Gravel Road Musings

  This has got to be one of the best books I've ready by Jane Kirkpatrick. I try to read as many of her books as I can as they come out because I enjoy the historical aspect of them. I learn about women I would never even have heard of without reading her books. This is the story of Mollie Sheehan and her husband's work among the Indians.  It starts out with her childhood. Her father had a definite grief disorder and couldn't bear to part with Mollie as she grew older. This led to some real struggles on Mollie's part, but I had to admire Mollie's respect of her father even though he was super stubborn and obstinate and unreasonable.  I also really enjoyed reading about positive Indian and white relations. So often we hear about the wars and the condescension toward the Indians, so this was very interesting to read about the positive interactions where they treated each other as equals and tried to embrace the American Indians with their culture rather than trying to...

  A treasure hunter's search for a missing Faberge egg.  Nick spent his life treasure hunting, all the while leaving behind his greatest treasures of all, his wife and daughter. Now he is on his death bed with one more treasure to pursue and he wants his estranged daughter to be the feet that he can't be anymore.  The story was an interesting dual timeline, flipping back and forth between early 1900s Russia and the present day search for the Faberge egg. There was some intrigue and suspense, but overall the book was not an over-the-top read for me.  I found some of the story line a little confusing at times, not quite making sense of how the events had played out. Perhaps if I reread it, it would make more sense.  But there was redemption and reconciliation and that is always a plus for me in any book.  "The value of an object comes from the one who sculpts it - the one who crafts it with care and skill and, who breathes creative life into it. The master cr...

  -All the wild ways to die could never compare to how she really lived.-  This is not my normal style of book--something with this title would have been passed over without much consideration, but the plot sounded interesting and so I read it and I'm so glad I did. Meet Clara Kip: an older lady dying of cancer at a hospice center, but she is bummed. She wanted to die in Sao Paulo, Brazil, not in Kansas City. Nevertheless, she is still full of life, even as her body threatens to give out on her.  Meet Aidyn Kelley: a young, aspiring journalist, who is a little full of herself and quite sure she is capable of more than she has been given to do. But she has been taken down a notch and is tasked with writing an obituary for an old lady, something that is below grunt work in her mind.  This book is their story. While the bulk of it comprises only a week, it is a story that will draw you in and keep you turning the pages. Mrs Kip dispenses so much wisdom in this week, wis...

  I just finished this book and I am not even sure how to begin processing what I read. I will read anything that Erin Bartels writes and this book is no exception, but it is raw. It is also triggering as it deals with rape and suicide so I would recommend caution if those subjects are hard for you. About halfway through reading, I flipped through to the back, because that's what I do when I get impatient to know what is going to happen, and I happened up the author's note. Erin, herself, had been molested as a girl of nine and this story is her journey to processing her own story. I don't know how much of the story is Erin's story, but for me the story changed at that point. It was no longer a good story, the depth, the emotion, the journey became much more real and alive at that point. While, I can't relate to the journey that Kendra needed to take, I was pulled into the story and my heart broke for Kendra and for all the Kendras out there who have suffered in sil...

  Set in the Appalachian Mountains, Cindy weaves a story together that leaves you turning the pages just wondering what is going to happen next. And she does leave you with a bit of a surprise ending. Generally, in books like this by the end of the first chapter, you know that this is going to have at least some for "and they lived happily ever after", and this book started that way, but it didn't end quite like I expected. Worie Dressar is left an orphan at 17 and over the next couple months, surprise after surprise waits for her. She is stubborn and hard-headed and a little selfish and so her job is to learn to let go and trust God. She has to learn to think a bit before she speaks. This isn't easy, but gradually she learns and makes changes. And, as it turns out, her heart is as big as her momma's was and she takes on her mother's legacy. One thing I can really learn from this book is generosity. I have seen this in other Appalachian stories as well. Worie...

  Written as a series of letters, Amy Lynn Green crafts an interesting story that has you rapidly turning the pages in a quest to find out what really happens. Enough information is shared in the letters and newspaper articles to get an idea of what is going on, but there is still enough left unsaid that has you reading between the lines and wondering what will happen in the end.  The book focuses on POW camps in the US with a side serving of Japanese internment camps. The letters are mostly between an American spitfire and a Japanese-American civilian who is teaching at a military school. Joanna, the American, is snarky and funny and has no idea about manners and etiquette. She says things like they are, which, as you can imagine, doesn't always endear her to the general public. Peter, the Japanese-American, tries to guide her correctly, but it also obvious he loves her despite her quirks.  "Sometimes showing grace breaks us before it heals us. Forgiveness can feel like ...

  Kim Vogel Sawyer has a talent for writing in a style that I love and always want more of. This book was no different and I read it in a matter of a couple of days. Of course, being on vacation certainly helped me be able to read it faster.  Fanny is an indentured servant on a river boat. Indentured servant is a nice term, basically she was a slave. She finds a chance to flee because she knows that her master is not going to give her her freedom when her time is up. I don't want to give a lot of spoilers, but there is, of course, the happy ending and the suspenseful moments before you reach the happy ending that keep you on the edge of your seat. But there's something I want to focus on and I hope I don't give away any spoilers in doing this. There is a point, towards the very end of the book, when Fanny's freedom is once again endangered and she is not sure she will remain a free person physically. It is at that point that she realizes something very profound. She rea...

