Books for Christian Girls: "Where the Road Bends" by Rachel Fordham

About this book:

“As Norah King surveys her family land in Iowa in 1880, she is acutely aware that it is all she has left, and she will do everything in her power to save it--even if that means marrying a man she hardly knows. Days before her wedding, Norah discovers an injured man on her property. Her sense of duty compels her to take him in and nurse him back to health. Little does she realize just how much this act of kindness will complicate her life and threaten the future she's planned.

Norah's care does more than aid Quincy Barnes's recovery--it awakens his heart to possibilities. Penniless and homeless, he knows the most honorable thing he can do is head on down the road and leave Norah to marry her intended. But walking away from the first person to believe in him proves much harder than he imagined.”

Series: No, a stand-alone. (Does mention a couple of the characters from the author’s other books in passing, no spoilers.)

Spiritual Content- A few prayers; A couple talks about God; ‘H’s are not capitalized when referring to God; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers, praying, & thanking God; Mentions of churches, church going, pastors, & sermons; A few mentions of a Bible & Bible reading; A few mentions of Heaven; A mention of a godsend;

*Note: A few mentions of evil men; A couple mentions of a rooster being called a “devil bird” or a “devil rooster”; A mention of the demons tormenting a person.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘blast it all’, an ‘idiot’, a ‘what in tarnation’, and two ‘blast/blast you’s; Mentions of curses (some by Quincy, said, not written or cut-off); A bit of eye rolling; Being shot, pain, passing out, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Hitting, Fighting, Fights, Pain, Passing out, Injuries, & Blood/Bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Quincy was a fighter (fighting people for money); Many mentions of deaths, bodies, pain, passing out, injuries, blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of fights, fighting, beatings, & injuries (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of thinking that you’re going to be killed & a woman being badly bruised by a man (Norah); Mentions of a drunk man with a gun & him shooting someone (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of potentially dead or injured animals & vultures attacking carcasses or humans (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of stealing & a thief; Mentions of jail & criminals; Mentions of gambling, betting, & debts; Mentions of alcohol, drunks, & saloons; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of gossip & rumors; A few mentions of children being beaten in fights to get the crowd excited; A few mentions of nightmares; A few mentions of jealousy/envy; A few mentions of tobacco & smoking; A few mentions of killing animals for food; A couple mentions of women/girls running away from abusive situations; A couple mentions of a mother leaving her family & then the father leaving as well; A couple mentions of a father telling his young son that he’ll never amount to anything & that he doesn’t want him; A mention of a girl being beaten by her uncle;

*Note: A mention of Nora’s siblings dying when they were babies.

Sexual Content- Five fingers/hand kisses, two nose kisses, six cheek kisses, four forehead kisses, a head/hair kiss, two not-detailed kisses, two barely-above-not-detailed kisses, a border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed kiss, and two border-line semi-detailed // detailed kisses; Wanting to kiss someone & Staring at another’s lips (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Dancing, Hand holding, Nearness, Smelling, Warmth, & Shivers (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes; Noticing & Staring (including Nora noticing his muscles a bit when doctoring Quincy up (which he later teases her about), barely-above-not-detailed); A woman at a saloon leans into Quincy & he is uneasy about it; Many mentions of women being forced to resort to “unseemly means” to feed themselves, places of ill repute/brothels/bawdy houses, saloon girls/prostitutes, men wanting to with Norah and bidding for her, women leading men upstairs, the horrors the women go through there, & the man who owns the saloon trying to convince Norah to do more than just serve drinks and him hurting her (it’s said that he locked her in a room, slapped and kicked her, and told her he’d break her); Mentions of wedding night jitters, that it’s inevitable if you want children, & that Norah is trying not to dwell on the idea of the wedding night (Quincy adds that “with the right man, I would assume it’d be even exciting” and says that some matronly woman could give her advice to ease her fears); Mentions of kisses, kissing, & stealing kisses/stolen kisses; Mentions of blushes, flirting, & swooning; A few mentions of loose/tainted women; A few mentions of gossip & rumors about Norah being tainted after a man stayed in her home alone with her (another happened, but rumors were still spread); A few mentions of reputations; A couple mentions of an uncle dropping off his niece at a brothel; A couple mentions of not being sure if a man did “you know what” to a woman & that he’s a beast; A mention of a couple that is courting waiting to do the things that married couples do (until they’re married); A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of if you win a fight, you can have your choice of a girl from the saloon; A mention of a man making untoward comments towards a woman; A mention of list of dreams (things to do) that an engaged woman says is for her husband’s eye only; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;

*Note: Norah is engaged to a man 20 years her senior; A mention of Norah’s curves (by her).

-Norah King, age 22 then 24

-Quincy Barnes, age 25 then 27

P.O.V. switches between them

Set in 1880 (first four chapters), 1882 (rest of the book), & 1883 (Epilogue)

310 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

{Ratings are lowered due to many mentions of prostitution and men abusing women.}

I wanted to like this novel because I’ve enjoyed all the author’s other books, but I struggled with this one for multiple reasons.

The story moves very fast, but especially at the beginning. The back-cover description only covers the first four chapters. The emotions between Norah and Quincy felt awfully fast, but then we have a time-skip and things have dramatically changed for both of them.

I had four things I wasn’t a fan of and three things I enjoyed, so let’s break them down.

Disliked: Honestly? Quincy. He was very focused on making Norah’s dreams come true, which is sweet in a way, but I wish there was more of a focus on trusting God for that. I really don’t like that he kept a very important secret from Norah and that it dragged out for the majority of the book. If you would just be honest to her, everything would be solved!

This leads into another element I disliked: I wasn’t thrilled with is how Quincy would get advice from others, but only like hearing it if it matched what he was thinking—1.) you should be going to the Lord before you do anything important, buddy. 2.) why are you looking for others’ approval for your thoughts? See point one and go to the Lord.

Disliked: I wish there had been more faith content. It was very light and I thought there were many parts that more discussions or faith-filled moments could have happened.

Disliked: While it’s a real topic in history and in today’s world, I really don’t like reading about men abusing women or prostitution. I wish the back-cover had alluded to this content being in the book so I could have mentally prepared myself a bit better. Of course, while nothing was detailed in those parts, I didn’t like the hints to such content, personally. This is the major reason the ratings for all ages are lowered.

The positives—which are why I’m giving it a personal rating of two stars:

Liked: There were a few mentions of characters and places from the author’s other books and I like when authors include Easter eggs like that.

Liked: As a baseball fan, I though all the baseball parts were fun.

Liked: I really liked Nels, I think it would be neat to see him in his own story (kind of like Bane in Elizabeth Camden’s The Lady of Bolton Hill and Against the Tide.)

So while I was disappointed in this new book, I do plan to continue reading this author’s books as they release, though I don’t know if one will ever top her debut book for me.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!