A Bride's Choice in Central City

 

1872. Book 3 in an intricately wound story involving several ribbons of characters. Life in the West has its own flavor, with people who have travelled long distances for a new life, for various reasons. Each of the women have faced their own situations. This story spotlights some of the difficulties of women trying to support themselves. Nora had come out on a wagon train, Annabelle was able to travel by train. The towns are still in early stages, with lots of rough men they had to avoid. Tough women and faith woven throughout. Excellent read.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

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The Farmer's Daughter Romance Collection

5 Historical Romances Homegrown in the American Heartland
by Mary Davis, Kelly Eileen Hake, Tracie Peterson, Jill Stengl, Susan May Warren

"Lord, I can see I’m coming to the right place for help.’ Tis gonna take nothing short of a miracle."

God filled. Each story holds lessons of God's love for us and how to live our lives. A book you won't want to put down; a book you won't want to end.
A nice long read each. Some collections I've read tell a good story but get through it all too quickly.   These are great, and have a Christian message as well. There's a lot of detail, depth and expert storytelling.

  1887 A real tomboy of the wild west that will steal your heart, and you'll feel her pain and struggle in this effort to keep custody of her nieces.
  1874 Ireland shows Ewan coming to America and meets an Irish family while working for the railroad.  Deeply Christian values on how to live with honor and treat others.
  Then There's Tracy's gentle story of pioneers in Kansas who are visited by a young circuit preacher, graced by inciteful preaching. Words to live by. She really poured her heart and soul into this story with such blessing and wisdom.
  1881 Wisconsin A circus performer turned farmhand, hiding from his wealthy family. He meets his boss's daughter and learns about life and living in God's plan. Trials and struggle blessed this couple. Wonderful teaching of how lives should be led in God's light.
"She hadn’t considered that a foreigner, especially a German, would know the same God she did."
  1918 South Dakota Two girls race to meet a train and send letters to their beaus overseas. A German immigrant is working in an indentured contract at a ranch nearby. I particularly loved this because of my German heritage. Immigrants before the war, but I always wondered how they were really treated here after the war started. If they had to be on the offensive. This is a beautiful story of finding God's plan for our lives. A story of true love.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher and NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed 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.”
#TheFarmersDaughterRomanceCollection #NetGalley #BooksYouCanFeelGoodAbout

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Everything She Didn't Say by Jane Kirkpatrick

Quote:
“My writings were autumn leaves, bright and beautiful and flashy. But unmoored from their larger, more imposing hosts, simply dropped to the forest floor to be trampled upon and turned into humus for an acorn to grow one day into a mighty oak. But who remembered the leaves that mulched and gave the nutrient? It's the oak we admire.”

A very public physical journey at the time (1870's), a very private emotional journey for Carrie.

Maybe because we were full time rvers for four years, I think this is of particular interest to that group of travelers. This is another story where Jane Kirkpatrick does what she does best, teaching about women, life lessons, pondering our lives and living with others.

I'm grateful that we were able to go to Colorado and see Colorado Springs and the Garden Of The Gods, having personally seen some of the areas that she wrote of in this book. A regret we have is  that we hadn't gotten to see Yellowstone. It must have been awesome to see these areas before they were populated as they are now. The very real dangers of weather and wildlife were more of an issue then with the mode of travel, often on foot, with miles of wilderness surrounding them. Still people wanted to travel to a better life, and looked where they could for accurate information.

Carrie Strahan's husband wrote books and pamphlets designed to lure pioneers into the West. He worked for the UP Railroad, who wanted "settled" towns before bringing their trains through. This was still a time when women were frowned on for travelling to outlying areas and having occupations other than making a home for family and children. Carrie insisted that she travel with her husband on his necessary forays into the frontier, gaining experience she never would have had, but also giving up a life that other women had. As time goes by she wonders about her contribution to the immigrant movement across America, and is constantly berated for doing it. We are all shaped by the paths that we cross.

I highly recommend this book, especially to women of all ages. There's no doubt that you'll find something you can learn, and gain an insight and perspective of your own life as well as Carrie's.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher and NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed 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.”

Quotes:
Jane, speaking of her sister: "I was struck by how one could make a tape— or write a memoir— of sweetness and light while beneath the words were feelings that were much different. I never forgot those moments with her as she spoke of what was really happening for her on that journey."

"It’s always worse when you’re not where you’ve been, yet not where you’re going to be. You can’t sit down and think too long about it, you have to keep going. And it’s easier to blame someone else, if you can, for your misery while you’re in the middle of it. I do it all the time.”

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The Cumberland Bride by Shannon McNear

Excellent journey!
Kate makes me think of how I was as an older teenager. I was awkward around others my age, since there were few who lived around us, and I thought I was always saying the wrong thing in the wrong way. Like her, my heart was true though and I felt things deeply. And I so loved being out in the woods. The area they travelled through Tennessee and Kentucky was beautiful with rolling hills. I used to imagine how it was for the Indians, for Kate's travelling group they were a current reality. I loved camping, so it's easy for me to imaging pioneers moving to another place to live. But I never like to think of the cruelty of the Indians to those moving into lands they had lived on for generations. I really enjoyed this story, told so well that you easily picture it all. And I like the way the characters think. Kate finding her way to be around their trail guide Thomas, and Thomas sorting out his feelings for Kate and her family, since he missed his own sisters. Dangerous journey requires bravery and cool thinking, all wound up with romance. Christian Historical Fiction

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the Author and Netgalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed 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.”

#TheCumberlandBride #NetGalley

Description from the Publisher:
Thomas Bledsoe and Kate Gruener are traveling the Wilderness Road when conflicts between natives and settlers reach a peak that will require each of them to tap into a well of courage.

A brand new series for fans of all things related to history, romance, adventure, faith, and family trees.
Love and Adventure Are Discovered on the Wilderness Road
In 1794, when Kate Gruener’s father is ready to move the family farther west into the wilderness to farm untouched land, Kate is eager to learn and live out her own story of adventure like he did during the War for Independence. She sets her sights on learning more about their guide, Thomas Bledsoe. Thomas’s job is to get settlers safely across the Kentucky Wilderness Road to their destination while keeping an ear open for news of Shawnee unrest. But naïve Kate’s inquisitive nature could put them both in the middle of a rising tide of conflict. Is there more to Thomas’s Shawnee connections than he is willing to tell? Is there an untapped courage in Kate that can thwart a coming disaster?
Join the adventure as the Daughters of the Mayflower series continues with The Cumberland Bride by Shannon McNear.
More in the Daughters of the Mayflower series:
The Mayflower Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse – set 1620 Atlantic Ocean (February 2018)
The Pirate Bride by Kathleen Y’Barbo – set 1725 New Orleans (April 2018)
The Captured Bride by Michelle Griep – set 1760 during the French and Indian War (June 2018)
The Patriot Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse – set 1774 Philadelphia (August 2018)?
The Cumberland Bride by Shannon McNear – set 1794 on the Wilderness Road (October 2018)
The Liberty Bride by MaryLu Tyndall – set 1814 Baltimore (December 2018)

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