense, danger, sorrow, love and hope.  Through it all, the faith of the characters holds them and carries them through some seemingly impossible situations.

The author does a great job acquainting us with the customs and lifestyles of the early Amish, Mennonites and Native Americans.

I wish the author had included a map, showing the communities, towns and Indian settlements and camps.  That would have been helpful.

You can learn more about the author, Suzanne Woods Fisher, and her award winning novels GO HERE

You can read and excerpt of The Return HERE

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell Books and Baker Publishing Group through their book review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed above are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

With You Always by Jody Hedlund - a book review

This book is part of a series that is very near to my heart and I will definitely be reading the rest of the books in the series.  This is the first story in Jody Hedlund’s Orphan Train series.  My grandmother and great uncles were orphan train riders so this book, while fictional, was very interesting to me.  My grandmother rarely spoke of her experience, and like so many children, lost touch with her siblings. She was fortunate in later years to be reunited with them.

The main character in this story, Elise, is a German immigrant whose family falls on hard times and becomes destitute. She ends up being responsible for not only her own siblings but children of a family friend.  She and the children take refuge in a mission house that provides them with a place to sleep and a job for Elise.  When the banks fail and the mission closes it’s sewing shop, she must look for employment elsewhere.  She makes the difficult decision to travel to Illinois as part of the Children’s Aid Society skilled workers program, and must leave the children until she can make enough money to send for them.  

This is from the publisher’s website:

“Could Following the Opportunity of a Lifetime Cost Them the Love of Their Lives?

One of the many immigrants struggling to survive in 1850s New York, Elise Neumann knows she must take action to care for her younger sisters. She finds a glimmer of hope when the New York Children's Aid Society starts sending skilled workers to burgeoning towns out west. But the promise of the society's orphan trains is not all that it seems.

Born into elite New York society, Thornton Quincy possesses everything except the ability to step out from his brother's shadow. When their ailing father puts forth a unique challenge to determine who will inherit his railroad-building empire, Thornton finally sees his chance. The conditions to win? Be the first to build a sustainable community along the Illinois Central Railroad and find a suitable wife.

Thrown together against all odds, Elise and Thornton couldn't be from more different worlds. The spark that ignites between them is undeniable, but how can they let it grow when that means forfeiting everything they've been working toward?”

This is another book that I would classify as a clean, historical romance with an underlying thread of faith.  It’s a story of desperation, hard choices, integrity, suspense, ethnic prejudices, rivalry, danger and love.

You can read an excerpt HERE

The author does a great job of putting the reader in the middle of the bank failure and ensuing gang riots.

I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait to read the rest of the series!

 Learn more about the author HERE

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Bethany House and Baker Publishing Group through their book review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed above are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”