I found this book boring and very long. After reading the first half thoroughly I realised it wasn't going to get any better so I skim read to the end just to see if the ending improved things; it didn't. The book is advertised as Christian Historical Fiction, there is a half-hearted romance between two people that have both just become Christians having lived immoral lives in the past. They unrealistically fall for each other straight away before their characters even develop and before they have even had any conversations. There is therefore no chemistry between them and the match is not believable. The rest of the book reads like a western with gun battles, kidnappings and such like. It is violent with various murders (by throat slitting!) and an attempted rape.

At times it seems that the author is trying to use the book for evangelism as he details various people coming to faith. However, some of these fall short of true saving faith so if evangelism is the purpose the mark was missed. An example of this is where one character decides he is interested in Christianity but says that he has many sins and is not sure that he's sorry for all of them. The other Christian character basically tells him that it's okay and that he is the same. He then leads him in a "Sinners prayer." Clearly if the man is not sorry for his sins he has not understand the offence his sin is before a holy God. I realise this is fiction but these types of details are important to ensure the nature of true saving faith isn't misrepresented. It would be better not to include it than to get it wrong like this.

I wouldn't recommend this book to Christian readers due to the violent/sexual content and the confused messages about salvation.

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This is not just nother western book. This is not just another romance novel. This is much more than that. This book is a superb story of redemption, of trust in God, of forgiveness and reconciliation. All those ingredients and much more in this wonderful book.
The plot is simple but keep the reader turning pages. Michael Archer is our hero, that sometimes work as a prison minister and he promises to Ben Carstairs he would deliver a message and his dead mother's cross to his father when he was executed for a crime he claim he did not commited. After the execution, as a man of his word, Michael goes to Riverbend searching for Sam Carstairs, Ben's father. He is out of town in a business trip. While waiting, Michael meet Rachel Stone and fall in love with her, but both of them have obscure pasts and they think they are not worth the other's love. Sam is a grumpy man that blames Ben for his wife's dead, as she died giving birth to Ben. He is bitter and he manipulates the whole town where he lives. While on this business trip he is kidnapped for something he did also in his past and a search team is formed by the sheriff to search and rescue him. Michael makes part of this team. The story develops and all characters start looking to God for help and guidance.
This is a wonderful book, very well written and full of detailed description of each character and scenary, that makes us participate in the story, cheering for our favorite characters. This book is a must have book in the permanent library of any serious reader and lover of western's and christian's book.

This book was written by Henry McLaughlin. It was published by Tyndale Publisher House in January of 2011 and they were kind enough to send me a copy for reviewing through their blogger book review program.
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Journey to Riverbend has a good basis for what could have been a great book. McLaughlin has begun the process of creating characters that are interesting and that you could invest yourself in; however, they never developed into a character that you really wanted to know more about. This book felt very surface level, although it was full of mentions of the characters past it never went into enough details or how each character was coping only enough information was given to know about their background.
I do not usually read historical fiction, and this would have not been my first choice, this book left a lot of questions and never developed fully. The story follows Michael Archer on his quest to help a son apologize to his father and along the way he meets Rachel Stone, a girl relatively new to Riverbend and trying to move beyond her past. I struggled to really get into this book, the story seemed to leap between events happening within the characters life but never really focused on the people only what was happening around them, some of these events and violence that took place was a little to descriptive and was uncalled for.
Journey to Riverbend was an ok book, I would have liked the characters and plot line to be more developed and to really be able to sink into this story.

NCLA Review -This debut western novel is by a gifted writer who grabs the reader’s interest on the first page and keeps it until the end. The two main characters Michael Archer and Rachel Stone as well as the secondary character Ben Carstairs have all faced crises of faith and felt the need for forgiveness. Their lives exemplify that people always face the consequences of the choices they make whether bad or good. The love story between Rachel and Michael is interwoven in this western adventure as Michael and the townspeople search for Ben who has been kidnapped from a stagecoach. There is a good deal of violence, not gratuitous but integral to the realism of the story, and not detracting from the theme of Christian faith and forgiveness. Discussion questions are included at the conclusion. Rating: 4 —AL ( )

First off I would like to thank Tyndale House Publishers for giving me this book to read and review. It was a book that grabs you with alot of characters at the very beginning and alot of action going on. It kept and held my attention all the way through. And the thing that got my attention first off was the beautiful cover on the book. Good job!

Michael Archer is a man who has watched Ben Carstairs hang and is honoring his last request - to let his Father know he tried to do right and that he loved him. So when Michael sets out to find Sam Carstairs, the father, he has no idea what is in store for him. It is a journey that lasts the whole way through the book. When Michael arrives in the town of Riverbend he meets the "stunning" Rachel Stone, who has a past that won't leave her alone, even though she is trying to start fresh in this town. Her and Michael both have memories they would like to forget and they both have a faith in God to help them through tough times. When Sam Carstairs gets kidnapped before Michael has a chance to give him his message, Michael goes along with the posse to rescue him. The posse's journey is a long one and you get to know the sheriff and other men as you travel with them.

This was a book filled with action and danger but also with love and understanding. It was written with an honesty to it, where bad things will happen and not everything will turn out the way you might like it to. Good people die, bad people don't, and the man might not get the girl in the end. Life isn't easy even when someone turns their life over to God, but He does help them through the tough times. I liked how this author wrote, but the ending was a little vague. I am hoping he left it that way for a sequel. ( )