Books for Christian Girls: "In the Shadow of the River" by Ann H. Gabhart

About this book:

  “If all the world's a stage, Jacci will play her part. She only hopes her story does not turn out to be a tragedy.
    In 1881, Jacci Reed is only five years old when a man attempts to kidnap her from the steamboat her mother, Irena, works on. Badly wounded during the confrontation, Irena takes Jacci aboard the Kingston Floating Palace, a showboat tied up beside them. There, Jacci's actor grandfather tends to her mother, and Jacci gets a first taste of the life she will come to lead.
    Fifteen years later, Jacci is an actress aboard that same showboat and largely contented with her adopted family of actors, singers, and dancers. Especially Gabe, who has always supported her, and the gruff grandfather she has come to know and love. Jacci's mother has been gone for years, but the memory of the altercation that ultimately took her life--and the cryptic things Jacci has overheard about her past--is always there, lurking in the back of her mind.
    When someone on the showboat tries to kill Jacci, it's clear her questions demand answers. But secrets have a way of staying in the shadows . . . and the answers she craves will not come easily.”

Series: As of now, no, a stand-alone.

Spiritual Content- Scriptures are mentioned, remembered, & quoted; Prayers; When Jacci asks Gabe if he prays, he replies not as much as his mother thinks he should, and Jacci says “but don’t you think that’s something you have to decide to do for yourself? Not something that your mother wants you to” (he responds “I guess” and asks why she’s thinking about prayer); A woman suggests for Jacci to ask God for a sign on a decision; Talks about God, His love, trusting Him, believing Him, & praying; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Mentions of God & being forgiven; Mentions of prayers, praying, answered prayers, & thanking God; Mentions of those & events in the Bible; Mentions of Heaven; Mentions of a church, a sermon, & preachers; Mentions of miracles; Mentions of blessings; A few mentions of Bibles; A mention of a baby being abandoned at a church; A mention of church music; A mention of someone believing that God could have sent an angel to help someone; A mention of the sin of “conceiving a child out of the legal bonds of marriage”;
*Note: Jacci thinks a loved one who passed away helped her in a hard moment (as if the person was right there, encouraging her); A mention of someone passing away being in Heaven with the angels; A couple mentions of a woman claiming an item is demon possessed (teasing); A mention of a place being as hit as Hades; A mention of “demons of the unknown” in someone’s mind.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘freaking fishworms’ (said as a response to a shocking event), a ‘shut up’, two forms of ‘idiot’, and two ‘stupid’s; A bit of sarcasm; Being held at gunpoint, Being pushes, & almost drowning (semi-detailed); Pain, Blood/Bleeding, Injuries, & Passing out (up to semi-detailed); The death of a loved one & Grief (for a mother, up to semi-detailed); Panicking about a loved one possibly drowning (up to semi-detailed); Seeing someone shot & Blood/Bleeding (up to semi-detailed); A child aims a gun & shoots someone (in self-defense, recalling it as well, barely-above-not-detailed); Jacci wonders at one point if it would be easier to drown (than to go through something); Many mentions of lies, lying, & deceit; Mentions of an explosion & deaths; Mentions of a gun, shooting someone, someone being stabbed, a death, pain, passing out, injuries, & blood/bleeding (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of threats of someone being a hanged (for criminal actions); Mentions of kidnappings & attempts; Mentions of threats & a child possibly being harmed; Mentions of possible fires, explosions, & drownings; Mentions of deaths & grief (for a lover, a wife, a mother, & a daughter); Mentions of gambling & a gambler (he calls himself a “honest gambler” and gambles often, a woman says that “we’re all gamblers in this game called life”); Mentions of drinking & a tavern; Mentions of nightmares; A few mentions of a suicide & someone planning a murder to look like a suicide; A few mentions of a dead body floating in the river or being caught on something (barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of rumors & gossip; A couple mentions of throwing up; A mention of woman hoping her life would end after the death of her lover; A mention of someone threatening to shoot another; A mention of jail; A mention of a possible divorce; A mention of smoking;
             *Note: *Big Spoiler* When Jacci finds out about her biological parents, she is shaken to learn it and worries that she’s put others in danger, but still considers the family that’s raised her to be her family, whether they share blood or not *End of Big Spoiler*; Mentions of fathers being in and out for their children’s lives (one says “only when it suited us and didn’t interfere with what we wanted to do”).

Sexual Content- A fingers-to-lips touch, a hand kiss, two cheek kisses, three head/forehead kisses, an almost kiss, a border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed kiss, and a semi-detailed kiss; Recalling kisses (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, & Nearness (including unwanted/forward ones); Noticing; *Spoiler* Jacci was born out of wedlock and given up by her biological mother *End of Spoiler*; Mentions of a child born out of wedlock & illegitimate children being blamed for their parents’ sins (the mother’s friend snaps at her about getting pregnant, but the mother of the child says that “when you fall in love, you’ll understand how such feelings can attack you and cause you to stumble”, that she doesn’t “regret the love that made this baby”, and that the baby is innocent; Later, it’s said that the couple “succumbed to the joys of love with no thoughts to the consequences” and that “their love had already been planted…she was with child”); Mentions of kisses, kissing, & embraces (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of reputations; Mentions of jealousy; Mentions of a crush; A few mentions of “fallen” women; A few mentions of “love scenes” in a play; A couple mentions of a man “embracing” a woman (when it’s desired by her); A couple mentions of blushes; A mention of a man saying that “the way to parenthood, that two becoming one, is a treasured part of marriage”; A mention of a woman allowing a man into her bedroom & another thinking that it’s “little wonder” why she’s pregnant if she does that; A mention of a man taking responsibility if he gets a woman in the family way & protecting the baby; A mention of a marriage of convenience couple sharing a bed or not; A mention of an affair; A mention of shapely teenager getting wolf whistles; A mention of two men fighting over a girl; Love, falling/being in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: Mentions of a labor, the mother having a hard time (including her wondering if it would be better to die), & breastfeeding/nursing (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of young children dressing up as the opposite gender for a play (done purely for pretend).

-Jacci Reed, age 20
-Gabe Kingston, age 28
                                P.O.V. switches between them & Irena
                                            Set in 1896 (The first eleven chapters are set in 1881)
                                                        342 pages

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

This was my first historical book by this author (I read a mystery by her years ago) and I’ll be honest and say it wasn’t my favorite. It felt super slow and the back-cover blurb gave away a lot of the book. 100 pages for the events in the first paragraph, 150 pages for the next, and the final paragraph being covered in the last 80. Plus, we’re told the same events from three different people at three different times.

Jacci and Gabe were cute together in the last 80 or so pages. But I will say that there was a part that made me a bit uncomfortable and that was when Gabe is recalling first started to love Jacci, when he was 13 and she was 5. He admits to being too young then to know what love was and was waiting for her to grow up, but cares for her now—but not like a brother like she’s always thought. She says she’s loved him since she was five, but that falling in love was different.

Overall, this book was on the cleaner side (especially considering the amount of mentions of a child conceived out of wedlock), but there were a few suggestive comments about intimacies.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!