“Tucson, Arizona Territory, 1873
Seventeen-year-old Sara Jane Carter would love nothing more than to succeed her father as editor of their fledgling Tucson newspaper, despite his wishes for her to marry. He's even chosen the ideal Keller Callahan, the charming apprentice who is now unattached after a recent relationship ended in disappointment and heartbreak.
Courtship is the last thing on Sara Jane's mind when a health crisis and a nationwide financial panic leaves her to manage the paper's upkeep amid dwindling subscribers and supply shortages. Facing mounting debt, she dares to attract new readership by printing a big headline targeting the one man in town who could destroy her livelihood. As she delves deeper, Keller seems to oppose her at every step, though maybe not for the reasons she thinks.
Will she forge ahead, risking Keller's friendship and the paper's reputation? Or will she rely on God despite the obstacles threatening her hopes and dreams?”
Series: Book #2 in the “Uncertain Riches” series. Review of Book #1 Here!
Spiritual Content- At beginning of each part (four in total), there is a Scripture; At the very end of the book, there is a section about trusting in Jesus Christ for your salvation; Scriptures are mentioned, quoted, remembered, & thought over; Many prayers & thanking God; Church going, services, sermons, & singing hymns; Talks about God, forgiveness, trusting Him, & having faith in God; ’H’s are capital when referring to God; While Sara Jane goes to church to keep a promise, she is used to doing things on her own and not needing God’s help; *Major Spoilers* Towards the end, Sara Jane realizes that she hasn’t given God her whole heart and wants to do better; Keller also prays with the pastor and becomes a believer; At the very end, Sarah Jane understands that the pain she’s inflicted on her mother never brought her joy “despite the devil’s prodding that it would” and that she has been withholding her unconditional love from her mother which isn’t how Christ loves her *End of Spoilers*; Many mentions of God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, forgiveness, God’s will, trusting Him, His providence, God-given gifts, & having faith in God; Many mentions of prayers, praying, a prayer vigil, & a prayer chain; Mentions of Bibles, Scriptures, & a Bible study; Mentions of those, events, & places in the Bible; Mentions of churches, church going, ministries, revivals, pastors, services, sermons, & hymns; Mentions of blessings & being blessed; Mentions of miracles; A few mentions of Heaven and eternity; A few mentions of sins & sinners; A couple mentions of a cross necklace; A mention of a missionary; A mention of someone not being “partial to religion”;
*Note: Keller doesn’t believe another character is sincere about being a Christian and reminds the man of all his past sins that he did to others; A few mentions of luck; A mention of Santa Claus.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: an ‘idiot’ and two ‘stupid’s; Some Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Sara Jane lies a couple times due to keeping a secret or chasing a story; Being held at gunpoint and thinking death is near, & gunshots (up to semi-detailed); Going to a saloon & an opium den for a story; Seeing someone attacked by a coyote and killed by a gunshot, someone held at gunpoint, & seeing another with a head injury (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of murders, a massacre of women and children, crimes, hangings, the murderer, & grief (including grief from a man for his late wife, borderline barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Many mentions of alcohol, drinking, drunks, saloons, & Keller trying to drink away his heartbreak; Mentions of the Chicago Fire, deaths, injuries, & fear (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of illnesses, stokes, head injuries, amnesia, pain, & blood/bleeding (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of weapons, gunshots, shootings, & fights/fighting; Mentions of stolen guns & gun smuggling; Mentions of jails/prisons & prisoners; Mentions of vandalism, break-ins, & threats; Mentions of opium, opium users, & opium dens; Mentions of cigars, tobacco (including for medicinal use), & smoking; Mentions of gambling & poker games; Mentions of bullies, someone being bullied, and gangs; Mentions of throwing up; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of eavesdropping; Mentions of jealousy; Mentions of manure; A few mentions of wars & deaths; A few mentions of an almost drowning due to a bully’s prank;
*Note: Sara Jane doesn’t want to get married because of seeing her father’s heartbreak after her mother left and choose an acting career over them; Sara Jane thinks and says some hurtful things about her mother including that her mother doesn’t love her (and later apologizes for saying some of them to her mother’s face; Sara Jane thinks of her mother’s acting skills as being manipulative/lying and doesn’t want to be anything like her); A side character also feels like her mother doesn’t want her; Sara Jane faces from prejudice for working in the newspaper and also faces some men that do not want to do business with her because of her being a girl; Mentions of hatred & a child telling a parent she hates her (*Spoilers* Sara Jane when she was young to her mother after failing to preform like her mother and feeling pressure; Sara Jane knows really doesn’t hate her because otherwise she wouldn’t have tried so hard to please her mother; Sara Jane feels guilt over the fact that her declaration made her mother leave her and her father; Sarah Jane tells her mother that she loves her, but her mother only says “likewise” until the end of the book *End of Spoilers*); Mentions of a stillborn baby (Sara Jane’s older brother; Sara Jane fights against the lies in her head that tell her that her father would have rather had a son than her; *Spoilers* Halfway through, Sara Jane learns that her brother is actually alive and their mother gave him up because of her career; The brother reaches out and Sara Jane meets him *End of Spoilers*); A few mentions of books (‘The Deerslayer’ and ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’); A mention of discrimination towards the Apache.
