What Once Was Lost - Kim Vogel Sawyer

This book doesn't seem to belong to any particular series, but it does have a prequel, The Grace That Leads Us Home.  It also has an "extra" which takes place after the novel.  The extra is called Just As I Am.

Christina runs the poor farm, but when a fire breaks out in the kitchen, her ability to run the farm is questioned.  Since she's a single female, the charity that supports the poor house wants to take it from her, and the fire gives them the perfect excuse.  Not only does Christina find temporary shelter for all her tenants, but she's also trying to save her way of life.

Christina easily finds a home for everyone but Tommy.  He's a blind boy and no one wants to take him on.  Her last chance is the reclusive lumber mill owner, Levi.  He doesn't want the boy either but ends up with him anyway.  Levi also doesn't want to become attached to the boy, but he can't help it.  He teaches Tommy to be independent and earns his trust.

We have a few different things going on here.  We have Christina and Levi's story, then we read from Tommy's point of view about how he feels about certain things and instances where he's threatened.  There's also parts of the story from Cora's point of view.  She's someone from the poor house who's staying with Christina in town.  No one at the poor house knows Cora's in the family way, but she won't be able to hide it forever.

This was a pretty good story, and it is a Christian romance.  There are stories that incorporate the spiritual message subtly, some that weave it seamlessly into the story in a natural way, and then there's the ones that bash you over the head with it.  This one bashes you on the head, with multiple characters giving sermons at different times.  That aspect of it doesn't bother me, it just didn't seem realistic.

The other thing was Levi's "poetic" moments at the end of the book.  Those seemed totally out of character with his personality thus far.  Another thing the author did touches on one of my pet peeves.  During the "proposal" scene, she refers to him as the "mill owner."  I never think about my husband as the "IT guy," so why would Christina be labeling the man she loves by his job?  Who does that?!  Every time I read that in a book, I cringe.

Anyway, this was a decent read.  The short stories are 50-60 pages and are $.99 each. With the characters mentioned, they seem to loosely connect to this novel, but I don't feel compelled to read them.  I just didn't like this one as much as some of the other things I've read from Sawyer.