About this book:
“As the formation of Glacier National Park takes Eleanor Briggs and her conservationist father on a journey west to advocate for public lands, her heart carries the weight of a painful past. Since the death of her mother, she has spent her life traveling the country with her father and helping him with his work, but now he's considering settling down and writing a book, and she's not sure what that means for her future.
Carter Brunswick faces trials of his own when the Great Northern Railway's departure threatens his family's livelihood and the entire town of Kalispell. In the visiting conservationist's daughter, Ellie, he finds a spirited woman who challenges his convictions in ways he never anticipated, and his own dreams for the future begin to change.
When tensions over the railroad's departure boil over, Ellie and Carter are drawn together on a daring journey that tests the depths of their feelings and their faith in God.”
Series: Book #2 in “The Jewels of Kalispell” series. Review of Book #1 Here!
Spiritual Content- Many Scriptures are read, mentioned, quoted, remembered, & thought over; Many Prayers, thanking God, & blessings over food; Church going & a sermon (about God’s plans); Lots of witnessing & being witnessed to; Many talks about God, trusting Him, His will, His grace, His creation, having faith, and who you decide to give your soul to; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; Carter asks men from his church (the pastor, elders, and deacons) to pray over him and his business; Ellie hates God after taking her mother away despite her prayers for to not to happen (her mother pleads with her to trust God and have faith before she passes, but Ellie only agrees to comfort her mother; Ellie’s mother calls out to Jesus to take her home); Ellie doesn’t understand why God would allow her mother to get sick, suffer, and die when she was a strong woman of faith; After her mother died, Ellie and her father stopped going to church & stopped discussing spiritual matters; Ellie wants to ignore God and thinks He doesn’t deserve anything better; Ellie makes many negative comments and thoughts towards God because of her anger towards Him (such as saying that she doesn’t believe God takes in interest in her life, believes she is control of her destiny and the choices she makes, isn’t sure He exists, & that God hates her); Marvella and Carter both notice that Ellie is fighting God; Marvella discusses with Ellie about Satan wanting her soul & Ellie is very confused and wants to stay on neutral ground (not picking a side, which Carter says that’s the worst decision she could ever make and Ellie doesn’t take it well); Carter is attracted to Ellie but will not pursue her unless she reconciled her hear to God first (he tells her that he doesn’t consider her as wife material because of it and she gets upset); Ellie’s father tells her that he and her mother would have discussions about God despite him not believing there was a God (after her death, he was mad at God for it and aimed to be a “full-fledged atheist”, but decided to do “the next best thing” and declared that he didn’t need God); When Ellie says that Carter’s Christianity shows, he takes it as a compliment which Ellie says didn’t mean it as so (Carter says that it was to him, however); *Spoilers* Around a hundred pages into the book, Ellie starts to have questions about God & asks them to different people; About half-way, Ellie does believe that there is a God, but still doesn’t understand why He would allow her mother to die; Past that point, Ellie notices her anger towards God was diminishing, but doesn’t feel good enough for Him based on how she’s acted towards God; Around the 80% mark, Ellie wants to read the Bible (and does) and a bit later she confesses to Jesus; Later in a dangerous situation, Her father later says that he prayed for the first time in his life *End of Spoilers*; Many, many mentions of God, trusting Him, His will, His grace, His creation, faiths, & having peace; Many mentions of prayers, praying, blessings over food, & thanking God; Mentions of Bibles & Bible reading; Mentions of those & events in the Bible; Mentions of churches, church going, services, sermons, & pastors; Mentions of Christians; Mentions of blessings & being Blessed; Mentions of sin being the cause of sickness and “many other things the Lord never intended us to experience”; A couple mentions of elders & deacons; A couple mentions of miracles; A couple mentions of hymnals & singing at church; A mention of a Sunday school class; A mention of fasting;
*Note: Phrases like: ‘Heavens/Good heavens’ (five times), ‘for heaven’s sake’ (twice), ‘thank heaven’ (twice), ‘Heaven only knew’ (once), ‘what in heaven’s name’ (once) are all said; Someone disagrees about the phrase “devil’s in the details” (saying that the devil is all about chaos and disorder & that God is the one who sees to details); Ellie discusses Charles Darwin and evolution with Carter (she comments on organisms adapting to their environments which makes Carter make a comment that Charles Darwin didn’t think through about his theories with actual people and Ellie gets offended and says “I find that most Christians take a stand against him, so your attitude isn’t surprising”; Carter adds that it isn’t his Christian faith that makes him have no use for Darwin, but simply believes that the man was wrong, confused after deaths of loved ones, and finds sorrow in the fact that Darwin allowed the “pain of this world” to lead him away from God; That last part strikes a cord with Ellie and she gets upset at him because he doesn’t know the pain of losing a loved one; *Spoilers* Later, a friend calls Carter out on what he said and that he was being haughty, which Carter realizes he was an idiot for saying it like he did and that it was like “beating her over the head” with his faith and knowledge of the Bible; He apologizes to Ellie *End of Spoilers*); A couple mentions of the doing something “for the greater good”.