The Lacemaker, by Laura Frantz

Publisher’s Overview:

It is the eve of a new age of freedom in the colonies.
But can a proper English lady dare hope for her own independence?

Lady Elisabeth “Liberty” Lawson has nearly everything a lady of her position could want. Daughter of the British lieutenant governor of the Virginia Colony and a darling of fine society in a rugged land, she is anticipating an advantageous marriage. That her betrothed is a rake and love is lacking is of little consequence–or so she tells herself.

Though her own life seems in order, colonial Williamsburg is a powder keg on the verge of exploding, and her fiancé’s cousin Noble Rynallt carries the flame of revolution in his heart. Those with connections to the British nobility are suspected as spies, and Liberty soon finds herself left with a terrible choice. Will she stay true to her English roots? Or side with Noble and the radical revolutionaries?

First Thoughts:

I’ve enjoyed the previous historical novels by Laura Frantz that I’ve read. Williamsburg is on my Bucket List of places to visit.

My Take:

It’s 1775 and, despite the unrest in the colonies, Elisabeth Lawson has almost everything she could want. Now she waits for her rebel-leaning mother to return from England in time for her wedding. But overnight, her life changes when the British governor of Virginia evacuates Williamsburg, along with her father and other loyalists and she’s left behind. Now, she’s reliant on the kindness of the patriots who’ve taken over the town, including Noble Rynallt who proves to be a better man than his cousin.

The Lacemaker is a story of rags to riches in reverse. There’s tension and romance, happiness and heartbreak. There are scenes of gaiety at loyalist balls, and scenes of horror aboard the British prison ships. You’ll definitely form an opinion on at least a couple of characters: I know I did with regard to Elisabeth’s father and maid! There are cameos by some of the Founding Fathers, and those who don’t appear at least get a mention with more than a passing familiarity. Above all, this is a tale of two people of faith and prayer coming together in an uncertain period of American history.

This was a novel I really enjoyed reading. In fact, I’d have loved this to be a series so I could watch these two grow as the Revolution progressed. What might have happened to Elisabeth and Noble, and those they knew, once Independence was declared? Instead, I must be content with this snapshot in time.

Thank you to Revell Books for my complimentary copy of The Lacemaker, which I received for my honest review.

Have you read The Lacemaker? Do you plan to read it? Let me know your thoughts.

Excerpt

Publisher: Revell (a division of Baker Publishing)

Publication Date: 02 January 2018

Page Count: 416

Read more on:   Revell’s Website   Laura Frantz’s Website   Colonial Williamsburg

Purchase on:   Amazon   Barnes & Noble   Books-a-million   Christianbook.com

A Moonbow Night, by Laura Frantz

Publisher’s Overview:

Her wilderness survival skills are without rival.
But her greatest talent is keeping other people’s secrets.

After fleeing Virginia, Temperance Tucker and her family established an inn along the Shawnee River. It’s a welcome way station for settlers and frontiersmen traveling through the wild Cumberland region of Kentucke–men like Sion Morgan, a Virginia surveyor who arrives at the inn with his crew, looking for an experienced guide.

Though he balks when Tempe is appointed to lead his team through the wilderness, it isn’t long before Sion must admit that her abilities may outmatch his own. But can the tenuous tie they are forming survive the dangers waiting just around the bend?

With her signature sweeping style and ability to bring the distant past to vivid life, Laura Frantz beckons you to join her in a land of Indian ambushes, conflicting loyalties, and a tentative love that meanders like a cool mountain stream.

First Thoughts:

I’ve always enjoyed Laura Frantz’s novels. This one starts in 1777, in the middle of the American Revolution. Will we read about how this event impacts locations away from the battles?

My Take:

A Moonbow Night opens with a bleak scene of a survey party in a snowstorm. They’re on a treacherous trail through the wilderness and threatened by both nature and man. This sets the mood for the novel which, throughout the majority of its pages, is depressing. Although this is a romance, it isn’t a happy story. Tempe spends large amounts of time thinking about death and the fiancé murdered by Indians. Her brother, an Indian attack survivor, is scarred both mentally and physically. It’s a tense narrative where danger lurks around every corner. In spite of all this, however, I found it oddly compelling. There had to be a happily ever after, surely, but how?

I’m not sure I could’ve lived on the frontier like the women portrayed in this book. Life on the frontier is described at its harshest. Untimely death is reality and, in more than one occasion, comes in bluntly detailed passages that take the breath away. Disagreements exist between settlers, surveyors, and Indians. The Revolution to the east has infected the soil here as well: the Indians carry British weapons and there’s division between loyalists and patriots. But in between the times of fear and sadness, there is still the odd occasion to play a merry tune on a fiddle. There is the beauty of the moonbow, which appears on certain nights at the falls near Tempe’s home. And some of the characters maintain a resolute faith in Christ even in the worst of times.

Is this an enjoyable book? Not really, not with so much despair in it. But it is a good book and a powerful book, and it’s one I’m glad to have read.

Thank you to Revell for my complimentary copy of A Moonbow Night, which I received in exchange for my honest review.

Have you read A Moonbow Night? Do you plan to read it? Let me know your thoughts.

Excerpt

Publisher: Revell (a division of Baker Publishing)

Publication Date: 03 January 2017

Page Count: 384

Read more on:   Laura Frantz’s Website   Revell’s Website

Purchase on:   Amazon   Barnes & Noble   Books-a-million   Christianbook.com

 

Old Favorites: September

Here we go with the monthly look back at some of the novels I’ve loved over the years.

2011

• Mercy Come Morning – Lisa Tawn Bergren

2012

• The Reason – William Sirls

2013

• Death on Lindisfarne – Fay Sampson
• Rebellious Heart – Jody Hedlund
• Love’s Awakening – Laura Frantz
• City on Fire: A Novel of Pompeii – Tracy L Higley
• A Most Peculiar Circumstance – Jen Turano

2014

• Palace of Darkness: A Novel of Petra – Tracy L Higley
• Love’s Fortune – Laura Frantz

2015

• The Mistress of Tall Acre – Laura Frantz
• Last chance Hero – Cathleen Armstrong
• A Noble Masquerade – Kristi Ann Hunter
• Deadlock – DiAnn Mills