Moms on the Margins

Here’s to you, moms on the margins!

You know who you are—though you may try to hide. Feeling on the outside edge of your neighborhood and your church.  Maybe a discouraged mother raising children solo after some wrecking ball tore through your marriage.  Maybe solitary since baby’s first cry. A fearful woman trying to protect her family from abuse. An exhausted mom raising a special needs child— handicapped if the word doesn’t irk you. Because don’t all children have special needs? Continue reading

A HEART ADRIFT by Laura Frantz ~ Rich & Powerful! 5-star review

A Heart Adrift COVER

It is 1755, and the threat of war with France looms over colonial York, Virginia. Chocolatier Esmée Shaw is fighting her own battle of the heart. Having reached her twenty-eighth birthday, she is reconciled to life alone after a decade-old failed love affair from which she’s never quite recovered. But she longs to find something worthwhile to do with her life.

Captain Henri Lennox has returned to port after a lengthy absence, intent on completing the lighthouse in the dangerous Chesapeake Bay, a dream he once shared with Esmée. But when the colonial government asks him to lead a secret naval expedition against the French, his future is plunged into uncertainty.

Can Esmee and Henri’s shared vision and dedication to the colonial cause heal the wounds of the past and reunite them?
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Laura Frantz’s A HEART ADRIFT just released in the midst of winter storms. Though the winds shook our windows and rain battered our roof, I spent the day relaxing into a warm Virginia breeze and Esmée Shaw’s life in colonial, coastal Virginia. And like the kite in the opening scene, I was tugged constantly onward from the first page.

As a single woman in colonial Virginia, Esmée Shaw’s options are limited, and even ten years after her love left her behind for the sea, her heart hasn’t healed; and she wants to do something meaningful with her life. Until she figures that out, she takes comfort burying herself in the work of Shaw’s Chocolate shop. But when she hears talk of Captain Henri Lennox’s possible return after years at sea, her heart, mind, and spirit are aflutter.

Frantz’s characters are as clear and real as my next-door neighbors. She gives succinct yet strong hints of their desires, values, etc, such as when Esmée’s father observes, “You were in love once.” Frantz reveals how this seemingly mild observation impacts Esmée: “His low words rolled across the empty shop like a rogue wave, swamping and nearly upending her.”

Molinillo - to whisk chocolate drinks.

Molinillo – to whisk chocolate drinks.

Frantz creates varied and interesting situations for her characters to display their struggles, feelings, secrets … And while colonial era standards limit choices for women, a rich interior life that Frantz shares with readers provides a wide landscape to learn about them. An example is when a customer specifically asks for Esmée to wait on her rather than “the help.”

“The widow was fond of reminding Esmée she was not among York’s founding families but an outsider, an easterner. Still Esmée tried to be cordial.”

 

Another example when Esmée and her father discuss the possible war and secret meetings he has with the governor. Esmée questions and probes but cannot find out how Capt. Lennox is involved. “The coach lurched to a stop…. Feeling like a kettle left too long at the fire, Esmée gathered her hat and gloves….Would she ever have answers?”

Esmée Shaw is a noble character with nary a bad word to say about anyone as she straddles the classes in colonial Virginia, This highlights another of Frantz’s skills.  I appreciate how she imbues characters from all classes, politics, races with dignity. ‘Tis a rare skill that accurately shows how some characters are looked down upon and treated meanly in a particular era, yet infuses them with the dignity and value they have in God’s eyes. Frantz always accomplishes this subtly, such that it doesn’t even register. It slips between the lines of text like a gentle wave rolling over the sand, barely visible until I stop, look back, and analyze. When you read this story, observe the behavior of girls from the almshouse, a rejected suitor, a “black jack,” and of course those Esmée loves.

Readers can rely on Frantz to create an historic story world that is so accurate and vivid in detail that it comes alive. One thing I especially admire:  Frantz excels at creating a plot anchored in the colonial setting that reveals exactly how precarious life in that era was. Readers could easily view dangers through a 21st century veil of risk mitigated by a governmental or cultural safety net, through expectations we have in a constitutional democracy. But life in Colonial times had no such reliable buffers. Frantz displays great skill in showing that her characters live on a razor’s edge.

