THE ROAD TO PARADISE by Karen Barnett, reviewed by Kim

First, coverlove! What an awesome cover. I love the feel of it, the colors, and it’s just perfect for this book! 

My favorite thing about The Road to Paradise is Margie. She is such a wonderful character. What a breath of fresh air she is! Anyone who says, “I’ll be out in a twinkling,” gets excited about ferns, names rodents, spouts poetry, and sees God in everything - well, how can you not like them? She just makes me smile. Another thing I absolutely loved about Margie is that she would not compromise her faith for anyone. I can’t really say what exactly I am talking about because - spoiler! But I loved that Karen did not shy away from this. 

Ford, a Chief Ranger, is a little more serious and somber. He’s still trying to get over his father’s tragic death and is questioning God. When Margie starts working with him as a naturalist, he’s not too happy. Yet, her attitude starts to change him, and he starts seeing things in a different light. I loved how he changed and grew throughout the book. 

To me, this book was a perfect blend of romance, adventure, and faith. The faith message was woven in seamlessly and naturally. The best I have read in a long time. This book has made me really look at nature and see God’s beautiful work instead of being so focused on where I have to go and what I have to do that I just overlook the beauty. 

BACK COVER BLURB:An ideal sanctuary and a dream come true–that’s what Margaret Lane feels as she takes in God’s gorgeous handiwork in Mount Rainier National Park. It’s 1927 and the National Park Service is in its youth when Margie, an avid naturalist, lands a coveted position alongside the park rangers living and working in the unrivaled splendor of Mount Rainier’s long shadow.

But Chief Ranger Ford Brayden is still haunted by his father’s death on the mountain, and the ranger takes his work managing the park and its crowd of visitors seriously. The job of watching over an idealistic senator’s daughter with few practical survival skills seems a waste of resources.

When Margie’s former fiancé sets his mind on developing the Paradise Inn and its surroundings into a tourist playground, the plans might put more than the park’s pristine beauty in danger. What will Margie and Ford sacrifice to preserve the splendor and simplicity of the wilderness they both love?

Karen Barnett’s vintage national parks novels bring to vivid life President Theodore Roosevelt’s vision for protected lands, when he wrote in Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter: "There can be nothing in the world more beautiful than the Yosemite, the groves of the giant sequoias and redwoods, the Canyon of the Colorado, the Canyon of the Yellowstone, the Three Tetons; and our people should see to it that they are preserved for their children and their children's children forever, with their majestic beauty all unmarred."

 

I really loved this book and cannot to read book #2, Where the Fire Falls!

*I purchased this book and was under no obligation to review it or review it favorably.

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THE CAPTURED BRIDE by MIchelle Griep, reviewed by Paula Shreckhise

This series has become one of my favorites.

The story is totally captivating. It is reminiscent of The Last of the Mohicans by Cooper only infinitely more readable. In this case the scout is Mercy Lytton.

Mercy Lytton is one tough lady. She is the offspring of an Indian chief and a captured, Christian, white woman. Mercy is very independent and she has exceptional eyesight, a good trait in a scout. She is chosen by Brigadier General Bragg to accompany a shipment of gold, hidden in two wagons, to a fort back East. Elias Dubois is a traitor to the British who escapes hanging by being forced to pose as Mercy’s husband on their trip to Fort Edward. Will this small band of travelers complete their dangerous journey intact? What has Elias hidden in the crates of supplies? Mercy was brought up with Huron ways, Elias knows the rival Wyandot. Will this help or hinder their progress?

The rich historical detail shines through. Michelle Griep is climbing near the top of my favorite authors list. Listen to the lyrical way she describes the sunrise: “Night faded like a bruise, the predawn darkness lightening in increments from black to indigo, painting the world in deep blue”

The faith of the main characters is part of them. Where Elias is a Christian and sometimes questions if he is compromising God’s principals, Mercy has learned of Jesus from her mother but is hesitant to trust God. Her faith is growing as is evidenced in this scene where she is comforting Mary Shaw who has lost an infant.

“Oh, dear one, “ The words, her own mother’s, slipped past Mercy’s lips unbidden. “I don’t know how many babes you have lost, and I don’t need to, but what I do know is this kind of grief isn’t made to fit inside your body. You must allow your heart to break so that the sorrow runs out. My mother used to tell me there’s more love in Christ for us than can ever be brokenness. Only in turning to Him can you be healed on the inside.” She then realizes the true strength and faith that her mother had.

This book has so much excitement, from confronting Indians to fording a swollen river. Michelle also pens a poignant love story with a solid portrayal of growing faith and trusting in God’s provision. I loved learning the history that was the underpinning.

I recommend this to fans of Colonial American fiction. If you enjoyed books by Jocelyn Green, Beth White and Laura Frantz, then by all means try this book! It is wonderful!

BACK COVER BLURB:

Mercy Lytton, a scout with keen eyesight raised among the Mohawks, and Elias Dubois, a condemned traitor working both sides of the conflict, must join together to get a shipment of gold safely into British hands.
A brand new series for fans of all things related to history, romance, adventure, faith, and family trees.

