A little bit about what you'll find reviewed here

A little bit about what you'll find reviewed on this blog: I believe the best books involve characters you wish you could read more about long after the book is finished. Recently, I've been searching for hidden gems from the past. I read mostly fiction, and I'm a bit of a prude. I don't normally enjoy books with sex or excessive language.

Who I am:
I raised two wonderful girls, and I'm super proud of them. I enjoy reading (of course), sewing, cross stitching, photography and writing. I live in the high desert portion of Washington (which I didn't know existed until my husband and I decided to move here) and have really enjoyed my time out here. I am excited to see what God has next in store for my life!

Saturday, September 24, 2016

The Tender Years (Prairie Legacy #1) - Janette Oke

Let me start off by admitting that I don't read Janette Oke very often.  My exposure has been reading Love Comes Softly, When Calls the Heart (many, MANY years ago), and watching some of the Love Comes Softly series movies on Hallmark channel.  After saying that, I have to admit the prologue of this book had me feeling a bit overwhelmed.

I have no idea how many characters from how many series were talked about, but I felt like my head was going to explode halfway through the prologue.  Eventually, I got to the information I needed: Virginia is Marty and Clark's granddaughter.

She's 13 and dealing with all the trouble that brings.  She wants to be friends with Jenny, but Jenny is a troublemaker and Virginia feels like she's more along for the ride than getting to be a real friend.  Jenny's had it rough, but she's pretty harsh on Virginia.  Her parent's solution?  Invite the girl over and pray for her.

When an accident occurs, it splits the two girls apart.  Jenny's been injured and rumors are spreading around town about what really happened down at the river.  Virginia's mother continues to reach out to Jenny, while Virginia starts to feel jealous of the attention the girl gets.

This was a decent book, but I couldn't help but wish poor Virginia would get a little more help from her folks.  They're more than willing to look for why others act the way they do (Jenny, the Crells) but when Virginia has issues, they just punish her without getting to the root of the problem.

This covers about two years of Virginia's life.  Virginia then gets some time to grow up before her story continues in A Searching Heart, A Quiet Strength and then the series finishes out with Like Gold Refined.  This is Oke's style, developing characters over multiple books.  It wasn't bad, just not my style.


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