Books for Christian Girls: "The Heart's Choice" by Tracie Peterson and Kimberley Woodhouse

About this book:

  “After witnessing a wrongful conviction as a young girl, Rebecca McCutcheon--the first female court reporter in Montana--is now determined to defend the innocent. During a murder trial, something doesn't sit well with her about the case, but no one except for the handsome new Carnegie librarian will listen to her.
   Librarian Mark Andrews's father sent him off to college hoping he would take over the business side of the family ranch. Mark would rather wrangle books than cows, but when a patron seeks help with research in hopes of proving a man's innocence, Mark is immediately drawn to her and her cause.
   In a race against time, will Rebecca and Mark be able to find the evidence to free the man before it's too late?”

Series: Book #1 in “The Jewels of Kalispell” series.

Spiritual Content- Many Scriptures are read, quoted, thought over, & discussed; Many prayers; Witnessing & Being witnessed to; Many talks about God, Jesus, having a relationship with Him, having faith, how just being good isn’t enough, & sin; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Church going, listening to sermons, & singing hymns; Rebecca went to church with her family and believes in God, but never head the reverend saying about having a relationship with God, so she is confused when it’s brought up; Marvella is determined that Rebecca gets right with God and is concerned about Rebecca’s soul and salvation (Rebecca wants to take time to read the Bible and ask lots of questions); Mark gives an analogy to Rebecca about how being good isn’t enough and on sin; *Spoiler* About halfway, Rebecca prays and makes the decision to follow Christ *End of Spoiler*; Many mentions of God, His will, & having a relationship with Him; Many mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, books of the Bible, & those in the Bible; Mentions of prayers, praying, blessings over food, & praising God; Mentions of churches, church going, church groups, pastors, & hymns; Mentions of someone going “home to the Lord”, Heaven, & hell; Mentions of miracles; Mentions of sin & being a sinner; Mentions of blessings & being Blessed; A few mentions of Christians & testimonies; A couple mentions of a godsend; A couple mentions of a heathen; A mention of Easter; A mention of Sunday school; A mention of Bible studies in college;
             *Note: The villain acts the part as a Christian and comments on God; The villain calls his wife a “churchgoing, goody-two-shoes”; A man says that Godly women should be quiet and stay at home; A mention of Santa Claus.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘shut up’, a ‘sucker’, two ‘bah’s, two ‘blast’s, three ‘idiot’, and four forms of ‘stupid’; A few phrases like “by thunder”, “good heavens”, “oh my stars”, and couple other similar ones are used; Being held at knife-point (barely-above-not-detailed); In the prologue, ten-year-old Rebecca sees a man robbed, attacked, and murdered & another man blamed for the crime (she tells Mark about it and it’s bothered her for years as an innocent man was put in jail for it, border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); The villain kills someone (he likes the powerful feeling he gets from it, up to semi-detailed), plans to commit more murders if necessary, hopes a blizzard kills someone, & grabs a woman by her throat to make her pass out; Rebecca and Mark reenact the murder to try to find out who did it (fake, with coffee); Rebecca goes to hit an annoying man (but is stopped); The villain drinks, get a hangover, and gambles; Many mentions of murders, murderers, the weapons, the bodies, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of someone being near death (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of poisons, being poisoned, & a death; Mentions of someone being stabbed (in self-defense); Mentions of crimes, criminals, robberies, stealing, stolen items, arrests, jail, & a possible hanging (death penalty); Mentions of marriage scams (a man being married to many women for their money and either disappearing or killing them); Mentions of threats & blackmail; Mentions of alcohol, drinking, & saloons; Mentions of gambling; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of manure & urine; A few mentions of possible fires & planning for someone to be trapped and killed in one; A few mentions of gossip; A few mentions of throwing up; A couple mentions of grief (a man for his wife); A mention of tobacco;
             *Note: Mark and his father do not see eye-to-eye and exchange a few harsh words (*Spoiler* By the end of the book, things have happened and discussions are had where they understand the other and are not upset at the other *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of books & authors.

Sexual Content- Staring at another’s lips (once), a chin kiss (from a married couple), a nose kiss, a neck kiss, two barely-above-not-detailed kisses, and two border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed kisses; Wanting to kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, & Hand holding (including from the villain and his wife, border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Nearness & Warmth (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes & Butterflies; Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); A handful of mentions of couples kissing (married and engaged) & the villain hoping to take his wife to their bedroom; A few mentions of reputations; A couple mentions of crushes; A mention of the (married) villain hoping a barmaid will sit in his lap; A mention of a bride wanting to keep herself pure for her wedding day; Love, falling in love, trying not to be falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: Both of Rebecca’s parents tell her not to fall in love with and marry the first man she meets, as they want more for her (they both tell her that they love the other, but married for the wrong reasons and thankfully God took their “blunders and turned it into something beautiful”); A man calls women the “fairer sex” and the “lesser sex” (he tries to have Rebecca enter a courtship with him, but would want her to quit her job, which she calls his words “antiquated” and is very annoyed by him); A man says that Marvella wears the pants in her family and Marvella thinks that she’s trained her husband well because he’d be a mess without her (her comments are meant to be humorous as she’s nosy and wants the best for others); Mentions of women at a Women’s Club meeting complaining about their husbands (A man talks badly about the women there and says that “their sole purpose in gathering is to complain about the very hand that feeds them.” And that they “complain about their husbands and families and bemoan their lack of power.”; When Rebecca goes to the meeting, she hears what he means and is confused by this and asks if this is what she has to look forward to, one of the women there says that it’s what married women do and adds “Women often bear a difficult like. That burden is especially hard when they’re poor, but that doesn’t mean marriage is horrible or that we are all miserable. Women are the glue that holds the country together. God made us that way. We are the nurturers, the encourages. Without us, men would wander around punching things and never get anything accomplished.”).

-Rebecca Whitman, age 23/24 (?)
-Mark Andrews, age 28
                                P.O.V. switches between them, the villain, & Marvella
                                             Set in 1904 (Prologue in 1890)
                                                        336 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

After reading Kimberley Woodhouse’s “Secrets of the Canyon” trilogy and enjoying it, I was curious about this new book and the fact that that main girl is a court reporter.

I’ll be honest (as always ;)) and say that it was a very predictable/simple plot, but that doesn’t make it bad because it was still a good read.

I know there’s probably some who might not like all the faith content and discussions, but I really liked seeing Rebecca’s questions and her wonderings about God and what a relationship with Him means and enjoyed having good faith content discussed and shown.

Mark & Rebecca were just cute together. I particularly liked how this book wasn’t insta-love/insta-attraction and how they both wanted to be “just friends” because they didn’t want a relationship at that time (and I know that’s a pretty common thing in romance fiction books, but I actually believed these two when they said that—unlike all the other couples—because it actually lasted half the book). This part and how they sincerely discussed God, encouraged the other, and didn’t focus on the other’s physical appearances makes me think that it would be okay for new teens as it shows a healthy friendship-to-more. There is the villain’s point of view (who is running marriage scams) and a murder, though, in terms of other content.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!