Sometimes it's great when novels can reach deep inside us and reach the pain we often have hiding inside our hearts. When Miralee Ferrell decided on a theme for her latest novel in the Love Blossoms in Oregon Series, she knew she what she wanted to convey in Dreaming on Daisies. From the outside, people can appear happy but on the inside is another story. For Leah Carlson, she was still dealing with the pain of her mother's death six years ago. When that happened it seemed it took the life of the man she once knew as her father and dumped him inside a bottle of whiskey he was so found of getting lost in at the saloon in Baker City.
For years bitterness continued to grow not only in finding ways to keep from hating the man her father was becoming, but at the way she had worked so hard to make the ranch a success and now it seemed like all their money was tied up in her father's drinking binges. No matter what great ideas she had to try and turn it around, her father believed that Leah didn't possess the common sense to understand ranching was a man's business and part of his pride.
Leah had also lost her older brother Tom, when he decided to walk away from ranching and never left word where he was going or why he even left. So all Leah had to figure out the broken places of her life was pieces of what she could understand. She must try to convince the bank to provide her with a small loan to help get them back on track otherwise the only thing remaining that she has held onto all this time will be losing the ranch she has loved since she was a child. That would be the one thing that would ultimately break Leah.
Steven Harding wished he had better news for Leah when she came to him to inquire about obtaining a loan to help get them through the winter, but since the deed didn't have her name on it and her father wasn't the one inquiring about a loan, the only thing he could offer her was he would keep on trying to convince the bank to give her a chance. But without her father's signature on the loan documents, Leah would have to find another way to save the family ranch. She just wasn't hoping to rely on Steven Harding to do it. But when a mining accident leaves Steven without a place to stay, he believes he has the solution to both of their problems. If Lean agrees to let him stay on the ranch, he will help with the manual labor her father seems no longer interested in doing. But is the ranch the only thing Leah could lose?
I received Dreaming on Daisies by Miralee Ferrell compliments of David C. Cook Publishers and Christian Fiction Blog Alliance for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed here are strictly my own. This is a powerful novel that portrays the effects of what alcoholism can have on not only the person who is addicted but the family who is struggling with dealing with it. This novel conveys a story of a young woman who's been emotionally damaged by a father who turned to alcohol and abandoned her emotionally, and a mother who abandoned her physically. It's no wonder that Leah has trust issues dealing with anyone in her life. They can leave scars even on the strongest Christian that can linger for a lifetime. The author's hope in writing this novel is that some aspect of the story would minister to their heart and that Jesus can heal every broken and wounded heart that's brought to Him as she writes in the Author Note at the conclusion of this novel. There is also a Reader's Discussion Guide in the novel as well. Well worth a 5 out of 5 stars in my opinion and hit home in my western romance lover's heart!
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