Books for Christian Girls: "The Healer of the Brigade" by Michaela Bush

About this book:

  “A mysterious healer and an injured soldier, both caught in the crossfire of war.
    Aurelie was exiled to Absricht at a young age, cast away by a father who swore she was cursed. Now, with no one to trust but herself, her life is thrown into upheaval when war approaches. But Aurelie knew the war would come.
    Word of Princess Evangeline’s return has swept the globe, and a mysterious enemy soon emerges, bent on conquering Lanaria and its surrounding nations. Horace is the first to board the warship sent to aid Absricht, determined to find out why the little country landed in the crosshairs so soon.
    When Horace arrives injured at Aurelie’s doorstep, she has a decision to make. Does she hold the key that will end the war? How many secrets will she need to sacrifice in the process? Meanwhile, Horace is quickly flung into deeper waters as he realizes there is more than meets the eye behind the war: as both prophecies and traitors emerge surrounding Lanarian soil, will he unravel the enigma in time?”

Series: Book #2 in the “Legends of Lanaria”. Review of Book #1, Here!

Spiritual Content- Psalm 18:2 & Acts 5:12 & 14 at the beginning; Scriptures are mentioned, quoted, discussed, & thought over; Many Prayers; Witnessing & Being witnessed to; Many talks about God, gifts, blessings, those and events in the Bible, & being saved by Christ; Most 'H's are capital when referring to God; God talks to Aurelie remembering her about her gift that she’s scared to use because of being branded as a witch (her doubt about it being given to someone like her who was “born from evil” and her thinking that she’s able to “heal within God’s will. But since it was clear her own healing was not is His will…how could she trust God with what she did for others?” A couple others talk to her about her gift and she has to think about it; *Spoiler* A little more than a third-in, she uses her gift to pray in Jesus’ name for healing for someone and later in the book does it again for others, some who live and other pass away; Aurelie feels peace when praying to be used as a vessel for healing for others through Jesus *End of Spoiler*); Aurelie explains to someone that “everyone in the world was blessed by God; all were given spiritual gifts that had to be uncovered with time and deeper communion with the Holy Father; it was simply that so many smothered their gifts for fear, confusion, or concerns of rejection…as she had.”; Horace is positive that his God does not curse innocent people and tells Aurelie that “You can’t be cursed with evil and saved by Christ at the same time”; Horace wonders when he speaks Scriptures out loud if the witches will start shrieking and he’ll be able to arrest them; All about many mentions of God, His will, having peace, doubt, a prophecy, & Spiritual Gifts (foresight and healing, called blessings); Mentions of prayers, praying, thanking God, & praising God; Mentions of churches & priests; Mentions of blessings; Mentions of miracles & witnessing miracles; Mention of Bibles, Bible reading, and those & events in the Bible; Mentions of sins; A few mentions of Heaven; A mention of missionaries;
             *Note: Witches and their magick are completely viewed as wrong by our main characters; Because of her infirmity, Aurelie has been subject a lot of prejudice and hatred from people believing she is cursed or the product of her parents’ sins; Aurelie is afraid to use her gift because of possibly being viewed as a witch and Horace says that he doesn’t “see a girl who’s been cursed. I see someone who has been hurt by a large heaping share of prejudice and lies. If you are a child of God, you are not able to be cursed. His blood protects you.” (this is discussed and thought over again); All about many mentions of curses, cursing, witches, magicks/witchcraft, people who are driven by darkness/Satan, & evil; Many mentions of villagers calling Aurelie and her mother cursed because of Aurelie’s injury (it’s said that “the villagers decided a child born with such infirmity was claimed by darkness, cursed by their parents’ sins, a creature to be avoided at all costs”); Mentions of evil and darkness having no power unless someone gives themself to it; Mentions of gods & other religions; Mentions of pagans & pagan symbols; Mentions of evil & bitterness reigning in evil-doers hearts, not God; Mentions of superstitions; Mentions of those who worship more than one god; A couple mentions of items for item & false idols; A couple mentions of druids and faes; A couple mentions of a family worshiping anything and calling it “hedging their eternities”; A mention of fighting the grim reaper.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘bloody’, a form of ‘idiot’, two ‘drat’s, seven ‘stupid’s, nine forms of ‘shut it/hush it/’shut up’ and “get your tail out of here” is said once; Some eye rolling & sarcasm; Being attacked/beaten, pain, passing out, injuries, being close to death, & blood/bleeding (semi-detailed); PTSD & Nightmares of past events (Aurelie, of seeing her mother captured and executed, being harassed, and facing ugliness from others, up to semi-detailed); Because of the prejudice towards Aurelie’s condition and others believing she or her mother was cursed, her mother was executed & then Aurelie’s father abandoned her (up to semi-detailed); All about many mentions of wars, fighting, fights/battles, deaths, bodies, weapons, injuries, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of deaths & poison; Mentions of executions & hangings; Mentions of beatings & past injuries (including Aurelie being beaten and slapped by others because of her leg, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of threats & a possible assassination; Mentions of a huntsman & him slapping a witch he caught; Mentions of nightmares; Many mentions of lies & lying (Aurelie has been lied to over the years about her leg and it being a curse); Mentions of rumors, gossip, & eavesdropping; A few mentions of a kidnapping (Book #1); A few mentions of someone scheming to murder someone who did them wrong; A few mentions of witches lacing their blades with poison or human remains; A few mentions of cannibals & them eating the hearts of their enemies (barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of vomiting; A couple mentions of liquor (for medicinal purposes); A couple mentions of manure; A mention of a bully; A mention of someone who disposes dead or unwanted animals;
             *Note: Aurelie has faced a lot of prejudice and meanness from villagers because of her leg, because of this, she comes across as bitter and feels like a burden (she says a few hurtful things to others because of her own hurt); A mention of Aurelie’s mother being pregnant when she was murdered.

