Love's First Bloom
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Delia Parr, pen name for Mary Lechleidner, is the author of 10 historical novels and the winner of several awards, including the Laurel Wreath Award for Historical Romance and the Aspen Gold Award for Best Inspirational Book. She is a full-time high school teacher who spends her summer vacations writing and kayaking. The mother of three grown children, she lives in Collingswood, New Jersey.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Ruth Livingstone's life changes drastically the day her father puts a young child in her arms and sends her to a small village in New Jersey under an assumed name. There Ruth pretends to be a widow and quietly secludes herself until her father is acquitted of a crime. But with the emergence of the penny press, the imagination of the reading public is stirred, and her father's trial stands center stage. Asher Tripp is the brash newspaperman who determines that this case is the event he can use to redeem himself as a journalist. Ruth finds solace tending a garden along the banks of the Toms River--a place where she can find a measure of peace in the midst of the sorrow that continues to build. It is also here that Asher Tripp finds a temporary residence, all in an attempt to discover if the lovely creature known as Widow Malloy is truly Ruth Livingstone, the woman every newspaper has been looking for.
Love begins to slowly bloom...but is the affection they share strong enough to withstand the secrets that separate them?.......
If you would like to read the first chapter of Love's First Bloom, go HERE.
If you would like to read the first chapter of Love's First Bloom, go HERE.
Review
Set in the 1830's, Ruth Livingstone lives a not so quiet life. Her father a controversial minister at the time, helps young women who have turned to the life of prostitution get off the streets and begin a new start. Scandal breaks out when a young prostitute, one that the Minster was helping is found murdered. To protect the young woman’s illegitimate baby and his own daughter Ruth, he sends her and the baby away to live with an elderly couple. While Ruth’s father go’s on trail for murder, she will make the difficult journey into this new town and try and pretend she is a recent widow saved from the life of prostitution. Unable to share her true identity with anyone, she watches quietly the trail through the newspapers and catches the local gossip of her fathers assumed guilt. When the trail ends and her father is found innocent, Ruth can hardly wait to get home, find a family for Lily and begin her life again. But tragic events will change everything and force Ruth to remain in this place of lies and deceit. Only her identity cant be hidden for long, as the papers, town and a curious reporter are determined to find the whereabouts of the ministers daughter, Ruth will risk everything to protect the child with her and seek the love of a man she has no idea is looking for her.
Loves First Bloom had me from the first chapter.....around chapter five things slowed down and it became more of a slow developed love story, subtle but very realistic for the time and setting of the piece. While I enjoyed Jake and Ruth's friendship, the circumstances were rather odd and it was hard to connect to the whole situation. However, the ending was done very softly and left you with that good feeling that things would work out for the characters, overall well written and tenderly presented. I found this to be very mild for the usual christian fiction selections I would choose, I was hoping for a bit more scandal and grit concerning the murders and the actual "Fallen Angels" program, but the novel stayed very safe from any darker topics.
Rating
Suitable for most readers, but primarily I would recommend this to ones who enjoy Christian Fiction. Ruth is very open and honest about her faith. References to the word "Prostitute" is used often but remains a very wholesome novel.
3.5/5- Christian Fiction
Thanks to Bethany House via the CFBA for review copy
Cool. Looking forward to it ;)
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