 Alliance by Pamela Patrick White

Alliance
by Pamela Patrick White

“Just shy of his sixteenth birthday, he’d been working late in his father’s dockyard when a press-gang overtook him, the certificate of exemption he carried in his pocket of no consequence … the gang pummeled him ,,, tore up his paper, then took him aboard the HMS Victory. Fueled by fury as well as ambition, he’d worked his way up from cabin boy to midshipman to officer till he’d used the Royal Navy to gain his own vessel and his own captaincy.”

Everything about this tale of love lost, love gained, self-sacrifice, faith, and heroism fits together like an intricate jig-saw puzzle. It flows rich and lustrous like the smooth, aromatic chocolate Esmée works on her marble chocolate stone. I highly recommend this to readers who enjoy historical and inspirational romantic fiction.

(Thank you to Baker Publishing Group for a copy of the book. I was not required to write a positive review in return.)

Great Point Light on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts

Great Point Light on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts

If Laura Frantz is a new author to you, you can learn more on her website or visiting on InstagramPinterest, or Facebook.

AS DAWN BREAKS by Kate Breslin – BRILLIANT! 5-star review

Her daring bid for freedom could be her greatest undoing.

Amid the Great War in 1918 England, munitions worker Rosalind Graham is desperate to escape the arranged marriage being forced on her by her ruthless guardian and instead follow her own course. When the Chilwell factory explodes, killing hundreds of unidentified workers, Rose realizes the world believes she perished in the disaster. Seizing the chance to escape, she risks all and assumes a new identity, taking a supervisory position in Gretna, Scotland, as Miss Tilly Lockhart.

RAF Captain Alex Baird is returning home to Gretna on a secret mission to uncover the saboteur suspected in the Chilwell explosion, as Gretna’s factory is likely next. Fearing for his family’s safety, he’s also haunted by guilt after failing to protect his brother. Alex is surprised to discover a young woman, Miss Lockhart, renting his boyhood room, but the two eventually bond over their mutual affection for his family–until Alex receives orders to surveil her.

Rose squirms beneath Alex’s scrutiny while she struggles to gain her workers’ respect. But when her deception turns to danger, she and Alex must find a way to put their painful pasts behind them and together try to safeguard the future.  [back cover copy]

Kate Breslin’s story AS DAWN BREAKS is at times as tender as the gentle sunrise painted on the cover, at others as stark as a post-tornado landscape. But above all, it’s BRILLIANT!

2017 Silvertown, London

2017 Silvertown, London

Against the backdrop of World War I, the drama of Rose Graham’s personal life unfolds. She faces a bleak future imprisoned in an arranged marriage to a wicked bully. A shaft of light pierces her misery when an explosion levels the building she works in at a munitions factory, leaving the world to believe she was killed. If she can act fast enough and boldly enough, she just might begin a new life posing as another. She gathers a dead woman’s few belongings and papers and flees.

As her new life in Gretna, Scotland intersects with others, Rose creates a tolerable existence—if she can just keep her story straight. Especially when Alex Baird, the RAF captain son of her landlords, unexpectedly returns home and seems very interested in Rose’s past. She must discern if he’s friend or foe. But before she can, the threads of their lives begin to tangle and the knots just grow bigger, right along with the risks both to her and those she loves.

JACQUARD Fabric red DAWN BREAKS BreslinBreslin’s story is an intricate weave like a detailed jacquard fabric. She gives us a charming love story amid an adventure and mystery, sprinkled with humor. She layers danger, risks from every direction, and plants clues and misdirection as well as Agatha Christie. And when Rose’s road seems to become a cramped, hopeless dead-end, a door is suddenly flung open streaming light and hope.

