"A Noble Groom" by Jody Hedlund - A Writer's Review by Member Blogger Dawn Crandall

Jody Hedlund does it every single time.

She impresses me. Yes, Dawn Crandall, the virtually un-impressible. And yet she does it... every single time.

With that said, she doesn’t have nearly enough books out! This is only her fourth published novel (with Bethany House), and in my opinion, there aren’t too many authors out there who write half so well.

Also, before I start in on what I loved SO MUCH about the inside of this book, I have to add that A Noble Groom has THE BEST COVER EVER. I don’t often like covers with the hero of the book pictured, especially without the heroine involved at all! But this one went so well with the blurb about the book. Everything about it was perfect: the farm, the wind, the clouds, the suit, the cravat, the colors, the look on his face... everything about it matched everything inside the book to perfection.

I really don’t know how exactly Jody makes reading about two mismatched people working on a farm in the middle of nowhere Michigan in 1880/1881—speaking German (hypothetically) to one another no less—so enthralling. But like I said, she does it every time, no matter what she’s writing about.
 
You know, on second thought, maybe I do know what it is. It’s her characters. Their emotions are so true, their thoughts so amazingly accurate. The situations they find themselves in... so complexly and perfectly orchestrated.

Both Annalisa Werner and Carl von Reichart have so much to learn throughout the pages of this book; about themselves and about each other, as well as about life in general. Although they’re both German immigrants from an area called Saxony, they are from extreme opposite worlds. Annalisa is the widow of a mean-hearted peasant farmer who’s family had relocated to America six years before because of the severe work conditions in Saxony... and Carl, the wrongly-accused fugitive, who happens to (secretly) be the son of the over-bearing Baron who caused the death of Annalisa’s older brother which resulted in her entire family immigrating to America in the first place.

Talk about complex! Although I did begin reading this book the first moment I had it in my grasp (and after, literally, stalking my mailman everyday waiting for it to arrive!), I did not end up reading it quickly. Partly because I simply didn't want it to end and partly because there were so many points in the book that I just had to stop reading so I could digest what all was (or at times, what wasn’t!) going on within and between these two characters. There were also all of the times when I felt that all was lost, and I had no idea how Carl and Annalisa were ever going to end up together by the end of the book....

Sigh.

Then I finally read the last twenty percent as quickly as possible because I couldn’t stand not to any longer.

And then I sighed again, and again, and again. (Haha, that’s especially for Jody and anyone else who might have read the book already).

Now every time I see the cover of the book pictured anywhere, I simply sigh and say, “Oh, yes... that book. That wonderful book.”
 
I blessedly received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, and I give Jody Hedlund’s A Noble Groom 5 (million) stars. 

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Jody Hedlund is the bestselling author of The Doctor’s Lady and The Preacher’s Bride. She won the 2011 Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award, the 2011 Award of Excellence from the Colorado Romance Writers and was a finalist for Best Debut Novel in the 2011 ACFW Carol Awards. Currently she makes her home in central Michigan, with her husband and five busy children. She loves hearing from readers on Facebook and on her blog.  

Find out more about Jody at http://jodyhedlund.com/.

To read specifically about her tips on writing these enthralling characters of hers, click here. 

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Read all of Jody’s amazing and BEAUTIFUL books! I promise, you won’t be disappointed. 

 
 

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Dawn Crandall writes long inspirational historical and contemporary romantic suspense from first person point of view and is represented by Joyce Hart of Hartline Literary Agency. All three of her manuscripts have made it to the semi-final round of the ACFW Genesis Contest. She has a BA in Christian Education from Taylor University and lives in northeast Indiana with her ever-supportive husband, Jonathan, and her two cats, Lilly and Pumpkin. 

Visit Dawn’s author page at www.DawnCrandall.blogspot.com, or her facebook author page at www.facebook.com/DawnCrandallWritesFirst.  She also hosts a book review blog at www.apassionforpages.blogspot.com and tweets those reviews at @dawnwritesfirst.