  This historical fiction opened up a whole new area of history for me that I was very unaware of. I knew of the Indian schools that the white people had established and how awful it was for the Indians, how they were to give up their own culture to embrace the white man's way of life, but what I didn't know was that there was someone who was taken in by their singing and who set about to preserve it for generations to come. Enter Natalie Curtis. She hears one elderly Indian woman singing a song and she is transfixed and given a purpose that she pursues with intensity for the next couple of years. This purpose helps to restore the health and vigor that had been stolen from Natalie at the beginning of her music career. While historical fiction, Jane tried to stay as true to the story as she could. There really is a book called "The Indians' Book" edited by Natalie Curtis and filled with songs, legends, stories and more that tell of numerous Indian tribes at the tur...

  This is the second book I've read by Amanda Cox and it won't be the last, at least as long as she keeps writing books.  This is the story of the Old Depot Grocery store in Tennessee, well really it's the story of the three generations of ladies who worked at the Old Depot Grocery over the years. From Glory Ann who arrived at the store as a broken-hearted young bride to Rosemary who allowed guilt to keep her there through the years to Sarah who is trying to find what she wants in life and is sure it is at this grocery store, Amanda weaves a story of secrets, loss, reconciliation and hope all together into a highly readable story.  "I think that's how God works in our lives a lot of times. He doesn't give us the whole picture. He gives us that one stop. We just have to have the courage to take it and trust that when we do, it will become clear where to put our next foot. "  So often I want to know what the whole story will be and how it will all turn out a...

  This is the third book I have read by Valerie with her fourth sitting in my night stand. I will read any book she writes. I love her way of writing, the stories she pulls together from the south.  This book is set in Louisiana, deep in the bayou. Travel is mostly by boat and as I read the descriptions of going from one channel to the next, I was lost in the reading of it, and am sure I would have been hopelessly lost had I needed to travel that way. Alligators are prevalent with a legend about an all-white alligator for whom a bounty has been set.  Into this setting comes Ellie Fields. She's from a small town in Alabama and she is searching for home, a place to belong. She comes to teach school, falls in love, and lives the rest of her days there. And while that's a theme in the book, it doesn't feel as overarching as it can in some books. There is also the alligator bounty, there is an outgoing, gregarious man who becomes a dear friend of Ellie's, there is foul play ...

  Set in the Appalachian Mountains during the Great Depression, Ann takes us on another journey exploring what life could have been like for those living in the mountains, this time as a packhorse librarian. Times are hard during the Great Depression and Tansy's father has left home looking for work and has not been heard from. Tansy loves books and takes the job as a librarian so she can help support her family. In spite of the inclement weather she sometimes has to go out in, she loves her job.  There are a lot of varied characters in the book and you have to love each one of them. Perdita is persnickety and cranky on the surface, but opens her heart to Coralee who desperately needs her help. I would love to describe more of the characters, but I feel like I give away too much of the story to do that. I loved the community feel in this book, the way people looked out for each other, the way they opened their home and shared what little they had to help the next person. I thi...

  This book was in the genre of historical romance and it certainly lived up to that title. I liked the premise of the book--a wealthy girl accused of stealing and ending up in a reformatory which helped to revolutionize her life. Rachel did some research on reformatories of that era and found that they were kind of a prelude to juvenile detention facilities. Then there was the quiet, socially inept dentist who was transformed. Rachel wanted to paint a dentist in a good light since she felt that so many dentists were given more of a negative connotation.  The writing was well done and the story line interesting. I thought Rachel did a good job of showing forgiveness and reconciliation, including the importance of being able to forgive one's self for their wrong actions. After spending five years in a reformatory with women from all walks of life, Hazel has a much deeper heart for "fallen women" as they were called in that day.  Over all, the story flowed almost too smooth...

  Miriam, Moses and Aaron's sister. How much more than that do we really know about her? There are few references here and there: she led the singing after crossing the Red Sea, she was made a leper for a couple weeks for complaining about Moses, and not much more info than that is given. Jill takes this information and ad libs a story about Miriam, gives her a husband, children, and a life. Interspersed throughout are glimpses into Moses' life and also Zipporah's. Most is based on fiction and what Jill supposed to have happened.  I'm not a huge fan of Biblical fiction, but Jill does tell a good story and so I keep reading her books. I'm not sure what I'll do when the next book comes out though. While I enjoyed the story of Miriam, it took me awhile to get through it. That is no fault of the author's, it is simply not quite my genre of choice. I do like one thing Jill said in the "Note to the Reader" at the end of the book. "The thing this sto...

