Books for Christian Girls: "Into the Starlight" by Amanda Cabot

About this book:

  “After more than a year in Europe, Joanna Vaughn returns to Sweetwater Crossing, her dreams of becoming a concert pianist shattered. As if that weren't enough, her husband, whom she married after a whirlwind courtship, has died. The only thing sustaining her on the journey back to Texas was the thought of her childhood home. But to Joanna's dismay, she's changed so much that the place she once loved no longer feels like home.
    After his fiancée married his partner and both blamed him for a patient's death, Dr. Burke Finley believes it's time for a change. A quick trip with his almost-aunt Della Samuels to Sweetwater Crossing turns into an extended stay to discover what happened to his uncle and her would-be husband. But the beautiful and musical Joanna makes it more than bearable.
    As the two join forces to help Della, there is no denying the attraction felt on both sides. But ghosts from the past are coming to call--and threatening to destroy any chance at happily-ever-after.”

Series: Book #3 in the “Secrets of Sweetwater Crossing” series. Book #1 Here and #2 Here! (Mentions the town from the author’s previous series, “Cimarron Creek”.)

Spiritual Content- A handful of Scriptures are mentioned & quoted; Prayers & Thanking God; Church going; Talks about God, dreams, & answered prayers; 'H's are not capital when referring to God; Burke doesn’t believe it to be true that everything is right with the world because God is in His heaven due to guilt of a past event, but starts to wonder if it could be true; Many mentions of churches, church going, services, sermons, pastors/ministers, hymns, & liturgy/benedictions; Mentions of God, His will, plans/dreams, & gifts from Him; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Mentions of those & events in the Bible; A few mentions of miracles; A few mentions of blessings & being blessed; A couple mentions of Jesus; A couple mentions of Catholic priests;
             *Note: A mention of someone’s body being near another in death but not in their spirit; A mention of praying for someone who commit a crime to be at peace; A mention of Joanna’s sisters telling her to follow her heart; A mention of a place almost being like a shrine to someone.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dang’; Seeing two deaths/bodies (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Being held at gunpoint (barely-above-not-detailed); Pain, lingering effects from illnesses (scarlet fever and pneumonia), & doctor duties (up to semi-detailed); Grief (for parents and a husband, up to semi-detailed); Burke feels guilt over the death of a patient (*Spoiler* It was a morphine overdose and it seemed like he was responsible until the very end of the book when the truth comes out that it was not his fault *End of Spoiler*); *Spoiler* Joanna has a dream of her late husband saying farewell to her and she takes it as a sign to build a new life *End of Spoiler*; Many mentions of murders, murderers, deaths of loved ones, & grief (including Joanna for her parents and husband & events in Book #1); Mentions of & hints about domestic violence & a husband abusing his wife (Book #1); Mentions of wars, deaths, fighting, & battles; Mentions of deaths (including from scarlet fever, pneumonia, dysentery, from spoiled food, and a morphine overdose), illnesses, doctor duties, injuries, pain, blood/bleeding, & broken bones (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of fires, someone burning to death, & *Spoiler* faking a death *End of Spoiler* (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of criminals, thieves, stealing, & stolen items; Mentions of alcohol, drinking, breweries, & saloons; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of gossip & rumors; A few mentions of someone hanging for a crime; A few mentions of a murder that looked like a suicide (Book #1, borderline barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); A few mentions of threats; A couple mentions of slaves; A couple mentions of a bar fight & death; A couple mentions of pipes/cigars & smoking; A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of someone looking at another like they suggested “she take an axe and murder her whole family”; A mention of someone being in so much pain that she was begging to die; A mention of a woman hating her marriage; A mention of wringing chicken necks;
             *Note: *Major Spoilers but Mental Illness Note* A woman who is not mentally well (said as having “madness” and “disease of the spirit”) after committing murder years before this book, having a stillbirth, and then murdering her current husband, tries to murder Joanna; *Big Spoiler* Her parents are heartbroken by the thought of her hanging for her actions or having to be put into an asylum so they suffocate her to save her from “an unthinkable future” (justice is not served in the conventional way, but that her parents will have to live with what happened; up to semi-detailed) *End of Spoilers*; A woman says that second marriages are also “disappointing”, but Joanna tells her that she is mistaken (this is commented on a couple more times); Mentions of a stillbirth (Book #2); Mentions of two women being “moody”, being depressed somedays, and later called “disease of the spirit” and “madness”; Mentions of asylums; Mentions of vaccines & creating a one for pneumonia (Burke has this interest & they discuss it and how different Joanna’s life would be if there was one); Mentions of men holding women in low regard & not wanting to go to a female doctor or believing women should be doctors; Mentions of authors & books (classics); A handful mentions of the sisters bickering and finding fault with each other when younger (including two of them saying that their sister doesn’t have the same mother when upset with her, which she hated hearing); A few mentions of a young girl who some would call “simple” & how she doesn’t look like everyone else and is slow to learn; A few mentions of absences of fathers and the effect of it on children; A few mentions of a father trying to control his daughter’s life; A mention of the “memory problems that sometimes plagued older people”; A mention of a teacher saying that boys aren’t supposed to cry because it’s “a sign of weakness”; A mention of hysteria.

Sexual Content- Two finger-to-lips touches, a cheek kiss, two semi-detailed kisses, and a border-line semi-detailed // detailed kiss; Remembering kisses (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Warmth, Shivers, Smelling, & Nearness (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace (up to semi-detailed); Blushes; Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); Burke goes into Joanna’s bedroom despite if it was found out, there would be a scandal (not with sexual intention); *Spoiler* Towards the end, Joanna finds out that her late husband’s wife wasn’t dead like they thought and therefore because they were still married, Joanna and the man were not married; This makes their child she’s expecting illegitimate and Joanna is very concerned about others finding this out *End of Spoiler*; *Spoilers for Book #1* Emily’s late husband picked her as his wife so he would have blond children and when she didn’t get pregnant, he would beat her *End of Spoilers*; Many mentions of blushes, flirting, & infatuation; Mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of wedding nights & couples conceiving on their wedding night; A few mentions of siring a child; A mention of a chaperone; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: A couple mentions of a mother dying in childbirth; A mention of pain in childbirth; A mention of a nightgown for a wedding night.

-Joanna Richter
-Burke Finley
                                P.O.V. switches between them
                                             Set in 1883 (Epilogue in 1884)
                                                        352 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

Like the prior books in this trilogy, this book has a sweet romance within some tragic and trying times for our main characters.

They are pretty quickly attracted to the other but because of past experiences, they don’t act on those feelings and thus is felt almost like a slow-burn romance at times.

It recapped enough about the prior books which was helpful as it’s been some time since the prior books were released! I did get some side character in the town confused though.

I did like both of our main couple, but I didn’t care for a twist at the end of the book (a letter received). There was a bit of the message about following your heart, which I don’t like seeing in Christian Fiction, but there was some faith content to imply about God and praying over future paths and decisions.

I really didn’t like how the ending went. It reminded me way too much of another historical fiction book I read recently-ish. Down to some eerier similarities. I really disliked the ending, it was borderline sad.

The first two books in this trilogy had parts I liked and parts I didn’t love just like this final book, but I will say that these weren’t the normal Christian Fiction Historical book’s plots. There’s a lot of grief throughout them and yet slow and steady romances with some suspense of solving possible murders. Honestly, though, I am disappointed about this final book’s ending. It started out as a three star for my personal rating, but I had to drop it as the book continued.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!