The Elusive Miss Ellison by Carolyn Miller

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Handsome appearance counts for naught unless matched by good character and actions.

That's the firm opinion of not-so-meek minister's daughter Lavinia Ellison. So even though all the other villagers of St. Hampton Heath are swooning over the newly returned seventh Earl of Hawkesbury, she is not impressed. If a man won't take his responsibilities seriously and help those who are supposed to be able to depend on him, he deserves no respect from her. In Lavinia's pretty, gray eyes, Nicholas Stamford is just as arrogant and reckless as his brother-who stole the most important person in Livvie's world.

Nicholas is weighed down by his own guilt and responsibility, by the pain his careless brother caused, and by the legacy of war he's just left. This quick visit home to St. Hampton Heath will be just long enough to ease a small part of that burden. Asking him to bother with the lives of the villagers when there's already a bailiff on the job is simply too much to expect.

That is, until the hoydenish, intelligent, and very opinionated Miss Ellison challenges him to see past his pain and pride. With her angelic voice in his head, he may even be beginning to care. But his isn't the only heart that needs to change.

These two lonely hearts may each have something the other needs. But with society's opposition, ancestral obligations, and a shocking family secret, there may be too many obstacles in their way.

Fans of Georgette Heyer, Lori Wick, and Julie Klassen will enjoy the spirited exchanges between the bluestocking minister's daughter and the bruised war hero as they move past pride and presumption to a humbled appreciation of God's grace and the true strength of love.

MY THOUGHTS:
There is something that draws me in about the many Regency and Edwardian era books that seem to be popular now. I love the romanticized period of time, though I'm sure reality was much less so.

The Elusive Miss Ellison reads like a slightly different, yet strangely familiar, version of Pride and Prejudice. Nicholas definitely comes off as proud and aloof, whereas Lavinia, though sweet to her friends, seems much more brusque than Austen's Lizzy.

Unfortunately, the writing dragged and did not draw me in to the story. I actually put the book down and restarted from the beginning three different times! Yes, three. No matter how hard I tried to get into the story, I just couldn't get past the twelfth chapter. Lavinia's harshness to Nicholas was off-putting, and though I understood her pain over her mother's death, I just couldn't connect with her (though I admit that nasty pride is a big struggle for me, too). I was also pained to see the Lord's name taken in vain (page 74). Nicholas' thought while seeing his friend's interest in Lavinia was not one of prayer or worship...it was flippant and disrespectful. I have been saddened to see this type of language occurring more and more from Christian authors.

Due to these two issues, Miss Ellison's tale was truly elusive for me.

That's what I thought! Click HERE to see what other reviewers are saying!

Thank you to Carolyn and Kregel through Litfuse for sending me a copy to read and review!

Did you find my review helpful? Please rate it on Amazon and Christianbook.



**DISCLOSURE: I was given a free product in exchange for an honest review. Please read my full disclosure policy HERE.**

Like a River from its Course by Kelli Stuart

ABOUT THE BOOK:

An epic novel exposing the ugliness of war and the beauty of hope.

The city of Kiev was bombed in Hitler's blitzkrieg across the Soviet Union, but the constant siege was only the beginning for her citizens. In this sweeping historical saga, Kelli Stuart takes the reader on a captivating journey into the little-known history of Ukraine's tragedies through the eyes of four compelling characters who experience the same story from different perspectives.

Maria Ivanovna is only fourteen when the bombing begins and not much older when she is forced into work at a German labor camp. She must fight to survive and to make her way back to her beloved Ukraine.

Ivan Kyrilovich is falsely mistaken for a Jew and lined up with 34,000 other men, women, and children who are to be shot at the edge of Babi Yar, the "killing ditch." He survives, but not without devastating consequences.

Luda is sixteen when German soldiers rape her. Now pregnant with the child of the enemy, she is abandoned by her father, alone, and in pain. She must learn to trust family and friends again and find her own strength in order to discover the redemption that awaits.

Frederick Hermann is sure in his knowledge that the Führer's plans for domination

are right and just. He is driven to succeed by a desire to please a demanding father and by his own blind faith in the ideals of Nazism.

Based on true stories gathered from fifteen years of research and interviews with Ukrainian World War II survivors, Like a River from Its Course is a story of love, war, heartache, forgiveness, and redemption.

MY THOUGHTS:

I found this book difficult to read. The four separate characters weren't woven together as much as I was expecting and the spiritual thread was almost non-existent.

(Near the end of the book, Ivan and his wife encounter and embrace a very Catholic-feeling kind of religion - a priest, stained glass windows, and icons of Mary and Jesus).

Luda's story was also very hard to read. I understand that such horrific things happened, but some of the language used by her father just made me uncomfortable.

It just felt like a book of sorrows. Oh, yes, I understand that so much of WWII was sorrowful...but, I do like reading about the hope and joy that some found despite the awfulness going on around them. Or at least some hope and joy that some may have found post-war.

That's what I thought! Click HERE to see what other reviewers are saying!

Thank you to Kelli and Kregel through Litfuse for sending me a copy to read and review!

Did you find my review helpful? Please rate it on Amazon and Christianbook.



**DISCLOSURE: I was given a free product in exchange for an honest review. Please read my full disclosure policy HERE.**