Faith

I liked how this book started; by giving you the preview of what the next 3 stories were going to be about. When the 3 sisters lose their pastor father, they all 3 set out to find the right man through being mail-order-brides. Faith is the first sister to leave and heads to Texas, where her well-to-do rancher, Nicholas Shepherd awaits her, along with his not-so-pleasant mother. Their wedding keeps getting postponed for different reasons, while Faith tries to get along with the Mom and learns to try and understand the quiet and sometimes moody, Nicholas.

There is much going on in this story and you will be cheering Faith on as she is determined to make her circumstances work. Her strong Christian background from her father will help her show more out when she wants to use her tongue for more than kindness. I enjoyed and appreciated watching both Nicholas and his Mom change and loved how the author brought this story to its conclusion. Looking forward to reading about how the other two sisters do in the next 2 books, "June" and "Hope".

In the back of the book "About the Author" it states: "When asked what one thing Lori would like others to know about her, she readily says, 'I'm not perfect, just forgiven by the grace of God.' Christianity to Lori means peace, joy, and the knowledge that she has a Friend, a Savior, who never leaves her side. Through her books, she hopes to share this wondrous assurance with others." I feel she did a great job of doing just that! show less

I just gave another one-star rating so you know what that means. It's review time.
I had seen this book around on Hoopla quite often and borrowed it while it was a bonus borrow. It started out decent but then went down from there.
I felt that the time period was completely wrong for this book. The protagonist seemed to think that she lived in today's society as opposed to sometime in the 1800s. She wore boys clothes and tried to do the tasks of a male.
Another thing that bugged me was that she was engaged. She lived under the same roof as her fiancé for weeks and they never get married until the very end. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this was a huge no-no back in the day.
And speaking of Nicholas, there was no way they could ever be a show more couple. They did not talk the whole book and when they did, he was acting as a father would (Nicholas is old enough to be her father by the way) by correcting Faith's behavior. And then suddenly Faith and Nicholas realized that they were IN LOVE. Nope. Not buying it.
Nicholas's mother drove me insane. There comes a point when someone has to stand up for themselves. This book basically had the message that God wants you to be a good Christian and lay down and take what others throw at you. Nicholas and Faith did whatever Liza asked, no matter how unreasonable. Nicholas is in his 30s and his mother still controls his life as if he were 10 years old. Nicholas rarely stood up for Faith when his mother was being a jerk to Faith. And someone please tell me when you can honestly threaten to tan the hide of grown adults. And then tell Liza the same answer.
I admire Faith for wanting to open a school for the blind, however, once a woman was married, she was expected to stay at home during this time period. I highly doubt everyone would have been fine with her starting up her own school.

I know this review is a bit of a jumbled mess, but so was the book.

1 Star show less

First sentence from prologue: "You're what?" The tip of Thalia Grayson's cane hit the floor with a whack.

First sentence from chapter one: "She's late." Liza Shepherd slipped a pinch of snuff into the corner of her mouth, then fanned herself with a scented hankie. Nicholas checked his pocket watch a fourth time, flipping it closed. Mother was right. His bride-to-be was late. Any other day the stage would be on time.

Premise/plot: Faith (and her sisters Hope and June) respond to advertisements for mail order brides. Faith, our heroine, agrees to marry Nicholas Shepherd a rancher from Deliverance, Texas, who lives with his mother, Liza. She comes with ideas: she'll wear overalls and essentially fulfill her role as a helpmeet by being a show more ranch hand. His mother, Liza, can surely keep on keeping house. Nicholas has ideas of his own: his wife will be feminine, respectful, kind, nurturing, sweet. Not brash (in-your-face), argumentative, and unreasonable. These two clash from the start. Make that these THREE clash from the start. Liza is gruff, grizzly, mean-tempered. Faith is uppity, entitled, unreasonable. (I *hate, hate, hate* to use that word. But in this case I think it fits.) Nicholas is, well, insensitive and logical. (Is logical the best fit? No. Probably not. He is realistic and has common sense and knows what's what.) Faith, meanwhile, seems to have little to no decorum, no respect for the way things are, or common sense.

The wedding doesn't happen for various reasons. Days go by. Weeks go by. Still no moving forward--though she's living in their house--with the wedding. Then it's time for him to go on a cattle drive. Liza makes no hesitation to throw Faith out when she's having one of her ultimatum tantrums. (To be fair, Liza seems just as likely to have a tantrum without a moment's notice.) Nicholas returns to find "his" bride living with another family and spending most of her days (though not her nights) with a widower and his family. He refuses to talk to her believing her to be courted by this widower.

Will these two ever get together?

My thoughts: This was a 'bonus borrow' at my library. I listened on audio; it was narrated by Holly Adams.

Am I a fan of the narrator? NO. No. A thousand times no. I found her pretending to be male voices tortuously painful. Until she started narrating a three year old child, then I learned what true torture was. Her narration of Faith was not pleasant--my impression of Faith's attitude might have been influenced by the narrator's tone of voice. But it wasn't awful. Liza's voice was an impression of Thelma Harper (aka Mama from Mama's Family). Except Liza was never funny.

I will say this for Liza. She wasn't in the wrong all the time. I thought she had some good insights about Faith. I could see exactly why Liza found Faith so annoying and obnoxious. And for better or worse, I thought the way the town assumed the Shepherd family should donate EVERYTHING (in this case a church steeple but later a school for the blind because there is one blind child in town) to the town because they have money in the bank to be OBNOXIOUS and stupid.

Nicholas' view of Faith also seemed to make sense to me. Faith did some incredibly dim/stupid things. That being said, Nicholas could be insensitive and inconsiderate in how he handled situations.

Am I a fan of the romance? Do I think Nicholas and Faith suited one another? Honestly I'm conflicted. I think BOTH have a lot of raw edges that would need to be softened in order to be harmonious together. I think Faith is extremely immature and needs to calm down most of the time. If I got paid a dime for every time she cried, I would have enough money to BUY a book--probably a hardback. It's a wonder that she's not in a constant state of dehydration the way she cries every single day. Nicholas has his own issues. I could see a few red flags if you are looking for perfection. I think he probably has a temper. I think he doesn't choose his words well. I think he speaks without thinking. I think even when he's technically in the right, the words and mannerisms he uses makes him wrong, or partly wrong. We see these two bicker and fight and fuss every time they are together....mostly. Yet the resolution that they are madly in love comes swiftly. Neither one particularly changes or adapts or compromises. Just suddenly they are IN LOVE. I think Nicholas and Faith have different love languages, have difficulty communicating, and both are prone to thinking themselves justified and right.

Am I a fan of the writing? the dialogue? the description? Not really. No. Particularly the dialogue and description. Though the descriptions are usually the worse of the two. Her scenarios can be....well....stupid. For example, HOW COULD ANYONE AND I MEAN ANYONE find it believable that Faith would intentionally SEEK REFUGE IN THE OUTHOUSE FOR HOURS (and have to be sought out by Nicholas) to avoid doing housework. Seriously. AN OUTHOUSE. Use your imagination or common sense. Does that seem likely? Or how about instead of a snowball fight, having a fight with SAWDUST and flinging it in each other's faces as a flirting technique. SAWDUST. This someone isn't Nicholas, by the way, but the widower. Nicholas sees his future wife slinging/flinging sawdust at another man, giggling and foolish, and says WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING? Those aren't his words. But he is not wrong. In this situation, his face is described as turning black as a witch's hat? maybe cap? It was an audio book and I was a little bit thrown by the description. (Do people's faces turn *black* in anger?) Not to be outdone, later Faith's LIPS turn BLUE while praying.

I typically enjoy marriage of convenience and/or mail order bride stories. I typically enjoy books set in Texas. I thought I would enjoy this one more than I did. But I am too much of an overthinker to accept that ANYONE would seek to hide out in an outhouse for hours just to avoid doing a chore--in this case darning socks. show less

This book is not very historically accurate, but I still enjoyed it for the most part. The main character, Faith, is far too tomboyish for her time. She sometimes wears overalls in public and no one thinks anything of it. Trust me, women did not wear overalls in the 1800s. I don't know why some historical fiction writers have such a hard time with this fact.

I like historical fiction, especially romance historical fiction. So I was pretty sure I would like this. I appreciated it even more when I discovered it was not only romance historical fiction, but also Christian. That is always a nice element to have. It gives me a boost for my own life. I appreciate the struggles the main character goes through and cheer for her throughout.

An ok romance. Faith is a mail order bride. Her future groom reacts coldly to her at first. Her mother-in-law to be - Liza is very crabby and treats her badly. It was a little preachy.

When their pastor father dies suddenly, leaving little money, three sisters realize that they need to take drastic action to survive. Each answers a newspaper ad soliciting Christian brides. Faith goes to Texas, where her intended, a well-to-do rancher named Nicholas Shepherd, seems to be having second thoughts. While her wedding is repeatedly postponed, Faith meets a local widower and decides to teach his blind son Braille. In time, Nicholas begins to realize that he may have lost Faith to another man.

Innuendo: Some kissing.

Violence: None

Swearing: None

Drinking, Drugs, Smoking: Nothing problematic (might be some smoking)

Age Appropriate: 15 and up.