 

AS DAWN BREAKS is populated with well-drawn, believable characters, including a well-developed secondary cast that make us feel right at home in the Baird household. Breslin’s characters leap from the page. Their struggles made me ache; their successes, cheer.

And I must say a word about setting. Breslin is masterful in drawing her story world and characters, which clearly emerge from the historical time and place. Every detail rings true, and the story is perfectly balanced, never overloaded with historical details.

I highly recommend AS DAWN BREAKS for those who enjoy historical mysteries, intrigue, and tender love stories.

I received a copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers, but was not required to write a positive review. Opinions expressed here are mine.

YOURS IS THE NIGHT by Amanda Dykes ~ a stellar read. 5-star review

A mysterious song in the forest . . .
A discovery in war-torn France . . .
A journey toward hope.
Cover-Yours in the Night
The trenches of the Great War are a shadowed place. Though Platoon Sergeant Matthew Petticrew arrived there with a past long marked by shadow, the realities of battle bring new wounds–carving within him a longing for light, and a resolve to fight for it.

One night, Matthew and his comrades are enraptured by a sound so pure, a voice so ethereal, it offers reprieve–even if only for a moment. Soon, rumors sweep the trenches from others who have heard the lullaby too. “The Angel of Argonne,” they call the voice: a mysterious presence who leaves behind wreaths on unmarked graves.
 
Raised in the wild depths of the Forest of Argonne, Mireilles finds her reclusive world rocked when war crashes into her idyllic home, taking much from her. When Matthew and his two unlikely companions discover Mireilles, they must embark on a journey that will change each of them forever . . . and perhaps, at long last, spark light into the dark.

[back cover copy]

Trench Art of WW I

Trench Art of WW I

Yours is the Night, latest book by Amanda Dykes, is set against the dark days of World War I but it’s an amazing book that shimmers with courageous souls, generous hearts, noble spirits, and the fight for light. A reader might have concern about reading a tale set during World War I, especially since Amanda is known for bringing characters and settings to life. I’ve read many books set in wartime. A few I’ve stopped reading. Some I gritted my way through but felt assaulted in the reading. Amanda is almost unique in her ability to keep the story real while finding and focusing on glints of light and life that not only balance out intense images of battle but make the tale a thing of hope and beauty.

She fills her cast with characters from diverse backgrounds ~ a New York horse farm, Oxford University, a woodland cabin. And I’ve fallen in love with every one of our band of travelers. Each is unique, totally likeable, and has no intention of joining the war. But as we journey with them, each is impacted by some aspect of the conflict and must deal with it or be crushed by it.

As I’ve mentioned in reviewing Amanda’s previous books, she writes delightful, lyrical tales with beauty and tender understanding of the broken places in a person. She writes of the impact of choices and how consequences echo into the future. And always, the fight for light and The Light. This book continues that lovely, powerful writing filled with imagery, symbolism, and surprises. I’ll share just a sample.

SHEEP - black face flock cr COPY…a flock of sheep bleated, eating grass like all was as normal as could be …. The scene sliced clean away when I blinked, that green grass flashing into colorless dirt, the blue sky swallowed up by dark. How long, I wondered, would memory keep doing this? Showing up and slashing into the present? [p 141]

This country so deeply scarred by trenches and terror is beginning to feel its wounds stitched together by Allied forces … victory by victory. [p. 174]

The sticks and curves and letters arranged themselves into words that shattered my world. [p. 205]

… Characteristics that stuck out like odd limbs on a person bumbling through the corridors of life, until he found that they weren’t odd limbs at all, but rather the carefully crafted shape of himself, molded to fit like a puzzle piece into this moment.  [p. 257]

MATCH BOXAt times, writing a book review is difficult because a so-so story or cliché characters don’t inspire. But writing a review for this one is difficult because the story is so good that my words fall so very short of conveying the beauty, the power…the light & joy the author has infused into it. I heartily recommend Yours is the Night for a stellar read (and re-read). Join the journey through fear and fog of war, yearning for life and love and peace, and most of all discovery. Who knows? You may, like me, even want to begin carrying a box of matches with you.