  Finding books that are about real life and not some dreamy paradise that hardly seems real to life can be a challenge. There is also that desire to have the imaginary world end well because we all know that life isn't imaginary and doesn't always have neat, tidy endings. So I like both kinds of books. Facing the Dawn by Cynthia Ruchti combines both. It's written in a snarky way that can almost feel contrived, like can any one person really talk that way that much, and yet, it helps to override the deep and almost dark material that the book is made up of.  Mara has lived up to her name: bitter. Her husband, Liam, has taken off for Africa for four years, leaving her to raise two teenagers and a pre-teen and it has not gone well. In the first chapter of the book, we learn that her son has visits with a probation officer and the she just doesn't seem to be handling life real well. It only goes downhill from there.  When the unthinkable happens, Mara is unsure how she is ...

  Laura Callaway is an orphan that was sent to live in Cornwall. Here she finds the culture and people different from what she was used to and she struggles to fit in and feel accepted.  She makes a hobby of looking for flotsam and jetsam along the shores where shipwrecks are quite common. I found the definitions of flotsam and jetsam interesting. Flotsam  is goods floating on the sea where a ship sunk and jetsam is anything that was purposely cast out of the ship in hopes of saving the ship. She tried to find the owners of the things she found if it was at all possible.  And one night she rescues a man who struggled to shore after a ship wrecked on rocks. But who is this man and is he really who he says is and can he be trusted? For the answers to that, you will have to read the book. This book, while classified as historical fiction, is mostly fictional, but yet loosely based on things that could have happened in that era of time. Tom Parsons, a wrecker, was a real...

  Based on a real character, The Moonlight School, tells in story form some of the work of Cora Wilson Stewart, the first female superintendent of schools in Kentucky. Cora was instrumental in starting Moonlight Schools that enabled adults in the Appalachian Mountains to come to school in the evenings and learn to read and write and do basic math. A lot of the supporting characters in this book are fiction, though some are based on facts and experiences. Lucy is the cousin of Cora who lives in the city, but is in the background and scared of her own shadow. She comes to Rowan County to work as Cora's stenographer and is horrified at the idea of getting on a horse and heading up into the hills and hollers of the county. But as you read the book, you can watch her gain confidence and skill and find her purpose in life.  The strength and fortitude of the mountain people is something we could all do with today. Life was hard for them, people could take advantage of them because of...

  Labeled as a historical romance this debut novel from Jennifer Deibel is so much more than that. I cringe a little to myself when I see that genre on the back of a novel I'm reading because it makes me feel like so much fluff and that people probably think I have no depth to me. Yes, there are times when I want to read a fluffy novel so I don't have to think or process anything, but this book has some good themes running through it.  "Smack in the middle of what God is askin' is the best place for any of us to be. I know you want what's best for the lass, but I think yer confusin' the idea of best with the idea of safe." Where do I start here? I want to be in God's will, but I want to be there and be safe both. This morning I was reading about the courage of Apostle Paul. He was warned about the dangers that were going to face him in Jerusalem and yet he was firmly persuaded that that was where God wanted him to go and he courageously set his face to...

  The third book in The Sugar Baron's Daughters, Selah wraps up the story of the three sisters while still leaving a lot of loose ends. While the story of the sisters is somewhat neatly tied up on a bow, there is still the questions of how did they survive the Revolutionary War while living in the West Indies, did they succeed in convincing more plantation owners to free their slaves, did August Shubert meet his match, and more. I went into this book just wanting to finish the series and know what happened to the sisters--mostly who did Selah marry, but I feel like this book was more than that. Selah is young, but she has matured a lot in the three years of living on the Nevis Island. She has a heart of compassion and is constantly pushing her sister and brother-in-law out of their comfort zones as they try to protect her from one scrape after another.  Jedidiah is the Methodist minister who felt God calling him to the West Indies to work with slaves. He makes his home on the ...

  I will read any book that Erin Bartels writes; I have enjoyed everyone of them.  Two sisters, estranged for a decade decide to go hiking in the Porcupine Mountains. One sister is hoping for reconciliation, one is simply trying to get the other one to stop bugging her. One is a micro-manager, bossy big sister, one is just trying to gain approval and have a good time. One believes in nothing and one believes in everything. How is this hike going to go? And all-encompassing is the question, what happened ten years ago that cause the estrangement between the sisters? I'm not going to tell you the answer to that question. In fact, I'm not going to tell you much more about the book, except this--it all went wrong. The hike was a disaster and the looming question is: if there is a God why did He let everything go wrong? And yet? There is an answer to that question by the end of the book-a life-saving answer. How do I describe the book? I think it was life-changing for each sister a...

  Let me start by saying I like Jane Kirkpatrick as an author. I have read a few of her books and would love to read a lot more. I like how she researches and throws so many facts into her stories. It feels like a fun way to read about history.  However, because of the research that she does and the way she sticks to facts in her stories, I just couldn't get into this story at all. If it wasn't that I was doing it for a reading challenge and also needed to write a review on it, it would have been hard to keep picking up the book.  The book is written about Abigail Scott Duniway who spends her life working to advance women's rights. She works desperately to see Oregon allow women to vote in elections. She is an energetic, go-getter who has multiple irons in the fire and can barely keep up with the demand. She is outspoken and forthright and says what needs to be said without a lot of tact.  Because of her outside focus, Abigail misses so much of her family life. She h...