We’ve finished the fifth month of the Unlocking the Past 2022 Reading Challenge: Around the World. This month we traveled to Europe, and my choice of story was Dusk’s Darkest Shore by Carolyn Miller. Once you read my review, don’t forget to comment to be entered for your chance to win a copy.
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Dusk’s Darkest Shores
by Carolyn Miller
It was such a joy to dive into a Carolyn Miller book. Someone initially compared it to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and while there might have been very loose parallels on occasion, this was its own beautiful story. Resplendent with a beautiful setting, a woman with a tender heart and special connection with God, and a blind hero, it was a unique read. I really appreciated the way the story dealt with God not answering prayers in the way we want, and leaving the reader with hope.
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves regency stories, stories of spinster women finding love, spiritual threads that are strong but not preachy, and heroes who are not your typical hero.
(Forgive the especially short review. I’m editing and really tired. 😉 )
Genre: Historical Romance, Regency
Plot Overview:
How can a meek wallflower help a returning war hero whose dreams are plunged into darkness?
Mary Bloomfield has no illusions. Her chances for matrimony have long since passed her by. Still, her circumstances are pleasant enough, especially now that she has found purpose in assisting her father with his medical practice in England’s beautiful Lake District. Even without love, it’s a peaceful life.
That is until Adam Edgerton returns to the sleepy district. This decorated war hero did not arrive home to acclaim and rest, but to a new battle against the repercussions of an insidious disease. Mary’s caring nature cannot stand to see someone suffer–but how can she help this man see any brightness in his future when he’s plunged into melancholic darkness, his dreams laid waste by his condition?
Adam wants no charity, but he’s also no coward. If this gentle woman can work hard, how can he do less? Together they struggle to find a way forward for him. Frustration and antipathy slowly develop into friendship and esteem. Then a summer storm atop a mountain peak leads to scandal–and both Mary and Adam must search the depths of their closed hearts for answers if they hope to find any future path with happiness at its end.
Best-selling author Carolyn Miller is back with a fresh series that will not only thrill readers eager for more of her work, but bring in new fans looking for beautiful writing, fascinating research, deftly woven love stories, and real faith lived out in the Regency period.
What I loved:Â Adam’s spiritual walk and personal walk in learning how to live as a blind man. I found inspiration in his struggles.
Favorite Character and Why: Adam. While not always the most gentle in his responses, you could tell he was a good man who struggled. It felt real and relatable as he learned to accept a future different from the one he envisioned.
Who would like this? I would recommend this book to anyone who loves regency stories, stories of spinster women finding love, spiritual threads that are strong but not preachy, and heroes who are not your typical hero.Â
PURCHASE LINKS
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million | Book Depository | Bookshop.org | Christianbook.com | Indiebound.org
Giveaway
For your chance to win a book from my prize stash, comment with what book YOU read for this month and you will also be entered into the year-end Grand Prize Reader Basket. Use the Rafflecopter below for extra entries and to mark that you left a comment. Entries end on June 7th at midnight EST, and the winner will be drawn sometime that week and notified by email. The winner will be announced don’t the Rafflecopter widget. *Open to all residents of the contiguous USA, legally able to enter, and an e-book format or Amazon Gift Card will be awarded to those outside that range who are legally able to enter.
I LOVE Regency Era novels, so this month’s destination was a super easy one for me. I am working my way through the Sons of Somerset series. This month I read, “Carving for Miss Coventry” by Deborah M. Hathaway, and I’m almost finished with Book #2, “The Stable Master’s Son” by Mindy Burbidge Strunk. Both are excellent ((but I knew they would be))!
I read A Rose for the Resistance, by Angela Couch. It was WONDERFUL.
I read The Space Between Words by Michele Phoenix. It was different… It dealt with the 2015 bombings in Paris and in her recovery process she found a diary written by a Huegonot girl in the early 1600s. I don’t know if this is a recent trend in Christian fiction, but other than a brief (1 page) conversation between characters there was no mention of faith or God. The diary parts had faith and scripture as they were dealing with intense persecution. But this was presented more as a historical document than say the main character using the past to learn how to cope with her own trauma.
Carolyn has been on my TBR for ages and this is one I’m looking forward to. I have some of her books, but haven’t gotten to them yet. I also intended to participate in this challenge starting in January. Alas, life seems rarely to follow my expectations. However, I did manage this month, and read The Bridge to Belle Island by Julie Klassen (a double accomplishment because I’ve now read all her books)! It’s very good (of course) and the audiobook narrator is excellent, too. For June, I’m hoping to read Daughter of Rome by Tessa Afshar (another book I’ve had since it released but haven’t read yet).
Yay! Both are great choices that are on my TBR pile!
I read The Lady of Galway Manor by Jennifer Deivel and The Winter Rose by Melanie Dobson. I liked both, Galway was the first one I’ve read by Jennifer (going to have to find A Dance in Donegal).
Yay! All three of those are on my TBR pile!
Just got Carolyn’s next book in the mail. Planning on starting it today.
I read Waterfall by Lisa T Bergren for May.
I haven’t decided on June’s book yet.
Awesome choices and I hope you enjoyed Carolyn’s book. I can’t believe I missed picking this month’s winner! Gah!
This month I read Heart in the Highlands by Heidi Kimball. I’ve always wanted to visit Scotland so I chose to visit in book form this month. It was very good and I highly recommend it.
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it! I’ll have to check it out!
I read The Debutante’s Code by Erica Vetsch. I’m always up for a trip to merry old England!
I ADORED that book!
I read the Lost Castle by Kristy Cambron. It was the first book of hers I read and I really enjoyed it! I haven’t read any of Carolyn Miller’s yet, but I have a few and hope to read them soon!
Kristy Cambron is still on my TBR pile. Glad to know you enjoyed it!
I read a general market book this month…The Key to Deceit by Ashley Weaver.
The title is intriguing!
For May I read The Piper’s Pursuit by Melanie Dickerson. I think this is my favorite book I have read by her.
I am still deciding about June, lol.
OH! That on is on my list!
I had planned on finishing ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, but we got a kitten, so I knew I’d never find time to finish it. So I read ‘Nory Ryan’s Song’ by Patricia Reilly Giff.
It was nice to read a book where I felt fully immersed in Irish culture and history. There were several amazingly heartwarming moments. I enjoyed the way relationships evolved between Nory and her sister Celia, and also with her ‘scary’ neighbor Anna. It reminded me of Boo Radley from ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’.
I’m probably going to read Agatha Christie’s ‘Mystery on a Blue Train’ for June, because not only does it fit your reading challenge, it also fits the other one I’m doing. I had to smile- the May winner of that challenge won by reading your book ‘Counterfeit Love’ 🙂 !
That is so fun! And congratulations on the kitten!! I’ll have to check into that book. It sounds really interesting, and I love getting immersed into other cultures.
Oh my, I had left this tab open and never came back to enter the giveaway I guess. Seeing as I never shared what I read for May. Well, it’s too late for the giveaway, but I did want to share what I read. I read A Song Unheard by Roseanna M. White.
oops! Did you enjoy the story? (Also reminds me, did I pick a winner yet this month? . . . getting on that now.)