Trench Art photo credit: http://www.trenchartofww1.co.uk/images/Lights_Out_Candle_2014.JPG?298

Some links to sources for a copy of Yours is the Night if you’re so inclined:

Baker Book House (pre-order special through 8/2/21: 40% off + free shipping + free gift while supplies) last): https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/260758

Christianbook.com: https://www.christianbook.com/…/9780764232688/pd/232681…

Bookshop.org (Supports independent bookstores) https://bookshop.org/books/yours-is-the-night/9780764232688

Barnes & Noblehttps://www.barnesandnoble.com/…/yours-is…/1137897809…

Wal-Marthttps://www.walmart.com/…/Yours-is-the-Night…/683442923

Amazonhttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764232681

Books-a-Millionhttps://www.booksamillion.com/…/Amanda-Dykes/9780764232688

Indiebound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780764232688

 

WHEN TWILIGHT BREAKS by Sarah Sundin ~ 5-Star Review to 10-Star!

WHEN TWILIGHT BREAKS, Sarah Sundin’s latest, is a tour de force.

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Munich, 1938

Evelyn Brand is an American foreign correspondent determined to prove her worth in a male-dominated profession and to expose the growing tyrrany in Nazi Germany. To do so, she must walk a thin line. If she offends the government, she could be expelled from the country–or worse. If she does not report truthfully, she’ll betray the oppressed and fail to wake up the folks back home.

Peter Lang is an Americvan graduate student working on his PhD in German. Disillusioned wit the chaos in the world due to to the Great Depression, he is impressed with the prosperity and order of German society. But when the brutality of the regime hits close, he discovers a far better way to use his contacts within the Nazi party–to feed information to the shrewd reporter he can’t get off his mind.

As the world marches relentlessly toward war, Evelyn and Peter are on a collision course with destiny. [from back cover]

Evelyn  and Peter grapple with truth versus propaganda in the increasingly divided, tense country. And if they are to help each other survive the treacherous terrain of Nazi Germany, they will have to reconcile their conflicting perspectives

180px-April_14,_2012_Marquette,_Kansas_EF4_tornadoAll the characters in this story are completely real and compelling. The choices they face are heart-breaking. Their spiritual struggles authentically arise from their experience. And the forces that impact them lead to gripping, high stakes journeys where threats, like a tornado, intensify and accelerate.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERASundin draws her characters and settings clearly and thoroughly which helps keep the action brisk. Without intending to, I stayed up hours past normal, walking with Evelyn and Peter, trying to determine who was trustworthy and who was not. The supervisor, neighbor, professor, landlord, restaurateur? The new friends? Maybe the old friends? God?

 

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAMuch like how our 21st century world had to learn how to handle a novel virus, this cast of characters has to learn about the novel threat of Nazi Germany. Their journey to do that is compelling and kept me engaged even after shutting the book. I highly recommend it.

(I can give you a man’s point of view soon as my husband is reading the story now.)

UPDATE ~ Hubby also gives it 5 stars! The story drew him in and kept him engaged with taut writing. A tale filled with drama, intrigue, internal and external struggles, and a tender romance that does not overpower the rest of the action. He liked how the author sprinkled in bits of spiritual questions or needs that Peter and Evelyn had. No complaints and just one unanswered question. 🙂

 

TIDEWATER BRIDE by Laura Frantz ~ A Gem! 5-Star Review

 

Tidewater Bride cover

Selah Hopewell seems to be the only woman in the Virginia colony who has no wish to wed. True, there are too many men and far too few women in James Towne. But Selah already has her hands full assisting her father in the family’s shop. And now she is in charge of an incoming ship of tobacco brides who must be looked after as they sort through their many suitors.

Xander Renick is perhaps the most eligible tobacco lord in the settlement. His lands are vast, his crops are prized, and his position as a mediator between the colonists and the powerful Powhatan nation surrounding them makes him indispensable. But Xander is already wedded to his business and still grieves the loss of his wife.

