Blessing in Disguise (Red River of the North #6) [Paperback]

Lauraine Snelling (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1999

The Bjorklund family has received word that Augusta Bjorklund is on her way from Norway to join them in North Dakota. When the train arrives in the town of Blessing with no Augusta aboard, the worried family hopes she will be on the train in the morning. But only her trunk arrives, so Bridget Bjorklund insists that Hjelmer, Augusta's brother, go find her. Augusta, after discovering her intended bridegroom had married someone else, decided to leave her broken heart in Norway and start a new life in America helping her mother run her boardinghouse. But knowing no English, Augusta misunderstands a ticket agent's directions in St. Paul, Minnesota, and in the harried confusion, she boards the wrong train. When she arrives at the end of the line, she is met by a handsome young rancher, Kane Moyer, waiting for his Norwegian mail-order bride? Book #6 in the bestselling RED RIVER OF THE NORTH series.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lauraine Snelling is an award winning author of over 30 books, both fiction and non fiction for adults and young adults. She has two horse series for young teen girls, the GOLDEN FILLY SERIES which is completed and HIGH HURDLES. Lauraine is also the author of the popular RED RIVER OF THE NORTH series set in North Dakota in the past part of the 19th century. The Bjorklund brothers bring their families from Norway to begin a new life on the land they will turn from prairie to fertile farms.

Besides writing both books and articles, Lauraine teaches at writer's conferences across the country and has an active speaking career. She and husband Wayne have two grown sons, four grand dogs and live in the country where Lauraine can garden, sew, do crafts, cross stitch, enjoy her birds and eventually have a horse again.

size : 5.4 x 8.3

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Bethany House Publishers; 1ST edition (November 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076422090X
• ISBN-13: 978-0764220906
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,013,103 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lauraine Snelling, an award-winning author of fifty-plus books with sales of over 2 million copies, also writes for a wide range of magazines and teaches at writers' conferences across the country. She and her husband make their home in Tehachapi, California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Okay, but nowhere near as good as the first four..., January 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Blessing in Disguise (Red River of the North #6) (Paperback)

I thought this book was fairly good and definitely better than Tender Mercies. But in both this book and Tender Mercies, Ingeborg and Kaaren were virutally dropped. Blessing in Disguise does deal a bit with Kaaren's school for the deaf, but otherwise there is nothing. I loved the first four books because you really got to KNOW Ingeborg and Kaaren. Who they were, their marriages, their relationship to God and each other. Now they are reduced to the most minor of characters. In fact virtually nothing happens with Ingeborg in either book. I like the how the cast of family and characters is expanding but I'd really like to get back to Ingeborg and Kaaren. Maybe I'm the only only who feels that way. I hope in future books, their story lines will be picked up again.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Is Blessing a Town, State of Mind or a Predicament?, June 14, 2001

By 

Bonnie McKinzie (Garden Grove, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blessing in Disguise (Red River of the North #6) (Paperback)

I am so glad I waited for book six in this series because after book five I was ready to throw in the towel. However, this one more than compensated my determination to finish the series!

Augusta- the oldest Bjorkland daughter is finally immigrating to the United States. Her mother, Bridget is excited to have her join the staff of her new Boarding House in the town of Blessing. Henry has come into Bridget's life, but she is way too old for romance - or is she?

Kane is introduced in the book for the first time and is a bachelor-rancher who has sent for a mail order bride from Norway. He lives a whole state away in South Dakota. A lost letter of explanation lends incredible suspense and disaster to his life.

A cluster of unavoidable situations and horrible consequences because of language barriers lead to some exciting, troubling legal, spiritual and familial fiascoes which take emotional toll and tax the patience of the families of the participants.

The storyline does move from Blessing to the Ranch and the journeys of Hjelmer but Snelling does a great job keeping it systematized and integrated. I found it somewhat frustrating to have to leave a character when the author chose to jump to a different location, but I understood her reasoning.

A good portion of the book is consumed with the search for Augusta, carried out by Hjelmer and Henry at the insistence of Bridget. A generation gap complete with different expectations and considerably exclusive social mores causes part of this book to become a mystery as well.

Many of the original characters are now in the background, and this book primarily features Hjelmer, Bridget, Kane and Augusta. The manner in which their lives become interwoven is masterfully orchestrated and carried out with intrigue, suspense and emotion.

I highly recommend the complete series of six books, and I recently learned that Lauraine Snelling has instituted a down-the-line-sequel series titled "Return to Red River." The first book is called "A Dream to Follow" and I intend to read this new series as well.

I do think the author needs a finer tuned editing system to keep straight the names of her characters, but for the most part, the excitement of this final book in the series more than made up for the slight variations.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wish there were more, June 19, 2001

By 

"quzieqs" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blessing in Disguise (Red River of the North #6) (Paperback)

The only problem I could see with the Red River Series was that it had ended.I would very much enjoy finding out if Hjelmer and Penny ever became parents and whatever would become of Kaaren"s school.It would have been nice to see all of the Bjorkland children grown and the town grow as well.Ms.Snelling could make them into a saga instead of just a series.I thoroughly enjoyed all of the books.