Books for Christian Girls: "Hope Reborn" by Caryl McAdoo

About this book:

“New York dime novelist May Meriwether decides a heroic Texas Ranger will make a great love interest for her new heroine. Bored to tears and loving adventure, she sets out to the Lone Star State with her constant companion and confidant Chester in tow.
Dreams for a husband and children are relegated to the recesses of her heart, the self-confessed old maid deems it too late. But the near-perfect widower resurrects a smidgen of hope. Only his impenetrable, superstitious religious beliefs stand in the path to her falling head over heels, those and his love for his dead wife. Would there ever be room for her in his heart? And would he give up his fanaticism for God?
An unexpected romance surprises both. Hope is reborn in God’s unfailing love and grace. Can a life built on lies find the Way to confession, forgiveness, and true joy? In a day when the church offers the only stability on the 1850 Texas prairie, these unlikely players find one another and fall in love. But will it be enough?”

Series: Book #3 in the “Texas Romance” series. {You can read Book #2’s review Here!}

Spiritual Content- 5 Scriptures are quoted at the beginning; Mentions of Scriptures an those in the Bible; Prayers over food and prayers by Henry; Talks about God, being Blessed (not lucky), angels and Heaven; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; Church going and Hymns are written; May says she’s agnostic and doesn’t believe in the Bible (May wonders why people believe in a “god they’d only heard stories about from a book some dreadfully old men wrote.”).

*Note: May and Henry are very, very unyoked *Spoiler* till about 20 pages till the end. *End of Spoiler*

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a form of ‘shut up’, two ‘sissy’s, seven ‘stupid’s, and twelve forms of ‘idiot’; Blood (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of fighting & actual fighting (semi-detailed); Mentions of killing people & cock fights (semi-detailed); Mentions of killing animals for food & hog hunting (semi-detailed); Mentions of gambling & May gambles; Mentions of drinking & may drinks (though she hates hard liquor and doesn’t care for wine); Mentions of Indians; Mentions of slaves & slavery;

Sexual Content- a ‘hussy’; Noticing & Staring; Wanting more; three pecks on the cheek, not-detailed kisses, four barely-above-not-detailed; Hand kisses & Almost kisses; Mentions of kisses & kissing; Wanting to kiss; May wonders what kissing a man with a beard or mustache would be like; a hint of a wedding night; a mention of showing love in a bed; mentions of compromising situations (not-detailed); May’s never been married and a virgin but has an opinion that “Men, she hated the hairy brutes.”; May thinks that the captain wants to get her in his bed or “separate her from her bloomers.” (a bit later he tells her that her books are lacking passion and she can spend a few days with him to “research” it and add some steam to her next book. She comes back with “If I wanted to trash my novels, I wouldn’t need the likes of you for my exploring.”); Both Mary & Henry’s parents were not married; Mentions of women who died during childbirth; Henry believes you have to get married to, uh, do married stuff; A mention of prostitutes; Love, love/lust at first sight, crushes, falling in love, & the emotions.

-May Meriwether, age 41

-Henry Buckmeyer, age 52
P.O.V. switches between them, Caleb (twice) and Mary Rachel (once)

Set in 1850
324 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

(and a half)

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

(and a half)

**I want the record to show that I’ve talked with this author before (as she’s sent me some of her books to review) and she’s a very sweet lady but Miss Caryl, I’m sorry. This blog is not the right blog to promote your books. Please, don’t read the rest of these Final Thoughts—and you might not want me to read any more of your books. Thank you for the opportunity.

There’s a lot of characters in this book—I had to make a family tree (and erase branches when I thought wrong)—and it’s just way too confusing. Can I just sum up the P.O.V. characters with one minor cuss word? Idiots! I’m sorry, but it’s true! May is such a ninny! I’m going to put a warning out there for Christian either new in their faith or not very strong, as May’s thoughts are very opinionated to the agnostic ways. She pulls out all the tricks of thinking like ‘why does a strong man need a crutch’, ‘how can anyone believe in something bigger’, ‘it’s like a club!’, etc. When she finally does get saved (20 pages till the end) it seemed too quick and not personal enough for someone who was anti-God just 300 pages earlier. (And I’m not saying this can’t happen, but it wasn’t believe in this book.) I was at a point of not finishing this book just because of the unyoked relationship between the May & Henry. Henry, 52 years old by the way, also fist fights a man named Bull. ~~Ninny~~. Plus talks about his past of killing different men more than a bit. And later has a dream that I personally find unbelievable and had me rolling my eyes. Needless to say, the cliff-hanger for the next book does not interest me and I will not be reading about another fool.

See y’all on Wednesday with a new review!