Customer Reviews

Daughter of Joy (Brides of Culdee Creek, Book 1)

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

This is book is excellent. The characters are complex and believable. The basic storyline may have been spun hundreds of times but this by far outshines all the ones I've read, and I've read a lot. When you get to a book like this you realize this is "Fine dining"! Ms Morgan obviously incorporated and instilled her own suffering into a beautiful book.

I haven't read any of Kathleen Morgan's previous books, but she has brought inspirational fiction a gift. The reference to intimacy (physical, emotional and spiritual) is realistic and powerful, although not graphic. Imagination has it's own rewards. The story line is great! The characters seem alive! Keep writing inspirational fiction, Kathleen!

DAUGHTER OF JOY is a beautiful story of redemptive love. Abby's walk of faith, sometimes followed by sheer force of will alone, resonated in my heart. And Conor's painful journey back to the safe harbor of a loving and forgiving God brought me to tears. Thank you, Ms. Morgan, for such a memorable read.

--Robin Lee Hatcher, author of THE FORGIVING HOUR and WHISPERS FROM YESTERDAY

I enjoy reading Christian fiction, but this story doesn't read like Christian fiction, it reads like a sermon. Instead of the religion being a part of the character development and the plotting, the author seems to be hell bent, pardon the pun, on beating the reader over the head with heavy-handed sermonizing that drags down the story and makes it hard to wade through. Her ideas about Christianity are more suited to folks who would be shocked by all the fighting of urges that goes on in this book. Her conclusions and statements at times were insulting. It was the fault of the woman, who was told by her doctor she could die if she got pregnant, that her husband turned to a prostitute? Because she asks him to abstain from sex that could lead to a pregnancy that could kill her? The writer has her conclude it was her fault he strays. The heroine even asks her why she can't take female preventatives and the woman blames her Catholicism. Really? What female preventatives were available in the early to mid 1800's? I finished this from sheer stubbornness, but it wasn't an enjoyable book.

The book had the most laughable collection of plot elements I've ever seen. It was almost as if the writer wrote a list of all the possible elements of a prairie Christian fiction story and tried desperately to work them all in. We have the grieving widow, the grieving widower, the grieving mother who has lost her only child, the misunderstood and badly behaved little child who just needs love, the reformed alcoholic, the straying husband, the abused wife, the man abused by his father--desperate not to repeat the cycle, the reformed prostitute, the wayward wife who comes home, the cross-cultural marriage between a White man and a Native American woman, the biracial child it produces and the resulting bigotry of the community, there is the rogue who threatens the virtue of our heroine, we have the prodigal son who errs and then returns home, and the woman who the doctors have told she will die if she gets pregnant but who puts her faith in God and gets pregnant again.

No wonder this book was such a mess.

I truly enjoyed this book. Ms. Morgan brought out all aspects of a relationship in this book. Sometimes, the Christian/Inspirational fiction books are stiff and lack a depth to the characters. I was happy to see that this book didn't.

Abby comes to Culdee Creek to be a housekeeper to Conor MacKay and to give lessons to his daughter Beth. This experiences teaches both of them the value of friendship, a kind word, trust and love. There were times the writing brought tears to my eyes because of the vividness of the descriptions.

A wonderful book, and I will be sure to find book 2.

I've been a fan of Ms. Morgan's for many years. I loved all her futuristic and fantasy novels. It was a wonderful surprise to find out that she wrote Christian romance novels too and I didn't hesitate in buying this book.

I've never been more pleased. She writes with her heart and I believe its because she's been through the grief and is narrating from experience. I cried along with the heroine and cheered with her when she finally overcame her sorrow. I'd give this book to someone who has lost a loved one and is in need of inspiration and God's love.

Thank you Kathleen Morgan. I was thrilled to find Daughter of Joy and Woman of Grace (book 2) on the shelves of my local christian bookstore. Kathleen Morgan is one of my favorite romance authors, and with this new series she has surpassed her past successes. As always her characters are so well developed you feel you know them intimately. They are very real with very real problems, and very real emotions. Bravo Kathleen! I am eagerly waiting for book 3 in the series.

The author could take a clue from Beverly Lewis' novels that contain Christian values without taking page after page of preaching. Some times the sermonizing detracts from the story and I found myself skipping through the pages trying to pick the story back up. Further, the author spends a large part of the book building up the physical attraction between the main characters and their heroic efforts to deny themselves. The attraction between them is a constant thread through the story, then when they are finally able to be together the marriage and their coming together is almost an afterthought and hastily addressed in the form of a letter at the end of the book. Those last few pages are an anti climax after the building pressure throughout the previous pages.
The book alternates between Abby's faith and her very human desire to be loved and wanted. It is either preaching or focused on the underlying sexual tension. It could be a good story, however there is too much time spent on sermonizing and not enough on building the storyline. If you want a well balanced Christian read,try Beverly Lewis' book.

I've been reading a lot of Christian fiction lately, and this is the preachiest one yet. That didn't stop me from reading it, though, and I found myself getting teary-eyed more than once.

While I do enjoy this particular genre of book, this one went a bit over the top. I've met some wonderful and forgiving people in my life, but nobody as 'nice' as our main character here ... nor will I. Christians are still human beings, with feelings. The forgiveness and 'turn the other cheek' formula can only go so far. At some point you simply become a doormat, and that's how I felt about her by the end of this story. It's not a bad book, but a little more reality and honest feeings would have been better.