Book Review: Soldier's Heart by Tamera Lynn Kraft

Soldier’s Heart

Tamera Lynn Kraft

Historical novella, American Civil War

See more information here

Series: Murray Pura's American Civil War Series - Cry of Freedom , #13

ebook - .99
Kindle
Nook

 

From the publisher:

After returning home from the Civil War, will his soldier’s heart come between them?
Noah Andrews, a soldier with the Ohio Seventh Regiment can’t wait to get home now that his three year enlistment is coming to an end. He plans to start a new life with his young wife. Molly was only sixteen when she married her hero husband. She prayed every day for him to return home safe and take over the burden of running a farm.

But they can’t keep the war from following Noah home. Can they build a life together when his soldier’s heart comes between them?

My review:

In July 1864 Noah Andrews is on his way home to Ohio after a three-year stint in the army of the North. A young man who’d married his sweetheart before leaving for war, he’d chosen not to reenlist. The last dreadful battle in the mountains of Georgia had been a nightmare he’d vowed to put behind him.

Trying to live down the hero’s welcome, Noah and Molly go to their farm, which she’d kept up during his absence. It was her home, too, a comfortable place where Noah had grown up. But something terrifying came home with Noah after the war. They called it soldier’s heart, and Noah’s shame at being unable to be the hero everyone considered him might be their undoing.

Phrases like, “they all tried to leave the train in one clump, as if…determined never to march in file again…” puts a face on often nameless facts and figures from this horrifying time in our history. In keeping his journal, Noah bled words onto the page…great writing!

Kraft’s careful attention to detail of events during the period, real-time additions of fact, add depth to this beautiful fictional account of a young soldier who makes it home, back to his bride and a new life, but has the fiercest battle yet to face. Recommended for those who love history of the creative non-fiction type.

Holly Jolly Blog Hop

Powered by Linky Tools
Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list...

Introducing Buffy Andrews: Author, Journalist, Social Media Maven

Meet Buffy Andrews!

 

She's an author, blogger, journalist and social media maven.

By day, she’s a journalist, leading an award-winning staff at the York Daily Record/Sunday News (York, Pennsylvania, USA), where she is Assistant Managing Editor of Features and Niche Publications and social media coordinator.

By night, she’s an author, writing women’s fiction, young adult and middle grade.

In addition to her writing blog, Buffy’s Write Zone, she maintains a social media blog, Buffy's World.  She is also a newspaper and magazine columnist and writes middle-grade, young adult and women's fiction. Check out her author page.

She lives in south central Pennsylvania with her husband, Tom; two sons, Zach and Micah; and wheaten cairn terrier Kakita.

Her Books:

The Yearbook Series: Gina and Mike

The Moment Keeper

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Christmas Violin

 

Upcoming titles:

The Yearbook Series: Sue and Tom (coming soon)

The Lion Awakens YA (2014)

Ella’s Rain YA/crossover (2014)

Freaky Frank MG (2014)

 

Five quick questions with Buffy

Q. What do you do when you need to think or are stuck in your writing?

A. I run. For some reason it frees my mind and I often find that it provides the clarity and direction I need.  

Q. Are you one of those people who stop writing while you know what’s coming next?

A. Absolutely. Just like Hemingway. Does it always work out? No. But it’s what I aim for.

Q. First person or third?

A. It depends. I write in both. And sometimes, as in The Yearbook Series, I write alternating POVs.

Q. Coffee or tea?

A. Coffee -- a lots of it!

Q. What are you most proud of?
A. My sons and the fine young men they have become.

 

 

Connect with Buffy

Twitter

Facebook

Linkedin

Tumblr

Google+

Google+ Author page

You Tube channel

Pinterest

Goodreads

Rebel Mouse

Rebel Mouse/authorbuffyandrews

Storify

Tout

NewHive

Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

Book review: Treasures of Darkness by Trish Jenkins

Treasures of Darkness: A Prison Journey

Trish Jenkins

Publisher: Trish Jenkins (Seasonz Pty. Ltd. Trading as Trish Jenkins)

www.speakertrishjenkins.com

 

ISBN: 978-0-646-56039-7

 

 My Review:

Australian author Trish Jenkins shares her love for the Lord in an entirely accidental prison ministry. I have often wondered whether rehabilitation of persons actually takes place through a prison sentence. Trish’s heartfelt story confirmed much of my opinions.

 

Caught up in an investment trade operation that went wrong, Trish, who’d been a successful real estate investor, was caught using funs improperly when her partner couldn’t make his payments. It was later determined this partner had been a fraud, and Trish was charged with breaching the (Australian) Corporations Act. Eventually a domino effect and oddly (or Godly?) financial circumstances made it impossible for her to rectify the issue. An eight-month prison sentence was the result.

 

In the book about her experience, Trish, a Christian, tells the story of her incarceration through letters written and received, her journal entries, and observations after the fact. It’s a real prison journey dealing with other inmates in various settings as well as personnel in the system. I had to go back and read the beginning again after I finished the book, and really commiserated with her: “Each day felt like a week; each week, a month.”

 

Trish never denied her guilt. Being ignorant or naïve was not an excuse for what she’d done, as she learned many stories from other inmates who’d committed crimes that seem rather harmless. Hers was not harmless, and she accepted that. Using her faith to keep herself together, as well as reach out to others, both inmates and staff, became her lifeline. She learned to understand what it was like to live without the privileges she’d become used to “outside.” The emotional and spiritual impact of learning how to “be” after her sentence was wrenching.

 

Who gains the most from imprisonment? Those who are truly repentant before they go in, and never, ever want to return.