Books for Christian Girls: "My Heart Belongs in Blue Ridge: Laurel's Dream" by Pepper Basham

About this book:

“Journey into the Blue Ridge Mountains of 1918 where Laurel McAdams endures the challenges of a hard life while dreaming things can eventually improve. But trouble arrives in the form of an outsider. Having failed his British father again, Jonathan Taylor joins is uncle's missionary endeavors as a teacher in a two-room schoolhouse. Laurel feels compelled to protect the tenderhearted teacher from the harsh realities of Appalachian life, even while his stories of life outside the mountains pull at Laurel's imagination. Faced with angry parents over teaching methods, Laurel's father's drunken rages, and bad news from England, will Jonathan leave and never return, or will he stay and let love bloom?”

Series: Part of the “My Heart Belongs” series, but not connected to any other books.

Spiritual Content- Scriptures are quoted, read, & discussed; Prayers; Church going & Hymns; Many talks about God, Jesus, His creation, missions, dreams/callings, & faiths; ‘H’s are capitalized when referring to God; Many mentions of God, Jesus, dreams/callings, & faiths; Mentions of prayers, praying, & thanking God; Mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, & devotions; Mentions of churches, church going, services, hymns, & pastors; Mentions of sins; A few mentions of Heaven & angels; A few mentions of blessings;

*Note: Mentions of spirits/ghosts, witchcraft, magic, & the devil; A few mentions of superstitions; A mention of a man having a Zeus-like aura.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dad-blamed’ and a ‘shucks’; A few mentions of curses (said, not written); Laurel’s father is a terrifying drunk for part of the year (while he has never been violent before, there are many threats and he pulls a knife on his son; Him and a few other men prepare for being drunks all winter by cutting wood from their families and stocking up on extra food first; Throughout all of this, Laurel and her mom continue to love him and remember that he’s not always like this); A fire (up to semi-detailed); A fall, pain, & losing a lot of blood (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of drunks, drinking, & alcohol; Mentions of an allergic reaction, doctor related actions to save the child, injuries, blood/bleeding, & illnesses (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of wars, fighting, guns, injuries, & deaths (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of guns, gunfire, & guns being aimed; Mentions of fires; Mentions of threats; Mentions of outlaws/criminals, thieves, & stealing; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of cigars, pipes & tobacco; Mentions of hunting & animal traps; A few mentions of dead animals (rats) on Jonathan’s porch with a gruesome meaning (up to semi-detailed); A mention of (a rumor of) books with child killings;

*Note: Mentions of prejudice/racist comments from people about “colored folks” having diseases (Laurel advises them on to not spout off their theories as there isn’t any evidence of such silliness); Mentions of books, authors, & fictional characters; A few mentions of vampires.

Sexual Content- a hand kiss, a hair kiss, a barely-above-not-detailed kiss, three semi-detailed kisses, two detailed kisses, three very detailed kisses (after one, Laurel comments that for being holy matrimony there is “no way that something this hot could be holy”), and quite a bit of staring at another’s lips (*Spoiler* it should be noted that all of these kisses are after marriage *End of Spoiler*); Wanting to kiss & touch (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Warmth/Heat, & Embraces (up to semi-detailed); Blushes; Noticing (including curves & muscles), Nearness, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); *Spoiler* Because of an injury that causes Laurel to stay at Jonathan’s house for two nights (nothing sexual happened), her father rushes in and makes them have a shotgun wedding (also mentions of her father thinking that Jonathan sneaked out of their house before—again nothing sexual happened then either) *End of Spoiler*; Many mentions of kisses, kissing, & thinking about kissing (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of Laurel’s sister who become pregnant out of wedlock and their father forcing her to leave the house (they have not heard from her since); Mentions of helping a woman give birth & her pain (up to semi-detailed); A few mentions/hints of “what’s more than kissing” (barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of puppy love & blushes; A couple mentions of loose women & reputations; A mention of a buxom woman; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;

*Note: A couple mentions of a boy telling a man that they can take a bath together because of their same body parts; A mention of a book with pictures of naked statues; A mention of a sin-filled novel with lustful words.

-Laurel McAdams, age 19

-Jonathan Taylor
P.O.V. switches between them

Set in 1918
256 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

{ Due to heavy kisses, this book is receiving a one-star all-around rating. We really enjoyed the book up to those kisses and are sad to give it such a low rating.}

For the first half of this book, it felt like a 3 star.

Then a twist happened a bit later and it became a 4 star.

However, some pretty heavy kisses entered in and dropped the rating to a 1 star.

I’m sad now. ☹️

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This is my first book by this author, so I decided to go into this book with no expectations and just a little hesitation. I really liked both Laurel and Jonathan, their thoughts, and how dedicated they each were to their callings/dreams. I completely did not see such a twist coming and I really enjoyed their thoughts about their dreams being changed. (Trying to be vague here for spoilers’ sake, but probably just sounding silly.) Obviously because this was a romance, you could see their attraction, but it wasn’t heavy/overwhelming (not a love at first sight, but a true friendship first which I loved). Then the twist and heavy kisses started with hints to wondering about more. Again, I repeat, I’m sad. I can understand a kiss or a handful here and there to a certain level, but it was some heavy kisses all at once and ruined most of my enjoyment of the story.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!