It’s time for a new season of the Unlocking the Past Reading Challenge: Unlock an Adventure. I’m so excited to be joining you on an adventure this year with guest reviews from members of our reading challenge participants. If you have a review you’d like to submit for upcoming months, feel free to sign up for a month here and use the Google form to submit your review. As my time has become too limited to do a suggestions post each month, I encourage you to jump over to the Unlocking the Past Reading Challenge page and ask for suggestions from there or from any of a number of amazing reader groups like Avid Readers of Christian Fiction.
*The list of prizes available from my prize shelf can be found here.*
February’s Theme: Underground Railroad
March’s Theme: Gold Rush
The Underground Railroad Brides Collection
Review by: Crystal Caudill
With it being release month for Counterfeit Hope, my reading time was really limited and I only managed to read one novella out of this collection. I’m not a huge fan of straight romances, so the story I ended up choosing wasn’t actually to my taste. I thought by the description there would be some tension and chances of getting caught working for the Underground Railroad with dire consequences, but I either got the stories mixed or the description just didn’t match the story. (Actually, now that I go back, it was the former.) HOWEVER, I think those who love sweet romances will enjoy the ones in this collection. There were a wide variety of characters, including a couple of stories where the main characters were slaves, former slaves, or wealthy black citizens. Given the tendency for historicals to lack that perspective, it was refreshing to see. All the stories sounded interesting, even if not always to my personal preference, and I look forward to reading more of them as my time allows.
Genre: Historical Romance
Plot Overview:
Love Guides Hearts Along the Road to Freedom
Nine historical couples walk the road to love even as they dare to escape and help others break free from the injustices of slavery between 1849 and 1860. From Southern states of Georgia and South Carolina to above the Mason-Dixon Line in Indiana and Pennsylvania, they work within the network known as the Underground Railroad.
Emma Underground by Barbara Tifft Blakey
Follow the Christmas Star by Ramona K. Cecil
Under the Sails of Love by Lynn A. Coleman
The Bakery Bride by Cecelia Dowdy
Place of Refuge by Patty Smith Hall
Free to Love by Terri J. Haynes
The Winter Quilt by Debby Lee
The Song of Hearts Set Free by Darlene Panzera
Freedom’s Flight by Penny Zeller
There is hope for the future when people come together to fight evil, and when men and women find love in the midst of great challenges. And through it all, faith is the key to victory in these stories from nine inspiring Christian authors.
Purchase Links:
Giveaway
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I read The Runaway by Melanie Dobson for the challenge. I enjoyed it and plan to read the other books in the series. My favorite aspect of the novel is that it showed several perspectives that prevailed at that time. Crystal, very minor romance in the novel.
Good to know! And I love it when various perspectives from that time are shown!
For February I read Engraved on The Heart by Tara Johnson. So far this year I have read 68 books. I have only given 3 of those books a 5 star rating. This book was one of them. It had action and intrigue. There were some raw emotions. It even had just the right amount of romance to be sweet and not obnoxious (I am not a romance fan). The story was exciting and endearing from beginning to end. The only part I didn’t like was having to say farewell to Keziah and Micah. I would have liked to see where life took them next.
That really is an amazing book. I’m actually going to drop a note to Tara so she sees this because I know it will encourage her.
I read Passages of Hope by Terry J. Haynes and it was really good and interesting. It’s a part of the Doors to the Past series.
I bought that one but didn’t have time to read it, so now it’s sitting on my TBR pile. Good to know you enjoyed it!
I read A Hundred Crickets Singing by Cathy Gohlke. I didn’t realize that it was book two, and that I had book one on my tbr. But it worked well as a standalone. Its probably the best civil war/ world war 2 novel that I’ve read. 10 out of 10 recommend!
Good to know! I didn’t realize it was split time. What was the name of the first book?
Night Bird Calling. I thought that the two books were related, but I wasn’t sure until I started reading! Lol
For February, I read Engraved on the Heart by Tara Johnson and The Quaker and the Rebel by Mary Ellis. I liked them both, but Engraved was my favorite of the two.
I LOVED Engraved on the Heart. Such a moving story! If I’d thought about it, I would have reviewed that one, as I’ve already read it at least once.
Freedom’s Flight by Penny Zeller. Very good. It not only talked about the Underground Railroad, but getting out of toxic situations.
Oh, I love it when a story has multiple layers. I’ll have to look into it.
I read Love Finds You in Liberty, Indiana, by Melanie Dobson.
I know several people in the FB group talked about reading that one! Did you enjoy it?
I enjoyed it very much. It’s my first book by her, so now I will definitely be reading more!
Good to know!
I read Love Finds You in Liberty, Indiana by Melanie Dobson. I really enjoyed this book. It was my first by this author and I plan to read more of her books.
I read Seeds of Hope, which is a Dear America about the Gold Rush. The Dear America books are nostalgic for me; I remember reading them when I was a lot younger.
That is so cool! I remember when the Dear America Diaries first came out. They definitely are amazing little books!
I went a little different direction than everyone else. I read Sins of the Father by Will Cunningham. It was a dystopia sci-fi take on the Underground Railroad. In this society everyone is terminated at age 50. A Father and son escape to freedom using the Canadian Railroad as they call it. It was a hard book to get into, but an interesting storyline.
Definitely an interesting twist on the theme, but it works! Sounds like an interesting premise. I think I’ve actually heard of it before.
I read A Slave of the Shadows by Naomi Finley
Oh, I haven’t heard of that one! Did you enjoy it?
I really enjoyed it there are 4 total in the series I started the next book in the series.
I read another ‘Sisters in Time’ book, “Meg Follows a Dream : the Fight for Freedom” by Norma jean Lutz.
While it turned out to not be about the Underground Railroad, it did feature some lesser known African American history. It talked about a son of slaves who became a well respected painter, and the slavery discussions sparked by Texas becoming a state.
Perhaps most interesting was the mention of impacts of slavery on small businesses, both those who struggled to compete making the same products with paid labor, and those (like Meg’s uncle) who couldn’t afford to compete with other stores unless they sold the more cheaply made products. That store selling slavery free products like cotton, sounds inspiring, and reminds me of modern day debates around fair trade vs 3rd world sweat shops.
From the description, I didn’t expect to relate to protagonist artist Meg. But I did, quite a bit. She tries to find time in her day to work on creative pursuits, she struggles with fears like fear of failure, she has a family member who thinks they are funny but are often hurtfully rude, and she has German immigrant ancestors. I didnt realize they faced such difficulties, and even though mine came decades after Megs, I enjoyed hearing about their culture and struggles they faced.
That said, the book occasionally has weird syntax, and Fred and her teacher are hard to bear. So all in all, probably 3 and a half out of 5 stars.