The Frontiersman's Daughter Book Review

Available August 2009 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group...

The Frontiersman's Daughter
by Laura Frantz

Leal Click leads a life tucked away in the Kentucky wilderness, as a famed frontiersman's only daughter. Her father's ties to the Shawnee Indians, some secret and others not so secret, darken the only life she's ever known.

Confused by her father's disapproval of her childhood love and a Shawnee, would-be-suitor's attempts to woo her, Lael's father sends her away to an elegant finishing school. For reason's she can't understand, Lael suffers through more than five long years at the school until finally, due to unexpected circumstances and overwhelming loss, her chance comes to return to her beloved Kentucky home. Upon her return, she finds that her seemingly lost chance at love may not be so lost after all, but is not at all what she expects. What she learns about herself in her longing for love will prove to be grander than the beautiful view of her dear Kentucky wilderness.

This book was a hard one to put down. Even after reading the last page, the story stays with you. It draws you into a different place, where you can almost smell the perfume of wild roses drifting on a warm breeze.

Laura Frantz has created a set of characters, each unique and inspiring. Lael Click's determination and grit is what paved the way across long-ago, uncharted America.

I hope we will see much from this author in many books to come. A fantastic story and MUST READ for ANY fiction fan!

The Believer Book Review

Available August 2009 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group...

The Believer
by Ann H. Gabhart

Elizabeth Duncan and her two younger siblings are left desperately alone following the sudden death of their father. Left as a bookmark in the family Bible, a simple Shaker's seed packet guides them to new hope. After the advances of a dangerous and unwanted suitor, Elizabeth leads her young brother and sister secretly to the community of "Believers" who will turn away no one.

For Elizabeth, one Shaker stands out among the rest. Young Ethan is committed to his belief, having never harbored feelings of anything other than sisterly toward any female, he is unprepared for his immediate attraction to the young woman seeking shelter among his people.

Matrimony is sinful in the eyes of the Shakers and any feelings of attraction to the opposite gender are strongly rebuked. As Ethan struggles with his feelings toward Elizabeth, she strives to keep herself from being a stumbling block to his faith. But something draws them close at every turn.

Will Ethan hold fast to the rules that are proving so hard for him to release and learn what being a "Believer" really is?

This book gives a good look into the inner goings on of Shaker villages. The story is brought to life with the detail Ann Gabhart gives to her setting, characters, and storyline. A well written story that is sure to touch you with a sweet sense of finding the truth in God's Word.

Things Left Unspoken Book Review

Things Left Unspoken
by Eva Marie Everson

Lonely Jo-Lynn Hunter is searching for that something to fill the void in her life. As an interior designer, she begins to find comfort when the death of her beloved great-uncle Jim brings her home to the area surrounding small-town Cottonwood, Georgia.

Jo-Lynn accepts a project to restore the historic home that Uncle Jim shared with his wife, Stella. The "big house" was built more than a hundred years before and had been handed down through Stella's family.

Little by little, secrets begin to unravel the legacy Jo-Lynn believed she was restoring in her family's home, but the revelations she uncovers will change the lives of those she loves the most.

Things Left Unspoken holds a little bit of history, with travels back to 1930s Georgia. The twists in this book are amazingly unexpected, a little suspenseful, and quite realistic.

A recommended read for both historical and contemporary readers! The more I read of this book, the harder it was to put it down.