Books for Christian Girls: "The Road to Paradise" by Karen Barnett

About this book:

“An ideal sanctuary and a dream come true–that’s what Margaret Lane feels as she takes in God’s gorgeous handiwork in Mount Rainier National Park. It’s 1927 and the National Park Service is in its youth when Margie, an avid naturalist, lands a coveted position alongside the park rangers living and working in the unrivaled splendor of Mount Rainier’s long shadow.
But Chief Ranger Ford Brayden is still haunted by his father’s death on the mountain, and the ranger takes his work managing the park and its crowd of visitors seriously. The job of watching over an idealistic senator’s daughter with few practical survival skills seems a waste of resources.
When Margie’s former fiancé sets his mind on developing the Paradise Inn and its surroundings into a tourist playground, the plans might put more than the park’s pristine beauty in danger. What will Margie and Ford sacrifice to preserve the splendor and simplicity of the wilderness they both love?”

Series: Book #1 in the “Vintage National Parks” series.

Spiritual Content- Many Prayers; Quite a few Scriptures are quoted, read, mentioned, & remembered; Bible reading; Witnessing & being witnessed to; Many talks about God, His creations, His love, faiths, & church going; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; Margie has a strong faith; Ford doesn’t believe God pays attention to humans & is bitter towards God, but Margie starts praying for him, *Spoiler* About 100 pages until the end, Ford says he wants the peace and joy that his father & Margie have and starts thinking and bartering, but near the end he apologize to God and realizes *End of Spoiler*; Many mentions of God, His creations, & His love; Mentions of talks about God; Mentions of a Bible & reading; Mentions of prayers, praying, & answered prayers; Mentions of churches, church going, & services; Mentions of faiths, Christians, & unbelievers; A few mentions of religion & some call it “religious babble”; A few mentions of hymns; A few mentions of blessings; A couple mentions of thanking God; A couple mentions of Heaven; A mention of a miracle; A mention of a godsend; A mention of holy ground;

*Note: A mention of a man looking like a Greek Adonis; A mention of a little devil; A mention of a devilish trick; A mention of conquering demons; A mention of facing demons.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘blast’, a ‘blast it all’, a ‘stupid’, three ‘idiot’s; A bit of eye rolling & sarcasm; A tiny bit of Fighting & Hitting (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of deaths from an accident (including Ford’s father prior to the book starting), finding the bodies (they don’t), dangers, screams, & nightmares (barely-above-not-detailed); Hinted mentions of being hit, injuries, & verbal fighting (Carmichael to Margie); Mentions of the Great War & fighting; Mentions of threats & a fire (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of cigarettes & smoking; Mentions of the Prohibition, bars, drinking, & a drunk; Mentions of accepting bribes; Mentions of poison & poisonous fumes; Mentions of gossip; A few mentions of blood/bleeding; A few mentions of lies, lying, & liar; A couple mentions of gambling; A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of almost cursing; A mention of a vulture & its kill; A mention of looking like an animal going off to die.

Sexual Content- earlobe kisses, a forehead kiss, three barely-above-not-detailed kisses, and six semi-detailed kisses; Remembering a kiss (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to kiss & steal a kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, & Warmth (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to touch & feel warmth (barely-above-not-detailed); Noticing (and noticing muscles and bare skin) & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); At one part, Margie & Ford have to sleep under the same blanket to keep warm, but nothing sexual (though Carmichael makes a comment about acting like animals in heat); Mentions of a honeymoon; Mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of touches & warmth (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of reputations & compromising situations; Mentions of blushes; A few teasing mentions of necking; A few mentions of dating & dates; A few mentions of flirting; A few mentions of jealousy; A man mentions that he wouldn’t mind having a girl to keep him warm; A mention of a scandalous thought; Love, falling in love & quite a bit of the emotions;

*Note: Mentions of showing skirts & being touched in an unladylike fashion; A few mentions of a Margie’s well-defined legs & curves (from Ford’s POV); A few mentions of unmentionables & a girl being outside in her shift (from two men’s POV); A couple mentions of a man’s eye lingering on Margie’s less-than-modest dress neckline; A mention of a Margie’s nightclothes (from Ford’s POV); A mention of a Sheba (from the Bible).

-Margaret “Margie” Lane, age 23

-Ashford “Ford” Brayden, age 26
P.O.V. switches between them

Set in 1927
344 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

From the second chapter on, Margie had my vote. Her poetic-ness and excitement to learn was the cutest thing. She’s a book girl, so, of course, we would get along. Ford, on the other hand, had absolutely no clue what to do with her and it was hilarious. She is honestly a doll; ‘Margie sighed. “I suppose rodents are a part of God’s creation too. I’ll just need to learn to appreciate His lesser creatures, right Ranger Brayden?”’

Then at one point, when she leaves to go change clothes, she says, “I’ll be out in a twinkling.” I am so using that now. ;)

I love how strong Margie is in her faith, she knows she can’t build a (romantical) relationship without a solid foundation (God), and while that hurts her heart at some points, she pulls back on any romance thoughts. The faith moments for both Margie and Ford seemed realistic and written in a natural sense.

So, while yes, I honestly would have given this book a bit of a higher rating had there been less kissing and certain comments, I overall really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to learning more about the next book of the series. :)

See y’all on Wednesday with a new review!