Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Trusting Grace by Maggie Brendan

Series: Virtues & Vices of the Old West # 3
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: Revell
Released: May 2, 2017
337 Pages
About the Book:
 
All of her life, Grace Bidwell has longed for a loving husband and children, but now the chances of her dreams coming true are looking slim. Widowed and caring for her elderly father, she struggles to maintain her late husband's ranch, until she places an ad for a hired hand.
 
Robert Frasier arrives in town with three pitiful, bedraggled children who have nothing but the tattered clothes on their backs and a load of hurt, pride, and anger. Believing this is divine intervention in her life, Grace welcomes them with open arms. As feelings grow between her and Robert, Grace will have to convince him that she is a woman who can be trusted with his heart.
 
Readers will be swept away into 1860s Montana's lush Gallatin Valley, nestled among towering mountains and proud pines, in this emotional conclusion to the Virtues and Vices of the Old West series.

My Rating & Thoughts:    🌟 ðŸŒŸ 🌟 ðŸŒŸ  (4 stars)

“You let the Lord lead and you’ll see that things always work out for the best.”

The relationships between the characters is what really makes this story. Grace is a strong hard-working woman, dedicated to running the farm and taking care of her ailing father. Robert has just lost his wife and farm, and now is the guardian of 3 kids he didn’t know she had. He has come to town looking for a job and finds an opening at Grace’s farm. Can Robert learn to trust another woman? You have a sense of how this book will end very early on, but wondering how they get there is what kept me invested and I was invested the rest of the way through. There are twists and turns throughout that make you wonder if Grace will endure heartbreak again and what will happen to the kids.

I loved the father-daughter interactions, Grace shared everything with her dad, (I couldn’t imagine ever telling my dad about a kiss), and Owen challenged Grace about her feelings. The love between the two shone throughout the story. Ginny, Grace’s best friend was entertaining, she gently pushed Grace out of her comfort zone (rut) trying to help enrich her life, not all goes smoothly with this though. I really enjoyed the interactions between Grace and the kids, she treated them sweetly right from the first meeting when she didn’t know who they were. As she spent more time with them she treated them as if they were her own. Each child had their own personality shine through. Grace’s life might not turn out the exact way that she planned, but is God’s plan better? Yes! There are definitely some swoon-worthy moments included.

A couple minor things bothered me about the story, one being I couldn’t figure out the ages of the girls, Becky & Sarah. The second being how Robert was able to find Grace so quickly after she disappeared, that seemed unrealistic.

This is book 3 in the series but I have not read the previous two and did not feel lost. The characters set a wonderful example of friendship, love and family.
 
(I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley; opinions expressed in this review are my honest opinion and completely my own.)

No comments:

Post a Comment