Can two fiercely independent people find happiness and fulfillment on their own? Or will they discover that what they’ve been missing in life has been right in front of them all along?  [back cover copy]

pearl spill greenTIDEWATER BRIDE by Laura Frantz is a pearl of a story, touching on themes of love, sacrifice, cross-cultural understanding and respect, and reconciliation.

This tale brims with intrigue, plot twists, surprises, and is not so much read as lived. 

 

The sense of place so strong, you’ll step into the Virginia Colony and walk streets filled with the noise of anvils and gossip, or saunter crushed-shell paths in your garden, meander aisles in a shop. You’ll be gently rocking along on horseback or gliding down the river in a canoe. You will join Selah Hopewell and a throng of others on the wharf, awaiting the arrival of the tobacco brides amid the stench of fish and tar and tobacco.

VICTORY by geographics on deviantart.com

And so begins your immersion in the Virginia Colony. Here we also meet the people of Jamestown and appreciate neighbors with a generous heart and noble spirit. Learn that a little kindness goes a long way.

Chief Powhatan Statue, Williamsburg

Chief Powhatan Statue, Williamsburg

And we experience the intersection of cultures as colonists, Indians, Africans, and English tentatively meet and slowly grow to understand each other and develop ways of interacting ~ for some the slow growth of insight and respect, for others not. From the amalgam of these people in this place, the story effortlessly rises like smoke from a fire.

Frantz’s consummate skill draws a clear picture of the different perspectives of these peoples. In fact, in 3 short paragraphs she shares 3 stories—on one page—that convey the absolute and deep differences between the Powhatan tribe’s world and the colonists’ culture. I can’t wait for you to read this!

Her powerful insight and creativity are displayed as she shows a fear-filled woman “pale as frost,” a storm approaching with clouds like “pewter cannonballs,” and a man impacted by the rigid class system that plants him in “the lonesome middle.”  As the Jamestown residents grow and harvest, buy and sell, marry, have children, and bury loved ones, we experience grief slicing a heart; the clawing terror of hoof beats pounding in the night; the lonely, hollow cavern of loss.

Watseka modelAnd as always, Frantz has a perfect way of drawing children with their unique viewpoints, sparkling with spontaneity, delight, and generosity, and sharing the joy and distraction of a new puppy.

Wampum_ej_perry

 

I ran into a few new words, as you would if immersed in an unfamiliar place or experience. Some new things were introduced and I realized the Colonial Era has some major differences compared to the Early American–tobacco brides, peace children, that church attendance was required, and children were active in civic and commercial activities. The deep involvement of colony officials in the settlers’ lives was also new to me. And all of this contributes to that sense of walking along with the characters, not merely reading about them.

TIDEWATER BRIDE is masterful storytelling. A captivating page-turner. I loved it and highly recommend it.

If Laura Frantz is a new author to you, you can learn more on her website or visiting on Instagram, Pinterest, or Facebook.

 

[Thanks to Revell Publishing for a review copy of this book in return for a review with my honest opinion.]

Photo credits: 

     ship:  “Victory” from deviantart.com

     Chief Powhatan Statue:  http://livinginwilliamsburgvirginia.blogspot.com/

     joyful child: from Laura’s Pinterest Board. Visit it here

THE KISSING TREE ~ Fun Romances. 5-Star Review

THE KISSING TREE is four distinct love stories, from the pens of four skilled authors, inextricably entwined by the grandfatherly oak and family.

KISSING TREE cover 516

In this Texas-sized romance novella collection, courting couples, decades apart, leave a permanent mark of their love by carving their initials into the same oak’s bark.  

Regina Jennings’ Broken Limbs, Mended Fences:  When a young man from her past returns and upends their small town with a new invention, schoolteacher Bella Eden is reminded of the heartbreak she suffered years ago under the old oak tree.

