Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Trusting Grace by Maggie Brendan, 2017

Virtues and Vices of the Old West, Book 3

What a beautiful story! Maggie Brendan's novels are wholesome and real. This story becomes endearing and hopeful for a rescue from all burgeoning doubt and tragedy to a calm and trusting heart. Three children have remarkable engaging and giving ways when they could have chosen to reflect resentment and abandonment prominently. A young widow caring for her declining beloved Pop has the planting season ahead becoming far more than an expected harvest crop.

Enters a woe-worn man, bereft of hope, expectation, or care. He has left his community after the passing of his wife, traveling here and there to find work for a living sustenance. Deception has swallowed him or caused by a fear of nonacceptance enveloping plans or unintentional hurt that plagued him.

As sure as the sun rises and sets, so beautiful how lives are drawn together, unsuspectedly. The children nurturing in their nurture; the workman being relieved in his suffering; the dearest heart being fulfilled by His promises.

Owen Miller is a blessed man, renewed and inspired by care and trust. His daughter, Grace Bidwell, keeps confidence with him and he had wise counsel to offer ~ wait. Their hired hand, Robert Frasier, becomes more than he thought ~ becoming a close observer and following the silent encouragement given him, becomes closer to the children in their expression of love and surrounding hope. Tom, Becky, and Sarah enliven the story with their growing freedom to be who they are ~ beloved by many they meet.

She's a woman that requires little in life besides her books, cats, or long walks.

--Trusting Grace, 173.

Now, wouldn't you like to meet a woman like that! Stella Whitfield has the exact position running the boardinghouse.

I would like to stay here near this small Montana community and watch the children grow up and expand.

Grace gives wise advice herself. Will she be able to keep it unto herself?

You could try not focusing on the past, but look forward to what the future holds.

--Ibid., 262.

A warm story I would like to revisit. I am hoping Opal Sloan's story will be expanded one day! I would like to follow more of her life!

***Thank you, Maggie Brendan, for this delightful story, and to the publisher for sending me a print copy. This review was written in my own words. No other compensation was received.***

Trusting Grace is another example of the Christian Historical Fiction novels Maggie Brenden does so well! This is her wheelhouse as she does her due diligence knowing her setting and timeframe well. As a Christian writer, she incorporates those values, Bible verses, or concepts through her storyline and weaves them in a natural way. As with her other novels, there is plenty of romance and intrigue that keeps you coming back for more. Trusting Grace also tells the story of three motherless children that end up in the care of their previously unknown step-father that is flat broke. These children fall right into your heart as you learn more about them and their sad circumstances. This is a book that speaks about loneliness after a loss, having to learn to trust others again, holding firm to your faith, hard working principles, and understanding what constitutes a family. This book also involves a character facing a disability that demonstrates perseverance and motivation to move forward with living. I think readers looking for something more than a simple romance, will enjoy this multifaceted storyline.

"Grace Bidwell pushed her way through the busy mercantile store in the bustling town of Bozeman, certain that it would be the most beneficial place to post a HIRED HELP sign for everyone to see."

I love looking at the opening sentence of novels I read. I often times think back and wonder given that opening sentence is it enough to make me want to read further and how much thought do authors give in deciding how any novel will begin. For me, a serious lover of anything pertaining to the western romance genre, I absolutely LOVED, Trusting Grace by Maggie Brendan. This is the third novel in the Virtues and Vices of the Old West series, with The Trouble with Patience and A Sweet Misfortune leading the way.

Grace Bidwell is a young widow who is taking care of her father who has suffered what they believe might be a stroke, and tries valiantly to run the farm while he recovers. But Grace knows she will need help not knowing when her father might recover and she simply can't manage to run the house and get the potatoes in the ground to have a healthy harvest. She just hopes she can find a man suitable to help.

Robert Fraiser is trying his best to be a father to three young children he just learned are now his. After losing his wife, he realizes she never trusted him enough to let him know she had them. Now that his sister-in-law is done trying to care for them with four of her own, Robert struggles to find a job to help get them all at least into a suitable boarding house. But it may take awhile. The children, Tom, the oldest, Becky and Sarah know that they have been a burden to Robert and try and figure out a way to find money to get them off of sleeping wherever they can find room under the stars and living in a wagon, hunting off the land to provide any food for all of them. When Robert lands a job working for Grace, he doesn't tell her about the children, because he wants to provide for them on his own. Yet he doesn't realize that Grace has longed for children she believes she will never have since losing her husband and now caring for her father. Seems like they both have issues with trust that they will need to resolve if any of them have hopes for a better future.

I received Trusting Grace by Maggie Brendan compliments of Baker Publishing Group and Net Galley. I love that Grace is a strong and determine woman who believes she can manage on her own, yet cares so deeply for her family, friends and a delightful trio of young children she finds on the street in town. She truly has a beautiful spirit and self-esteem but it will take both her and Robert working on their own issues of trust from past marriages before they can ever hope to make something of the feelings developing for all of them including the children. My favorite has to be Sarah, whose child like faith in God is so pure and honest that she never fears God and his angels are watching out for them all. 5 out of 5 stars and now I have to go back and read the previous two novels in this series. This one can be read as a stand alone as I did, but believe that the characters you meet in this novel has their own stories to share in the previous novels in this series.

This book more than lived upto my expectations! It is my favorite I have to say of the Virtues and Vices of the Old West series. I loved the story of Grace and Robert, both widowed at a "young" age, a story of finding love and happiness again. It is also a story of Grace's father Owen, a widower himself also, battling a disease, but of finding love and companionship again with Stella who herself has never been married, and it is a story of 3 young children, Tom, Becky and Sarah, finding a home and someone to love them after their mother passes away, and you see the love developing between them and their stepfather and then Grace. The more I read the more eager I was to finish the book and did not want to put it down. I could see Maggie maybe in the future writing a new triology , with each book about the story of Tom, Becky and Sarah, finding love and a family of their own, with a flashback to maybe Robert and Grace's story, and Owen and Stella. ...and maybe of Opal, widowed at a young age, finding love again. There was excitement and drama in the book, from Grace's attack by a former beau, and Robert's rescue of her, from Sarah's near drowning, from Robert losing his farm, becoming a widower and a stepfather to 3 children he did not know existed, all at once, and then later having to make the choice if he should have the children stay with him or return back East with their aunt, etc. You also see Robert and his stepson forming a father /son relationship. I just really really enjoyed reading this book and highly recommend it. I did receive a complimentary copy from Maggie and her publisher for my review..and I would not hesitate to reread this book again, nor to recommend it to my family and friends and truly did enjoy it!

Great story-line with great characters and varied circumstances and responses. Enjoyed the read!