Land of Silence by Tessa Afshar

 In the usual Tessa Afshar fashion, we meet yet another woman from the Bible that is destined to be your friend.  Land of Silence is due out in May of 2016.  I received a complimentary preview e-copy to read and review from Tyndale House Publishers and Netgalley.com.

This is the story of Elianna, who is better known as the woman who simply touched Jesus garment and was healed of a 12 year issue of blood.  I have always wrestled with this short passage, thinking this woman was so shy.  Afshar shows just how strong this woman really was, and what courage and faith she really had.  Afshar fleshes out an entire life to the point you feel you have been a part of this woman's life.  I can't wait to get to Heaven and sit down for coffee and chat to hear her real story.  For now, I thank Ms. Afshar and God that I have this story to fill my imagination and bring life to another part of the Bible.

In true Afshar fashion, she pays attention to historical detail, as well as shining a light on Biblical truths.  I had never connected the two twelves in the story of this woman, and the little girl that Jesus was on his way to heal.  I thought that was brilliant.

We witness the story of Elianna's life starting at a young age.  While she has hopes and dreams, we go through her life seeing how circumstances and choices can reshape dreams.  Some dreams do work out to become a reality, while other dreams are put on hold for what seems a lifetime.  The lessons we can learn from Elianna are "Never giving up hope".  Afshar uses the Biblical account of this woman's life as the climax of the story.  Through this we see how much God loves each one of us.  Life will throw us curve balls, and we have the choice to continue to trust that God knows what He is doing with our lives, or strike out on our own and grow bitter.  Read about Elianna and her amazing faith that helped her to believe that she could be healed by simply touching Jesus garment.  You will find that by reading this book, you have reached out to touch Jesus and he will heal your broken parts too.

Again my thanks to Tyndale House Publishers for the advanced e-copy to read and review.

Undaunted Hope by Jody Hedlund

This is book 3 of the Beacons of Hope series.

I wasn't sure how I would like this book as I haven't read the previous two books, but I never felt confused in reading this book.  I could tell that the previous books might flesh out a few of the characters in a deeper way, but I was so pleased that I didn't feel I needed to read the other books to enjoy this to its fullest.  This is due to the excellent writing by Jody Hedlund.

Undaunted Hope is about Tessa Taylor was hired to teach school in Eagle Harbor,  Michigan.  That is until she arrives at the town and they find out T. Taylor is actually female!  Eagle Harbor has never had a female teacher most teachers were male in the 1870s.  It is too late in the year to send for a replacement.  A single woman can not live by herself and maintain the school, so different housing has to be figured out. Alex Bjorklund refuses to let Tessa move in with Percival Updegraff. While Percival may be the superintendent of schools and the chief mine clerk, he is still single.  Two single people living together is not acceptable.   Alex knows of a mining family that could use the extra income of having someone room with them.  Tessa agrees to living with the family, and quickly gets down to teaching.  Alex and Tessa continue to run into each other as he drops his niece and nephew off at school each morning.  These children quickly endear themselves to Tessa as they are needing a woman's love and affection.  Tessa willing gives them the extra love they are looking for but doesn't realize that the kids are hoping their father falls for Tessa.  Tessa focuses on bettering the community she is working in.  She sees the need for teaching the children and adults to read.  She starts a class for the miners to come to the school in the evenings after a long shift in the mine to learn to read.  While Tessa wants to help out the community, her desires may backfire once Percival finds out what she is up to.  Alex and Tessa become good friends, but will Alex's illiteracy prove to be a roadblock in their friendship or will it be Tessa's hatred for lighthouses that will doom their friendship.

I enjoyed this historical tale of love, self sacrifice, and adventure.  As I stated earlier, I had not read the other books in the series.  So all of these characters were new to me.  Hedlund does a magnificent job of writing a story that can be read as a stand alone book, yet is part of a series that would only flesh out the characters backgrounds in deeper ways had I read the other books.  Hedlund takes an honest look at the life of miners in the 1800s.  She doesn't shy away from the brutal realities of deaths that were suffered due to horrible working conditions.  She adds these dark colors to her writing which only bring out the hope that an education brought to these people to find a better way of life.  An excellent message of hope.  The importance of having an education is brought out as well.

My thanks to Bethany House Publishers as well as Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this ebook to read and review.