Karen Witemeyer’s Inn for a Surprise: Determined to keep love alive for others, Phoebe Woodward builds an inn that caters to couples. When her father sends a property manager to help make it a success, she finds her whimsical vision thwarted.

Amanda Dykes’ From Roots to Sky:  WWII airman Luke Hampstead found comfort in letters from the sister of a lost compatriot. When he visits Texas to thank her, he discovers her constructing a project with surprising ties to his letters.

Nicole Deese’s Heartwood: Abby Brookshire’s world is turned upside down when the historic tree she’s strived to preserve as groundskeeper at the Kissing Tree Inn is put in danger of removal. The only way to protect it is to partner with the man she’s been ignoring since he left town years ago.  [from back cover]

And that cover! A perfect reflection of romance inside with a hint of the tree that arcs over the stories.

pexels-gareth-davies-1598377The tree, a massive live oak, stands resolute as a judge, strong as a longshoreman, and as kindly and captivating as Aslan. Like a kindly grandfather, it welcomes, shelters, and inspires generations of an entire town.

The characters in these novellas are as clearly-drawn as any full-length novel, and just as dear.  Phoebe Woodward is described as “kind-natured and bookish, two qualities generally admired;” Hannah as “hard to keep track of;” and Luke as having “the sort of smile that took its time finding its way to the surface.”  (Can’t you just see that slow-growing radiance?!)

330px-Oak_at_the_Protestant_Children's_Home_Sept_2012The tales span over a century and are four delicious romances ~ but so much more. Built around the tree, they also contain connections and references to earlier people, and therefore build on each other.               

Though all share the tree as a central element, the tales are amazingly varied, not contrived, and carry deep insights. And they’re great fun. The meet-cutes are some of the best I’ve read, especially—well, I can’t tell you. I’d spoil your enjoyment.

I heartily recommend this collection to anyone who enjoys romance and family sagas.

Thank you to Bethany House for a free review copy of this book. I was under no requirement to write a positive review.

Photo credits: Amazon, Gareth Davies, Chris Pruitt

SET THE STARS ALIGHT by Amanda Dykes~Prepare to be Carried Away! 5-star Review

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In an aged brick cottage in London, the magic of the past comes alive each night for the family of a humble watchmaker. In her father’s fireside stories, Lucy Claremont’s fascination with the high seas begins, leading her to devote her life’s work to discovering the whereabouts of a legendary lost ship. But when tragedy strikes, it’s childhood friend Dashel and his knowledge of the stars that may help her solve the puzzle.

Two hundred years earlier, three young lives are altered forever when a shepherd rescues the privileged son of a powerful admiral. As the children grow, war leads to unthinkable heartbreak, deep love, and a story of betrayal, sacrifice, and redemption that fades into obscurity as centuries pass.

As Lucy and Dash explore mysterious ruins on the East Sussex coast, their search leads them to a community of souls and a long-hidden tale that may hold the answers–and the healing–they so desperately seek. [back cover]

PETER PAN 2 lrg +In SET THE STARS ALIGHT Amanda Dykes has penned a story that captivates completely from page one. I couldn’t have been more absorbed if I watched the tale unfurl while flying over it with Peter Pan.

 

Settings come alive with Amanda’s use of specific, sensory details. Whether an ancient, sooty match factory or a wireless, fairy-tale-like farm ~ the reader is there, hearing the song of the bells and feeling the breeze, tasting the flavors it carries. Amanda’s poetic, lyrical writing evokes memories of fables and fairy tales, enticing readers to ignore the thrum of our frenetic planet, and fall into life with Lucy and Dash.

Characters are so well developed, that it takes no time at all to bond with them. To feel the excitement when Papa begins a riddle or a story. Or the breath-stealing, carved-out realization that a loved one is … gone.

And though this book is only the second of Amanda’s published novels, she’s already a master not only at spinning stories, but balancing the mechanics of producing a dual-time book. Like the storytellers in this yarn, Amanda sprinkles clues to links between the two timelines. And the story flows unimpeded even when she switches between the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries. I dare say, no reader will have to flip back to an earlier chapter to reconnect with a storyline in order to move ahead.

