Seattle 1889
Two With Faith, Two Without
Human Trafficking
This is the 2nd book in the Brides of Seattle Series; it is a stand alone read. This book was a joy to read and review.
Story Line:
Militine is a very bitter young woman in 1889 Seattle Washington. She has turned her back on God. Her best friend Abrianna Cunningham is the adopted daughter of the prioress of the Madison Bridal School, very religious and zealous in her beliefs, to the point of being obnoxious at times.
Both young women live at the Madison Bridal School of Seattle. Militine has a past that she is running from and what better place to hide than the Bride School. Abrianna is a little general and determined to open a food house (soup kitchen in our time) on the docks for the homeless, poor, and disenfranchised. She pulls in Militine and 2 young men that watch out for the women at the school, Thane and Wade. The food house is a resounding success.
Thane is a voluntary fireman and boat repairman, he never talks about his violent past to anyone except Wade; Wade is a Christian and a carpenter by trade.
Ms. Peterson painted a vivid picture of how we fight spiritual battles with ourselves. Thane is fighting such a battle but his friend Wade is diligent in presenting the message of God, his forgiveness, and his love. Of course there is a villain, Priam Welby who is very sly in hiding his true nature from Abrianna whom he desires.
The history of human traffic is long and our villain is in the illegal trade of foreign antiques and human trafficking. Ms. Peterson used this unsavory history in her story. Ms Peterson also portrayed Seattle’s history of water shortage due antiquated water and hydrant system to fight fires and the great Seattle fire.
Characters, Plotting And Development:
Ms. Peterson did a great job of showing the growth of our characters spiritually. We watch Militine and Thane become loving, forgiving, trusting people. The message of Gods love and forgiveness is throughout this story, but presented in such a way as to not be preachy or pushy.
Ms Peterson gave Abrianna several hurdles to overcome, her fathers sudden appearance, a new Pastor that doesn’t like woman in positions of power and wants to subdue Abrianna, a villain that is courting her, and sweet Christian Wade that loves Abrianna.
We have 2 very different personalities in Abrianna and Militine. Abrianna is an extrovert very forceful in her presentation of God and I felt Ms Peterson was showing how each of us can appear when we are in the mist of doing the jobs we feel God wants us to undertake. She is a force to reckoned with. We watch as she travels the snares of courting.
Militine is an introvert. She is hiding her feelings and her past, terrified of being hurt again and the past rising its head. She believes God has abandoned her. We watch her grow into a wonderful and loving person as she comes to know Gods love as Ms. Peterson developes her character.
The book never lags, it kept me interested from the first chapter. It has a lot of action, the history in the story was fascinating, and a woman’s place in that time period was illuminating, especially as portrayed by the Pastor of her church.
I found Abrianna refreshing as she would not fit in the woman’s mold of 1889. The romance in the story is very clean. Ms. Peterson included mystery, faith, selfishness and unselfishness, forgiveness, guile, reunion,evil and love into a wonderful book anyone should enjoy.
Author Tracie Peterson develops her characters expertly, paces the story correctly, and keeps the interest at a high peak with plotting. If you have not read Tracie Peterson in the past, this would be a great start.
Recommendation:
Author Tracie Peterson is a talented writer; I would highly recommend this book. Classified as a Christrian Romance this novel will appeal to anyone that likes a good solid story that is well-developed and well written.
I received this book from the publisher and Netgalley in return for an honest book review.
Books reviews of any novel are dependent on the book review author’s opinion; book reviews on line under my name are my opinion.