Book Review: Tomorrow's Garden by Amanda Cabot

From the publisher's website:

As a seed awaits the spring sunshine, so one young woman hopes for a brighter tomorrow.

Harriet Kirk is certain that becoming the new schoolteacher in Ladreville, Texas, is just what she needs--a chance to put the past behind her and give her younger siblings a brighter tomorrow. What she didn't count on was the presence of handsome former Texas Ranger Lawrence Wood--or the way he affects her fragile heart. But can Harriet and Lawrence ever truly conquer the past in order to find happiness?

Book 3 in the Texas Dreams series, Tomorrow's Garden is a powerful story of overcoming the odds and grabbing hold of happiness.

My thoughts on the book:

I enjoyed this book, although I liked the second book in the series (Scattered Petals) better. It was fun reading about what happened to the characters that I read about in the previous book.

I'm not sure why, but it took me a while to finish this one. I don't think it was because it was boring, but I did notice that the author used too many "big words" in this particular novel, something I didn't notice in the second book. They were not words I hadn't heard before (except for the word "megrims"), but it made the tone of the book a little different and caused me to stop reading when I saw one and interrupted the flow of the plot. A few examples of these words are: peregrinations, prognosticative, and "a Gallic shrug" (I'm still not sure what that means).

Aside from that, I thought Mrs. Cabot wrote an interesting plot and tied up the stories of these Texans well. I'm kind of sad that there won't be any more books in this series.

I give Tomorrow's Garden 3 1/2 out of 5 stars. 

“Available April 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”

(I received this book from Revell for review purposes. I received no monetary compensation for this review. All opinions expressed are completely my own.)

Amanda Cabot is an accomplished author under various pen names and a popular speaker. The author of Paper Roses and Scattered Petals, she is also a charter member of Romance Writers of America, the co-founder of its New Jersey chapter, a member of the ACFW, and an avid traveler. She lives in Wyoming.

WWW Wednesdays

WWW Wednesdays is a meme from Should Be Reading, where we answer three questions: What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? and What do you think you'll read next? If you want to participate, answer the three questions, then put your link on the Should Be Reading Blog in the comment section. Happy reading!

                                                                                    

What I am currently reading: The Walk by Richard Paul Evans - Like I said last week, I need to read this book before I can read Mr. Evans' newest one, Miles To Go. Then I will review them both.

What I recently finished reading: Tomorrow's Garden by Amanda Cabot - I liked Mrs. Cabot's last book in the Texas Dreams trilogy, but not as much as the second one. Review to come tomorrow.

What I'll probably read next: The Priest's Graveyard by Ted Dekker - I have been waiting for this book for a while. Ted Dekker is one of my favorite fiction authors. Even though he is a bit macabre at times, he clearly illustrates the stark contrast of good vs. evil. 

Book Review: The Promise of Morning by Ann Shorey (Blog Tour)

"Ellie Craig brushed the last leaf from the surface of a granite marker embedded in the soft earth. 'There, Lizzie.' She crooned her daughter's name. 'Isn't that better?'"

So begins the first chapter of The Promise of Morning by Ann Shorey. The year is 1846 and Ellie and Matthew Craig have lost three of their eight children. The Craigs live on the Illinois frontier where life is, at times, almost unbearable. The Craigs face many trials, including death, betrayal, and threat of the loss of intimacy in their marriage. As Ellie attempts to cope with these and other personal heartaches, Matthew struggles with problems in the church that he ministers to as well as a long ago broken relationship with his father.

As I read this book, I kept thinking "What terrible thing is going to happen to them next?" It was a very sad book that left me somewhat depressed. I couldn't bring myself to like any of the characters. They all were so self-absorbed and had negative attitudes throughout the book. I know that life on the homestead in the 1840's was no piece of cake, but in reading this book one would get the impression that there was no joy at all in people's lives at that time. Especially since most of the main characters were Christians, I was disappointed to see them being so ungrateful, fearful, and hopeless. I'm not saying that Christians never act this way, but I saw no joy of the Lord in these characters until the very end of the book, where everything "miraculously" got all better and everyone "lived happily ever after." The book lacks credibility.

I hope I'm not sounding too harsh, but I think this book could have been so much better.

The Promise of Morning by Ann Shorey is the second book in the At Home in Beldon Grove series. The first book in the series was The Edge of Light, which was published in January of 2009.

Ann Shorey is the author of The Edge of Light and has published selections in the Cup of Comfort series and in Chicken Soup for the Grandma's Soul.

“Available March 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”


For more information, visit http://www.revellbooks.com/.


(If you like novels set this time period, I recommend Scattered Petals by Amanda Cabot, which I reviewed last week. Or perhaps you would enjoy books by Deeanne Gist or Tracie Peterson, two of my favorite Christian Historical Fiction writers.)

(I received a complementary copy of this book from Revell for the purposes of this review. I received no monetary compensation. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.)