Book Review: The Blessed

ABOUT THE BOOK:   (back cover)
It is 1844 and Lacey Bishop's life is a tangled mess. Estranged from her own family, at age 16 she started working for a preacher and his wife. All is fine until the wife dies a few years later and the preacher convinces Lacey the only decent thing to do is marry him. That way she can continue to act as mother to the little girl who was left on his doorstep. But Lacey never expected he would decide to take them all off to a Shaker village. There she's still married but living in a community that believes marriage is a sin. And to make matters worse, she finds herself drawn to Isaac Kingston, a man who came to the Shakers after his young bride died. But of course any notion of love between them is only a forbidden dream. How will Lacey ever find true happiness?

If you would like to read the first two chapters click HERE

MY THOUGHTS:

This is the second book that I've read in this series (this is the 4th book).  This book can definitely stand on its own.  I found myself getting angry at some of the characters, at Lacey for how she deals with the preacher, among others, but then I had to remind myself that this book is placed in the 1800's and the characters are simply acting as they should for that time period!  This is a good book, you learn a bit more about the Shakers, they really have an interesting way of looking at things, a way that is very strange to most of us.  There is a lot of sadness to this book because of the many characters who are hurting and it's nice to see how the author brings them rays of happiness throughout the story.

“Available July 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”

*I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for review from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing.