Love Finds You in Lonesome Prairie, Montana
Orphan trains, mail order brides, shootouts, circuit preachers, and gold mines are all part of our country’s “wild west” history. Tricia Goyer and Ocieanna Fleiss have teamed up to bring these topics to life in Love Finds You in Lonesome Prairie, Montana. Julia Cavanaugh traverses the country by train with her orphan charges making sure they are all placed in safe and loving homes. At the last stop, she expects to return back home to New York after seeing the last two girls placed in homes. Of course, if that happens too easily, we would not have a novel to read!
Circumstances quickly spiral out of control as Julia Cavanaugh realizes her benefactress promised her as a mail order bride! Will she be doomed to be a prospector’s wife? Will the circuit preacher and his family be able to help her? Will she ever find a place of belonging? Goyer and Fleiss weave an intriguing and humorous plot throughout Love Finds You in Lonesome Prairie, Montana.
I appreciate the depth of the characters in Love Finds You in Lonesome Prairie, Montana. They address some challenging heart issues and grow in their faith. Scripture and prayer are used to mold the characters. The historic threads are interesting without being overbearing, and the moderate romance is tasteful. A secondary plot line demonstrates the power of redemption and forgiveness. Fear and faith challenge the lead character, Parson Ike, and he must face the truth. I would have been interested to see a little more attention given to the process of the orphans and the orphan train experience. However, this potentially could have led to the novel being too long. I thought the authors’ sensitive and subtle presentation of adoption was appropriate and positive.
Summerside Press offers a series of Love Finds You novels from various authors. They all have historic perspectives in various locations, but are stand alone novels. Love Finds You in Lonesome Prairie, Montana is light reading with just enough history and food for thought mixed in! I believe this would be appropriate for high school students; but as always, parents should preview it to judge it by their family’s guidelines. It would also be great as a read aloud for families with older students, and is appropriate for gift giving.
About Sarah Andrews
Sarah Andrews is the Reviews Manager for Home Educating Family and is excited to bring readers the information they need to make wise decisions for their family. She is blessed with an incredibly patient husband and energetic young daughter. Sarah finds her interests incredibly ironic as she balances love of reading, chocolate, and coffee with her newer interests of nutrition and exercise. Since crafts make her hyperventilate, Sarah doubts she will ever be the perfect homeschool mom. You can find her random thoughts at choresandchatter.wordpress.com.
Last Updated: February 11, 2013
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Author Bio
Tricia Goyer is the author of twenty-six books including Beside Still Waters, The Swiss Courier, and the mommy memoir, Blue Like Play Dough. She won Historical Novel of the Year in 2005 and 2006 from ACFW, and was honored with the Writer of the Year award from Mt. Hermon Writer’s Conference in 2003. Tricia’s book Life Interrupted was a finalist for the Gold Medallion in 2005. In addition to her novels, Tricia writes non-fiction books and magazine articles for publications like MomSense and Thriving Family. Tricia is a regular speaker at conventions and conferences, and has been a workshop presenter at the MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) International Conventions. She and her family make their home in Little Rock, Arkansas, where they are part of the ministry of FamilyLife.Ocieanna Fleiss’s passion for writing grew out of two seeds. The first was when her third grade teacher instructed her to read a story she wrote in front of class. As the characters lost their pants, revealing all sorts of goofy underwear, the kids howled with laughter. (What greater comedic height is there for a third grader?) Ocieanna craved more. The second seed was planted when, as an adult, Ocieanna read The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas. This book actually challenged her to grow as a person and Christian. Other books have made similar impact, and Ocieanna decided to try her hand at harnessing the power of story to share the healing and life-giving power of the gospel–faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone.
Publisher Information
From the publisher’s website: Summerside Press has a mission to publish the best in inspirational reading. They pray that their inspirational romance, devotional, Christian living, and gift book titles will invite you to open your heart to something more than you’ve experienced before. Come along with us on an extraordinary journey! Summerside Press—inspired by love.