Amanda displays great skill in story craft, but SET THE STARS ALIGHT is so much more than the sum of these skills. This story is art. Magic. Delightful. Full of imagery, symbolism, and surprises! The intriguing characters—on quests for belonging, truth, love, forgiveness, lost things, or answers to mysteries—deliver us to wonder and light. And to the reward of learning that everyone’s actions reverberate through time. That every single life matters. The journey introduces us to The Maker of Wonder, Light Himself.

I could fill pages with favorite quotes. (I nearly wore out the yellow marker!) But lest I rob you of the joy of discovering your own, I include below just a few. An appetizer if you will. This gem of a story will satisfy on every level.

“When things seem dark, Lucy, that’s when you fight for the light.”  p 21

animated-question-mark-clip-art-dc84qEpceFor who were they to one another now? A shadow. An outline. A question mark.  p 67

The woman … gave the impression that she’d been born and raised in a confectioner’s shop and trailed a dusting of sweetness wherever she went.  p 73

 

STARS SLIGHT REV - anger-clipart-clipart comp“Looks as if he ate anger for breakfast.” p 79

“I wonder if it’s even possible to overestimate the significance of a single life … Words spoken, hearts changed, a meal provided to a hungry sojourner, who knows? Who knows how far everyday actions reach?”  p 196

Silhouette of a couple holding hands against a sunset sky

As if every moment between then and now had been leading up to this, the homecoming of their hands. p 178

[image credit: Peter Pan, disney; couple by Vecteezy]

SET THE STARS ALIGHT releases June 30, 2020. I’m blessed to have read an early copy from NetGalley for review. Usually I don’t find the e-versions of a book nearly as engaging as paper. But STARS knocked that problem to the curb! This is a 5-star recommendation. I feel my words don’t to this fabulous story justice!

You can meet Amanda on social media, where she likes to hang out and talk about wondrous things. So visit her on Instagram or Facebook if you want to learn more about this amazing author.

Links to some places you can purchase SET THE STARS ALIGHT if you’re so inclined. And a word from Amanda: Available in Paperback, Audiobook, and Hardcover. May we encourage you to support an independent and/or local bookstore with this purchase? Even one book can help these cherished stores regain their footing amid the COVID-19 circumstances. Thank you, fellow bookstore lovers!

Baker Book House

Indiebound (Find a bookstore local to you.)

Christianbook

Powell’s

Barnes & Noble

Walmart (paperback link)

 

A GEM of a Story ~ AN UNCOMMON WOMAN by Laura Frantz, 5-star review

AN UNCOMMON WOMAN by Laura Frantz is a treasure of a story. It has everything ~ engaging storyline, plot twists aplenty, characters that move into your home! All this presented in Frantz’s lovely prose with the sensitivity and insight into people and cultures that is rare and a pleasure to read.

UNCOMMON WOMAN cover 2

Unflinching and plainspoken, Tessa Swan is not your typical 18th-century woman. Born and bred on the western Virginia frontier along with her five brothers, she is a force to be reckoned with.

Quiet and courageous, Clay Tygart is not your typical 18th-century man. Raised by Lenape Indians, he returns a hero from the French and Indian War to the fort that bears his name, bringing with him Tessa’s long-lost friend, Keturah, a redeemed Indian captive like himself.

Determined to avoid any romantic entanglements as fort commander, Clay remains aloof whenever he encounters the lovely Tessa. But when she is taken captive by the tribe Clay left, his hand–and heart–are forced, leading to one very private and one very public reckoning. [back cover]

Once again Frantz has captured the tenor of the setting, and so skillfully planted her characters in that setting that it’s impossible to imagine them hailing from elsewhere.