A Writer's Review of Siri Mitchell's 'The Messenger' ~~ by member blogger Dawn Crandall

I spent every spare moment of the last few days reading this book until it was finished. This was such a good book! At first I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it, but the two characters quickly changed my mind and just kept drawing me in further and further. They were both so... different.

Hannah Sunderland was so quaint saying her “thee’s” instead of “you’s” and so darn unabashedly straight-forward! I could really tell at the beginning of the book she was a little lost, caught right smack dab in the middle-ground of “having no side” in the Revolutionary War since she was raised as a Quaker. I could also tell when she went from just being what any Quaker maiden was “supposed” be... to living with her her own convictions, but all the while staying just as true to herself as she did to everyone else. 

And the hero, Jeremiah Jones... wow. He really had a ways to grow on me... which he did. Just as he slowly grew on Hannah. The love that slowly grew between them was just plain adorable. There weren't a ton of physical descriptions, or even much description at all since the book was written from first person point of view and the reader is really only able to see what a particular character would be noticing.

And not a single (real) kiss in the whole thing!?! There were lots of “displays of affection" that only went as far as hugging (with one arm... so sweet!) and kisses on hair... And all this coming from a writer/reader (me, that is) who is madly obsessed with the romantic passion portrayed in all of Julie Lessman’s books! But oh, did this book have passion! It was tied up in their love and in their beliefs and their duty to do what they could... no matter the cost. And it was just so subtle and reserved... so like Hannah and Jeremiah themselves. Which, as it turns out, was a very interesting twist, since Hannah and Jeremiah were polar opposite in every way possible besides this very important aspect.    

Siri Mitchell is an amazing writer. She does first person so well! But so differently than others may write it. Since I also write from first person point of view, I have a particular love-affair with it... especially when I see it so well done... the way Siri Mitchell always writes it. The Messenger was even half written from the hero’s perspective... which I don’t see often done. And I ended up loving it... a lot.

This, put quite plainly, is one of the best books I’ve read in a very long time.

My FAVORITE part of the book was one sentence in the second to last scene, on the second to last page. I'm not going to tell you what it is because I want it to perhaps hit you as it did me. Square in the chest. All I will tell you is that I think I'll probably be carrying around that one moment from this book for the rest of my life.      

Bethany House Publishers provided me with a paperback copy of this book to review in exchange for my honest opinion. I give Siri Mitchell’s The Messenger 5 (bright and shining) stars.

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Dawn Crandall writes long inspirational historical romantic suspense from first person point of view and is represented by Joyce Hart of Hartline Literary Agency. She has written two books which are on submission as part of a series, and is working on the third. Soon after finishing her first book and becoming a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) in July 2011 she attended the ACFW national conference where she gained literary representation and soon-after became a 2012 ACFW Genesis Contest Semi-Finalist. She has a BA in Christian Education from Taylor University, writes full-time and lives in northeast Indiana with her ever-supportive engineer husband, Jonathan, and their two cats, Lilly and Pumpkin. Dawn co-hosts a book review blog called A Passion for Pages at apassionforpages.blogspot.com and tweets those reviews at @dawnwritesfirst. To find out more about her, visit her author webpage at dawncrandall.blogspot.com or her Facebook author page: facebook.com/DawnCrandallWritesFirst.

A Writer's Review of Lynn Austin's 'Wonderland Creek' ~~ by member blogger Dawn Crandall

I checked Wonderland Creek out through my local library last week--onto my kindle. I’ve read one other book by Lynn Austin—the only other one I knew to be written in first person point of view, A Proper Pursuit. And perhaps over the years I started to wonder if she’d only written that one book in first person just to see if she could do it well (which she did—an amazing job, in fact!), and stopped looking after so long. 

Well, somehow in the last month or so I found out about her book Wonderland Creek, which came out last year. It wasn’t one I needed to read to review on A Passion For Pages... but one of those books that I just simply wanted to make time for. And I am so glad I did!