Sexual Content- Three hand kisses, two cheek kisses, a forehead kiss, and barely-above-not-detailed kiss; Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, & Nearness (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes; Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); Aurelie was conceived out of wedlock when her mother was assaulted (her mother was forced to marry the abusive man and Aurelie does not like soldiers because of him ruining her mother’s life); Mentions of an abusive husband and father (Aurelie’s biological father); A few mentions of reputations; A few mentions of scandalous skin showing & modesty; A couple mentions of crushes & puppy eyes; A mention of the kindest thing soldiers would do to Aurelie would be to ravage her cottage; A mention of there being horrid reports of what soldiers do to women found alone; A mention of the enemy pillaging a village for food, supplies, and women; A mention of a young teen boy having experience with girls; Love, falling in love, & the emotions.

-Aurelie, age 18
-Horace
                                P.O.V. switches between them
                                       Medieval/Non-Magical Fantasy
                                                        300 pages

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My personal Rating-

While I was super excited to read this sequel to a book I really enjoyed, I did struggle a lot getting into this one. It’s been two years since the end of the prior book and a war is now happening, so I did feel a pretty confused, trying to figure out what was going on. Because of that and Aurelie’s character, it took me a while to get into this book.

This was interesting to read, because it’s from the point of view of a girl who isn’t from the same country as Eva is from in the first book, their countries are neighbors and fighting against a common enemy in a war currently—but Aurelie has her own reasons to hate what is going on in her life. She had a completely different outlook on life compared to Eva despite having some things in common, which I liked seeing that difference. I do wish we could have seen Eva & Gabe more in this one, though!

Aurelie is bitter and understandably so. It took about halfway for me to get into this story though because of it. But once we got to the healing of her heart and the heart of the story, I really enjoyed it. It can be a touchy topic on Spiritual Gifts, but I think the author showed it well and shows her passion for the topic after experiencing a miraculous healing herself.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!