Mary Lenora Murray has spent her whole life it seems trying to figure out just who she is. She learned early on that she was adopted and currently living with her father, Kenneth Murray and her three siblings. Her mother passed away along with her three sisters leaving her in the role as caretaker and mother at only 13. Looking at her life, she wishes her father, would step up and take on the responsibility at helping her care for her brothers, George and Bobby along with her sister Frances. But all he seems to do is poor himself into taking care of their farm and then coming in exhausted at the end of the evening with nothing but an appetite left for her. Mary knows that this will be her burden until the children are grown up enough to take on more of the responsibility and before that happens, she'll be too old to finally have a life for herself.
Daniel Winthrop has been Mary's childhood friend and as they both have grown, Daniel realizes he has more than just friendly feelings for Mary. He sees how hard she works carrying for her family and knows she would make the perfect wife for him. By marrying her, he could give her the life of luxury so she wouldn't have to work so hard any longer, he could provide her with servants to take care of the house, and fill their lives with love and a family of their very own. Now if he can only convince Mary of their future together.
When Mary learns of Daniels interest in being more than just her friend, she wonders if it's possible to begin a life for herself or will she always have to care for her family's needs before her own?
In the latest novel from Lena Nelson Dooley, Mary's Blessing is the second book in the McKenna's Daughters series and picks up perfectly with a brief introduction from book 1, which I loved. At first, I thought I had read this book before, but LOVED how Lena captured the beginnings of Mary's birth so that the reader can truly pick this one up as a stand alone and love it just as much as the first book.
In this one, we get to see how Mary is growing up after being adopted along the Oregon Trail by her mother, Melody and father, Kenneth. Now that Mary has lost her mother, she feels burdened and worn out by all that she has to do while trying to care for the house, the children and try to find a life for herself in there as well. She dreams of a day when she can begin a life for herself, but may soon realize that God has bigger plans for her than what she could ever believe is possible. Now she struggles at trying to find a way to make a relationship with Daniel work when difficulties keep on piling up on her shoulders and she soon learns that Daniel may not be the man she thinks he is.
I received Mary's Blessing compliments of Christian Fiction Blog Alliance for my honest review and LOVED this one. Being a huge fan of the first book, I couldn't wait to see what happened to the little baby that the Murray's adopted. The reader will even get a sneak peek at the next book in the series as Mary learns more about the real family she was a part of along the Oregon Trail. This is a beautiful book about learning how to be a servant of Christ and more importantly how to maintain a love for doing it without being resentful. I rate this one a 5 out of 5 stars and can't wait to read Catherine's Pursuit coming in 2013.
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Thank you so much for reviewing my book. I'm glad you liked it.
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