Alice Ripley is an adorable protagonist who has everything she ever wanted within hand’s reach... a steady, safe boyfriend, a job at the local library... and all the books in the world to read... and the time to read them. Only she loses her boyfriend and her job in the same day, and suddenly realizes that without them her “real” life had become rather boring...  and that she’d been doing most of her living through the pages of her favorite books.

Alice finds herself deserted in Acorn, KY—dropped off by her eccentric aunt and uncle—to deliver the boxes of books she’d been collecting for the start-up library ran by Miss Leslie McDougal. Only Leslie McDougal isn’t a miss, but a very scruffy young man who (of course) goes by the name Mack... and who is much more than he first seems.

I really liked the whole aspect of Alice being lost in Wonderland—only to find that she wasn’t really lost at all, but constantly finding herself and a real living faith in God past the Sunday School verses she’d had memorized. There was also a very sweet romance involved in the book—however the main story was about Alice learning that life wasn’t all about her and her books.

I give Lynn Austin's Wonderland Creek 5 Stars.

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Dawn Crandall writes long inspirational historical romantic suspense from first person point of view and is represented by Joyce Hart of Hartline Literary Agency. She has written two books which are on submission as part of a series, and is working on the third. Soon after finishing her first book and becoming a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) in July 2011 she attended the ACFW national conference where she gained literary representation and soon-after became a 2012 ACFW Genesis Contest Semi-Finalist. She has a BA in Christian Education from Taylor University, writes full-time and lives in northeast Indiana with her ever-supportive engineer husband, Jonathan, and their two cats, Lilly and Pumpkin. Dawn co-hosts a book review blog called A Passion for Pages at apassionforpages.blogspot.com and tweets those reviews at @dawnwritesfirst. To find out more about her, visit her author webpage at dawncrandall.blogspot.com or her Facebook author page: facebook.com/DawnCrandallWritesFirst.

A Writer's Review of Elizabeth Camden's 'The Rose of Winslow Street' by member blogger Dawn Crandall

It took me a while to get into Elizabeth Camden’s The Rose of Winslow Street, but boy am I glad I pushed through the first few chapters. I was a little put off by not knowing who to trust. Having immigrants from Romania stealing the heroine’s house on the first page was quite an interesting way to start a book. 

At first I didn’t like Michael Dobrescu... but I’ve come to realize that when an author is able to take me from not even liking a character to absolutely loving him throughout the book—those usually  end up being my favorite books! I adored getting to know Liberty Sawyer from page one and was very skeptical whether Michael could deserve her. 

And oh, don’t worry. He definitely did.
 

I love Elizabeth Camden’s writing style, and I loved this story. Nothing about it was normal. I thought it was interesting that we didn’t see any kissing from Libby’s POV—when those would have been her first kisses in her life at the age of twenty-eight. It was always, “He kissed her...” quickly executed, and simple.  

I loved Mirela’s thread throughout the story—we did see her POV twice. It often bothers me when an author will write strictly from hero and heroine... and then suddenly there’s someone else too. But I adored her character and was heart-broken for what she’d been through in her young life. She was a fighter, and one more reason I liked this book so much.

I give The Rose on Winslow Street 5 Stars. 

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Dawn Crandall writes long inspirational historical romantic suspense from first person point of view and is represented by Joyce Hart of Hartline Literary Agency. She has written two books which are on submission as part of a series, and is working on the third. Soon after finishing her first book and becoming a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) in July 2011 she attended the ACFW national conference where she gained literary representation and soon-after became a 2012 ACFW Genesis Contest Semi-Finalist. She has a BA in Christian Education from Taylor University, writes full-time and lives in northeast Indiana with her ever-supportive engineer husband, Jonathan, and their two cats, Lilly and Pumpkin. Dawn co-hosts a book review blog called A Passion for Pages at apassionforpages.blogspot.com and tweets those reviews at @dawnwritesfirst. To find out more about her, visit her author webpage at dawncrandall.blogspot.com or her Facebook author page: facebook.com/DawnCrandallWritesFirst.