Trusting Grace

"Grace Bidwell pushed her way through the busy mercantile store in the bustling town of Bozeman, certain that it would be the most beneficial place to post a HIRED HELP sign for everyone to see."

I love looking at the opening sentence of novels I read. I often times think back and wonder given that opening sentence is it enough to make me want to read further and how much thought do authors give in deciding how any novel will begin. For me, a serious lover of anything pertaining to the western romance genre, I absolutely LOVED, Trusting Grace by Maggie Brendan. This is the third novel in the Virtues and Vices of the Old West series, with The Trouble with Patience and A Sweet Misfortune leading the way.

Grace Bidwell is a young widow who is taking care of her father who has suffered what they believe might be a stroke, and tries valiantly to run the farm while he recovers. But Grace knows she will need help not knowing when her father might recover and she simply can't manage to run the house and get the potatoes in the ground to have a healthy harvest. She just hopes she can find a man suitable to help.

Robert Fraiser is trying his best to be a father to three young children he just learned are now his. After losing his wife, he realizes she never trusted him enough to let him know she had them. Now that his sister-in-law is done trying to care for them with four of her own, Robert struggles to find a job to help get them all at least into a suitable boarding house. But it may take awhile. The children, Tom, the oldest, Becky and Sarah know that they have been a burden to Robert and try and figure out a way to find money to get them off of sleeping wherever they can find room under the stars and living in a wagon, hunting off the land to provide any food for all of them. When Robert lands a job working for Grace, he doesn't tell her about the children, because he wants to provide for them on his own. Yet he doesn't realize that Grace has longed for children she believes she will never have since losing her husband and now caring for her father. Seems like they both have issues with trust that they will need to resolve if any of them have hopes for a better future.

I received Trusting Grace by Maggie Brendan compliments of Baker Publishing Group and Net Galley. In accordance with the new FTC Guidelines for blogging and endorsements, you should assume that every book reviewed here at Reviews From The Heart was provided to the reviewer by the publisher, media group or the author for free andments were received, unless specified otherwise. I love that Grace is a strong and determine woman who believes she can manage on her own, yet cares so deeply for her family, friends and a delightful trio of young children she finds on the street in town. She truly has a beautiful spirit and self-esteem but it will take both her and Robert working on their own issues of trust from past marriages before they can ever hope to make something of the feelings developing for all of them including the children. My favorite has to be Sarah, whose child like faith in God is so pure and honest that she never fears God and his angels are watching out for them all. 5 out of 5 stars and now I have to go back and read the previous two novels in this series. This one can be read as a stand alone as I did, but believe that the characters you meet in this novel has their own stories to share in the previous novels in this series.

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Trusting Grace by Maggie Brendan

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