The Healing is Gentle and Believable - A Review of Rescuing Her Heart by Cindy Ervin Huff

Rescuing Her Heart is a western, an historical romance, and addresses themes of women’s fiction all rolled up in one. I’ll be honest, when I started reading, I made some presumptions about how the story was going to go, (because I can’t help myself—just ask anyone who watches a movie with me). I figured I had it pretty well pegged. But that was most definitely not the case. In Cindy Huff’s story, she layers plenty of upsets and surprises. There’s adventure and a variety of characters that add richness to the story. But what I liked most about it was the gentle, believable way the author brings about healing to the heroine, Delilah James. She has been through unimaginable hardship and abuse, and I wouldn’t have believed it could end well if the author rushed the process. But Delilah’s healing doesn’t come fast and easy when the hero Jed Holt comes along. Her trust in him and in others has to be very well-earned. The author does a good job of working the characters through the process slowly and realistically. If you like a good western that has bad guys and shoot outs, if you like an historical romance about mail-order brides but not in the typical sense, and if you like a story that feels like the healing is real and that will take you to unexpected places, then you’ll enjoy Rescuing Her Heart.

This Story is Gold--A Review of "The Gold in These Hills" by Joanne Bischof

I have yet to be anything but impassioned by a Bischof read, and that’s a fact. I wasn’t sure what to expect in The Gold in These Hills, because it was a split-time novel, the first I’ve read like that from Ms. Bischof. 

But as usual, the story pulled me right in, in equal parts, historical and present day. I was surprised at the way the present-day story turned out, yet pleasantly so, and I loved that the two parts didn’t mirror each other in the romance department. They stood alone, and yet were intricate to one another. This was the first I learned about the practice of salting gold mines. I’d heard the term before, but never knew what it meant. A really, really excellent read! Five+ stars! Thanks to NetGalley for a download of the book.

One Step Ahead of Danger--a Review of "A Picture of Hope" by Liz Tolsma

One step ahead of danger! That’s were Liz Tolsma keeps readers moving in her novel A Picture of Hope. 

This was my first Tolsma novel, and it did not disappoint. With Nazis around every corner, hunting down children deemed unworthy, as well as other innocents, this story had many breathless moments interspersed with gentle, introspective ones. Some of the historical events mentioned were hard to read for their total evil, yet importantly included. At times, during this story of resistance, I wanted to shake the impetuous heroine, yet it was her very nature that allowed her the bravery to act when necessary, and to come to the rescue of many other characters, children and elderly alike. I liked the hero, Jean-Paul, for his intelligence and fearlessness, and I thought the relationship with his father especially enriching to the tale. If you enjoy WWII fiction, be sure and add A Picture of Hope to your reading list.