Tessa Swan, born and bred on the western Virginia frontier with five brothers is tough and resilient as a willow branch, competent and caring, and weary of having to live always looking over her shoulder and yearning for a pretty petticoat.

ferrythreeKeenly aware of possible consequences meted out by the clash of cultures of settlers and Indians, she just sets to work daily whether on their farm or at the family’s ferry across the Buckhannon River. She doesn’t waste time dwelling on possibilities or losses, but uses wisdom gained through experience to make cautious choices.

Frantz draws Tessa ~ and indeed, all characters in this story ~ so intimately connected to their land and experiences, we feel we’re peering into the viewer of a time machine to meet these frontier folk and watch living history. The cast of characters is realistic and flawed, and so deftly drawn that even five brothers have clear, distinct personalities. For example, “Ross always dwelt on the light side,” while “Jasper was all pounds, and pence and position.”

229d6ff971a472bbe752b67bcac8916fWhen Colonel Tygart from the nearby fort meets the Swan family, we watch as interest and attraction spark and grow between him and Tessa. Readers will enjoy walking with them as the tension grows and we wonder ~ Will these two souls, fractured by loss, be able to see each other as anything other than a threat? Will their environment and culture give them opportunity to develop any sort of relationship? Life is hard out there. Crops, animals, gardens, friendships, dreams—so many things die early on the frontier.

 

Frantz builds her story world so well that readers feel the tentativeness of life on the edge of the wilderness. Everything but God must be held loosely. And when we hear a snap, we spin around to see who’s creeping up on us…though it be just a bit of wood in our own fireplace.

And Frantz’s delightful way with words gives everything in this story a fresh and new view—setting, people, dilemmas, decisions. I collected quite a list of favorites to send her. I’d like to share them with you, but that would rob you of the joy of seeing them light up the page as you read. Frantz has again given us a book that rings with truth, delights the sense, surprises with plot twists, and takes the reader on a journey that just might make you stay up reading later than you intended. Enjoy the journey.

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Kicking Fear to the Curb

Fear and I have had a relationship. More than a casual acquaintance.

But we’re going our separate ways! Hallelujah!

Why? “Courage is fear that calls on God.” *

You see, I don’t feel very courageous, never have. Always had an attack of nerves before reading a paper aloud in school. When I went to college, Speech 101 was recommended for first-semester freshman. I took a history course, then Spanish. I ended  up postponing Speech 101 until it was clear I had enough credits to graduate if I took it.

MOUNTAIN Old Rag KARL MKI may have acted courageously as a mom protecting my young son ~ but I never felt courageous. I dismissed those instances as a mother’s instinct acting without thinking.

And like many of us, I gritted my teeth and faced anxiety-provoking events like a job interview, first day at a new job, driving over a bridge on a mountain, moving to a new city, killing a spider. Some of these things one must face if they’re going to live a normal life. And even if I appeared put-together for a job interview ~ believe me, inside was a quivering chicken.

CASTLE - ARMORY entrance hallAnd, yes, there were occasions that, with a God-stiffened spine, I sailed into without anxiety ~ like leading a Bible Study class or spinal surgery (yeah, that’s real. LOL) Because we have a God whose armory is beyond comprehension.

A couple years ago I met Janet Thompson on-line. She impressed me and one of her projects intrigued me. She talked about bravery in everyday life. When I stopped to think of the battle that Christians are immersed in just by becoming Christians, and thought about the pitched battle raging in our culture, I realized one may be brave even if one isn’t asked to stand at the flag with a Bible, stand up in court, speak truth to the powerful like my friend Jill Stanek who testified to Congress again, or forced to kneel on a beach in Tripoli awaiting an ISIS sword.

EverydayBrave7-redJanet’s written a book, Everyday Brave, and I suspect I may find more incidents in my life that could require bravery. And I also suspect I’ll find encouragement and tools to use to exhibit bravery.

I’m so eager to read Everyday Brave! In the words sung by the Marvelettes, “Please, please Mister Postman, …the sooner the better.”

You can connect with Janet on Facebook. And the book at the publisher’s site here or your favorite bookseller.

*Janet Thompson, Everyday Brave