Sexual Content- A hand kiss, three cheek kisses, an almost kiss (barely-above-not-detailed), and a semi-detailed kiss; Seeing a couple kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, Tingles, Flutters, Nearness, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Blushes; Noticing & Staring (barely-above-not-detailed); Sara Jane uses her mother’s “thespian training” to disarm a man and coax him to do her bidding (which she doesn’t want to do, but has to for the situation); Sara Jane has a “crawly feeling” at the thought of her mother having interest in a young man her age because her mother is “ancient”; Many mentions of courting, rejection, & broken hearts; Mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of flirting, winks, & blushes; Mentions of jealousy; A handful of mentions of possible adultery & affairs (but a woman says she’s been faithful to her marriage vows); A few mentions of being sweet on someone already in a relationship or married (which is showed as wrong); A few mentions of chaperones & reputations; Love, falling/being in love, & the emotions;
*Note: Sara Jane doesn’t want to get married due to believing that “love ends in disappointment” after seeing her parents’ relationship.
-Sara Jane Carter, age 17
1st person P.O.V. of Sara Jane
450 pages
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New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
After greatly enjoying the first book in this series, “The Uncertainty of Fire”, I’ve been eager to read the next book in the series—even if it was featuring a side character that stressed me out. That man was still called an idiot at least twelve times by me while reading this sequel, but the last one was with fondness at the end. I’ll admit that I wasn’t sure about him for the majority of this book, but that last 25% really sold me on his change, Sara Jane’s faith realization, and definitely ramped up my reading speed to—hopefully—see everything work for these characters. I finished the book with a smile on my face, if that gives you any indication.
I’ve been vocal before that I don’t personally like it when a main character or love interest drinks—whatever genre, whether Christian or Clean fiction. That said, the love interest does drink in this book and gets drunk (with mentions of this happening in the past as well). I think it ought to be noted that we never get his perspective at all in this book, which did make a difference for me in this element. It’s still harming his liver, don’t get me wrong, but it was part of his story—his “pruning” moments—that eventually leads to better decisions being made. Eventually. Like I said, it took a while to get there, but I was very happy to see his change.
As for our main character, I really liked Sara Jane. I think it is so easy for a character like her to come across as “feminist” or a “woman before her time” in a historical setting, but I don’t feel like she was either of those. She had a passion for the newspaper and a strong love for her father that implored her to act in ways that may not have been common for young women like her in that time period, but she wasn’t doing it because she thought she could do better or be better than any man. She had a passion for it that showed more than anything, in my opinion. She was stubborn and headstrong, for sure, but not to a completely detrimental amount—just something that can be a flaw if used incorrectly, but also can be a strength when it matters. She’s learning that and overall, I really liked her as our main character.
Sara Jane has a lot of hurt because of her mother’s choices and that’s kept her from wanting to ever marry because of believing that all love ends in disappointment. And honestly, I can’t blame her for coming to that thought based on her parents’ relationship. There’s a special moment towards the end of the book where Sara Jane has beautiful character development in this regard that nearly made me tear up because of the faith content involved. The faith content throughout this book felt very natural and I really enjoyed seeing it weaved in at different parts.
I don’t think I could pick a favorite between this book or the first one as they both had elements to their stories that I greatly liked and also parts that made me a bit stressed while reading. One thing that stood out to me with both novels, however, is the strong faith content discussed and shown throughout the plots which made the stories have the important of following Jesus Christ, which I love to see in a YA book especially.
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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