A War-Torn Countryside Is No Place for a Lady
Mercy Lytton is a lady like none other. Raised amongst the Mohawks, she straddles two cultures, yet each are united in one cause. . .to defeat the French. Born with a rare gift of unusually keen eyesight, she is chosen as a scout to accompany a team of men on a dangerous mission. Yet it is not her life that is threatened. It is her heart.  Condemned as a traitor, Elias Dubois faces the gallows. At the last minute, he is offered his freedom if he consents to accompany a stolen shipment of French gold to a nearby fort—but he is the one they stole it from in the first place. It turns out that the real thief is the beguiling woman, Mercy Lytton, for she steals his every waking thought.   Can love survive divided loyalties in a backcountry wilderness?

Join the adventure as the Daughters of the Mayflower series continues with The Captured Bride by Michelle Griep.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review. All opinions are my own.*

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Taking out the bitter

My experiences with vegetables growing up were fairly limited. I never had asparagus, or eggplant, or tomatilloes until I was an adult. My experience with squash was limited to boiled summer squash. I never had zucchini. Spinach came in a can and made me gag. 

Peas, broccoli, corn... lots of corn... green beans, tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, those are the vegetables I remember. 

I still hesitate in the produce aisle, feeling unsure of myself.

Last week I bought an eggplant. 

Maybe my body is craving some vitamin or attribute in eggplant (aubergine in French... sounds so much better), but it's the first time I remember buying an eggplant.

I brought it home and googled how to prepare it. Eggplant parmesan was the most popular recipe, so I opted for that. 

To prevent bitterness in the eggplant, the instructions said to salt the vegetable after slicing it. Purportedly, the salt draws out the bitterness. My end recipe wasn't bitter, so I guess it worked, and it made me think.

The Bible says believers are "the salt of the earth." Are we supposed to be taking the bitterness out of the world around us? We've been taught that we're to purify and sanctify, yes, but what if that purification has less to do with making everyone look and sound just like us and more with sucking the bitterness out of their souls? More with applying the salt of the Word and the Spirit (love and mercy) to those around us and just letting it sit and do its work?

Just a thought.

In my newest novella, my heroine, Calico Banks, is an embittered widow.  She has been raising her daughter, Aurora, and running the general store she and her husband planned to open together, all the while knowing someone in town orchestrated her husband's death. The arrival of Pinkerton agent Marshall Franklin, disguised as Frank Marshall, pulls Calico out of her grief enough to return to the present, just in time to have her cabin burned to the ground. As the stakes are raised, Calico will have to find a way to trust Marshall in order to save herself and her daughter.

Niki Turner

MY HEART BELONGS IN GLENWOOD SPRINGS. "MIllie's Resolve", by Rebecca Jepson, reviewed by Rebecca Maney

"It was his voice. . . . . . How could a voice be so familiar, yet so forgotten?"

Millie Cooper traveled all the way to Glenwood Springs, Colorado, away from her childhood home in Nantucket, after her future took a drastic turn for the worse over a broken engagement. Now six years later, while serving the local community as an apprenticed nurse, she has come face to face with a desperate man; the older brother who, on that fateful night, informed Millie that she would never become Mrs. Stephen Drexel.

John Drexler's first words upon seeing Millie Cooper again were far from eloquent. "Millie Cooper. You've grown." How could he possibly expect "the fisherman's daughter" to serve as his mother's private nurse and oversee the final months of his sister-in-law's pregnancy? "Even if I persuade her, our troubles will be far from over", he muses. However, as the ever faithful head of his family, he had done what had to be done, he had asked. Now it was up to Miss Cooper to decide if she could put the past behind her, while John has to decide just what he really thinks about Millie Cooper.

This book far exceeded simple expectations, for the roads traveled by its characters are steep and treacherous; switchbacks appear without warning and storms unleash their fury with nary a breeze. But just as the warm healing waters of the Colorado springs bring relief to so many, this lovely, romantic story demonstrates how God beautifully "sanctifies our deepest distresses".
 4.5 stars

BACK COVER BLURB:
 Journey now to healing spa town of Glenwood Springs, Colorado in 1888
Where the past and present collide and a woman is on the precipice of unexpected love.

Millie Cooper, fisherman’s-daughter-turned-nurse, flees a painful entanglement with the wealthy Drexel family who summered near her childhood home in Nantucket, only to encounter them again six years later in Glenwood Springs. The serenity of her mountain hideaway in a town with healing springs is disrupted when she faces caring for the elderly mother and the expectant wife of Stephen Drexel, the man she’d once loved—at the request of his brother John, the man who’d kept them apart. Will Millie forgive the wrongs she feels were done to her, or will she come to see them as a blessing in disguise that leads her to greater joys?
More from My Heart Belongs Series...
My Heart Belongs in Fort Bliss: Priscilla's Reveille by Erica Vetsch (January 2017)
My Heart Belongs in the Superstition Mountains: Carmella's Quandary by Susan Page Davis (March 2017)
My Heart Belongs in Ruby City, Idaho: Rebecca's Plight by Susanne Dietze (May 2017)
My Heart Belongs in the Shenandoah Valley: Lily's Dilemma by Andrea Boeshaar (September 2017)
My Heart Belongs in Castle Gate, Utah: Leanna's Choice by Angie Dicken(November 2017)
My Heart Belongs in Niagara Falls, New York: Adele’s Journey by Amanda Barratt (January 2018)

*I purchased this book and was under no obligation to review it. These are my honest opinions.

Available in digital ebook, paperback and hardcover:
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