Prairie Rose (A Town Called Hope, Book 1)

What a sweet romance !!! It has an excellent plot and the characters are lovely!!

Sometimes with series books, the characters are so perfect and predictable, I really don't care enough about them to read any of their further adventures. Not so with Rosie and the other residents of A Town Called Hope. I gobbled this story up as fast as I could and then waited anxiously for the sequels to arrive at my library. As soon as the Prairie Trilogy was in print--with Prairie Fire and Prairie Storm--I bought it for my friend for Christmas. She fell in love immediately with Catherine Palmer's characters, just like I did. Now she has bought Prairie Christmas and is a huge Catherine Palmer fan. Catherine Palmer has created a cast of characters that will live on in the reader's mind long after the pleasure of reading Prairie Rose and its successors are over.

Rosenbloom Cotton Mills is ana unusual name for an unusual girl. Brought up in an orphange, Rosie is no stranger to hardship. But when she impulsively leaves the orphange for the Kansas praire, she takes on more hardship than she originally anticipated, including a dour widower, his young son who has never gotten to know his father, and a homestead desperately in need of a woman's touch. Rosie faces each challenge with a smile and with the knowledge that God is her father and his love in her heart. The humor in this book is expertly balanced with the hard praire life that Rosie comes to love. In the midst of her hardships, Rosie comes to understand the true meaning of not only God's love for her, but her love for Seth. Palmer is a great Christian romance writer in the tradition of Oke and Glover, and I recommend her highly.

I really enjoyed this book. I like the way the faith of her characters was expressed. I also liked that these characters weren't afraid to addmit they spoke to God and listened to him as well.

This book is one of the few I read in one sitting. I couldn't bear to put it down!!! From the opening scene when Rosie is sitting in the tree to the time she boarded the stagecoach on her way back to the orphanage, I was captivated. I am hopeful of writing my own books someday, so I study the writing style of each book I read. And I loved Mrs. Palmer's writing style! Truly, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys quality fiction. And the message of Jesus Christ and His love was woven in so skillfully, it was truly wonderful. PLEASE, keep on writing Mrs. Palmer!!!! If you are thinking about this book but have not read it as of yet, I would recommend it STRONGLY!!!! stick it in your shopping cart and wait anxiously for it to arrive at your home! Or, run to your nearest Christian Bookstore and buy a copy TODAY! I will warn you, though, the third book in the series is not yet published. You will want to get the sequel, 'Prairie Fire' immediately,(Which was JUST as good as Prairie Rose) and then wait for TWO...LONG...MONTHS until the third is published. Beg, Borrow, or Buy a copy TODAY!!!!!!!!!!