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘blast’, a ‘how in blazes’, a ‘for pity’s sake’, a ‘lickin’’, a ‘shut up’, two ‘dumb’s, three ‘good grief’s, five forms of ‘stupid’, and six ‘idiot’s; Sarcasm & Eye rolling; Being kidnapped and tied-up, Being attacked/beat-up (x3), Being caught in a brawl, Gunfire, Pain, Injuries, Blood/Bleeding, & Passing out (semi-detailed); Grief (Ellie for her mother); Seeing someone nearly runover by a car (up to semi-detailed); The prologue starts with Ellie seeing her mother in pain from her stomach cancer & passing away (semi-detailed); In the prologue, Ellie lies to her mother about trusting God to make her feel better; Ellie has a few moments of thinking something disrespectful towards her father but stops herself; Ellie is concerned that her father could be unwell (which ruins her appetite and thinks that she can’t lose him because he is all she has left); A side character plans to harm and threaten others (including throwing rocks at horses to spook them *Spoilers* Which he does at the end, but ends up kidnapping the wrong man; Ellie is told to stay home while the men search for her father, but she sneaks out to help; She has the thought that she should go back, but believes that she’s capable to take care of herself and ends up being tricked and also kidnapped; Carter says that “Ellie’s my problem” when this happens and rejects help trying to find her (thinking that she’s runoff); We see the point of view of the character’s brother who goes along with it (though he voices his disagreements and concerns) because he promised their mother to look after his brother after her passing; When Carter finds Ellie hurt, he thinks “If ever a man deserved killing…[he] pushed the dark thought away”; The two brothers are killed by others when they start shooting at them *End of Spoilers*, (all up to semi-detailed)); Carter recalls see the evidence of a coyote that attacked their chickens as a child (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of cancer, pain, a death, & grief from the family (Ellie and her father for their mother/wife); Mentions of potential deaths from accidents; Mentions of violence, brawls, riots, injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of threats, kidnappings, harming others, throwing rocks at horses, planning to harm/shoot and kidnap others, murders, breaking into a business, jails/prisons, arrests, & possibly being hanged; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of a boy growing up with a mean streak & causing trouble; A few mentions of fires; A few mentions of liquor, saloons, & tobacco; A few mentions of a drunkard father who “condemned his family to poverty”; A couple mentions of a mother passing away and leaving behind two children; A couple mentions of scarlet fever & children catching it (but are fine); A couple mentions of stealing/thefts; A couple mentions of ransom; A couple mentions of divorce (regarding a Christian woman not believing in it); A couple mentions of a grizzly bear attacking a camp; A mention of a war (the Civil War); A mention of gossip;
*Note: Eleanor/Ellie can be rude and arrogant towards others who have different opinions than her (*Spoiler* She realizes she’s been both of these things around a hundred pages in *End of Spoiler*); Ellie feels hurt by some of her father’s actions and leaving her out of some of his work; When Ellie meets a group of Indians (Native Americans), she thinks of them as “majestic” and is impressed with their English (she comments to someone that the stories about them being savages and attacking settlers need to ceases); Ellie’s father doesn’t believe that animals should be domesticated (but horses are different).
Sexual Content- A head kiss, a not-detailed kiss, and three semi-detailed kisses (one as a married couple with kissing her cheek and neck as well); Touches, Embraces, & Nearness (including Carter having Ellie on his lap in a tight carriage and a couple mentions of his muscles, barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes & Winks; Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); Carter is attracted to Ellie but will not pursue her unless she reconciled her hear to God first (he tells her this and she is upset); A few mentions of kisses & kissing; A couple mentions of reputations & chaperones; A mention of a man kissing his wife’s cheek; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
*Note: A mention of a woman’s plump bosom and curvy figure.
-Eleanor “Ellie” Briggs, age 24
-Carter Brunswick, age 29
P.O.V. switches between them, Marvella, & Grant
Set in 1904 (Prologue in 1894 & 1895; Epilogue in 1912)
378 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
It took over a hundred pages for me to become interested in this story because of Eleanor. I found her to be quite insufferable and entitled until she realized she was rude to others and started to get better and not be so snooty. But she could be as prickly as a porcupine at times! Her and Carter get off on the wrong foot and almost become enemies because they’re both in bad moods when they met.
The faith content and all of the witnessing and discussions to Eleanor is definitely the main focus of this book by the end. I like when there’s strong faith content, but I will confess that I didn’t agree with how some Biblical parts (and reasons for why things happen) were shared with her at times. The authors definitely put their heart into this book with the faith content and I do think it could help some readers who have struggled with their faith after the death of a loved one; but at the same time, it may not be a book that reader will want to pick up—much like how Eleanor didn’t want to hear about God either for over half the book. There’s a ton of witnessing to Ellie/Eleanor and it was good to see because she needed the motherly guidance and wisdom from certain characters to heal her heart.
I did really like that while Carter was interested in Eleanor, he wouldn’t pursue anything more than being a friend to her because of her lack of faith. (Though, he did royally mess-up by telling her this and, of course, she didn’t take it well.)
This is a book where if you enjoy seeing the much-needed character development happen for our main characters finally happen, you may enjoy this book! I did find it a bit too long at times and wanted the plot to get a move on, particularly with Eleanor’s hard heart towards God. Neither of our main characters are perfect and we see plenty of their faults and flaws often throughout this book. Most of the time I enjoy not-perfect characters, but I admit to struggling with these two at times. They definitely had their idiotic moments. If you enjoy the enemies to lovers trope, character development, and lots of faith content/witnessing, have at this book! I enjoyed some parts, but would definitely say I preferred the first book.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
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