Customer Reviews

Journey to Love (Angels of Mercy)

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Reviewed by Peggy Hillmer

JOURNEY TO LOVE, the second book in the Angels of Mercy series, is a tender, touching story of love and family and one girl's search for both. Christine Bristol's inspirational tale will move you as she tries to reunite her "real" family and explore the possibility of love with a former admirer. Her plan doesn't include God, but she discovers He is part of everything.

Willful and spoiled, Christine has much to learn about life. She once again runs away to find the mother who abandoned her and her brother at a stagecoach depot four years earlier. She's determined to bring back her Mama and she enlists the help of Tucker Trudeau, the handsome Cajun photographer she met on an earlier adventure. Christine's mother has been implicated in activities with a confidence man. Tucker's mother, a seer and healer with strange religious powers, brings her misgivings about their relationship along on the trip west.

The second book in the Angels of Mercy series, JOURNEY TO LOVE picks up Christine's story where A PATCHWORK FAMILY ended. You needn't have read the first book in order to enjoy this one; however, A PATCHWORK FAMILY is a wonderful tale of a young couple who work a station on the Pony Express line. I highly recommend it.

Ms. Hubbard's interweaving of history will keep you turning pages, while her descriptive settings transport you along the Union Pacific line to San Francisco. This is a great follow-up story, which left me eager for the next in the Angels of Mercy series.

In 1869 St. Louis sixteen year old Christine Bristol dreams of her mother returning to her and her brother Billy, but feels she must do something to make it happen. However, Christine has no idea where her mother went since she abandoned them. However, she feels she found the starting point when she finds a bundle of letters hidden away by her mother. To her ire, the love letters are signed by Tucker Trudeau, whom Christine has loved since she first met him three years ago.

Still Christine now has a name to begin her quest. She pleads with Tucker to help her find her mother. Tucker and his mother agree to accompany Christine on a trek to follow the clues to the whereabouts of her missing mother. Neither understood how difficult it is to locate someone who might not want to be found as they trek across the country.

This is an interesting historical romance that showcases how different society was just under a hundred fifty years ago as the sixteen years old heroine hopes to marry the man she loves. The story line though labeled an Angels of Mercy Inspirational seems to realistic in terms of profanity and sexual innuendos and comments for that intended audience. In spite of a lack of real motivation by Tucker and his mom and several leaps of faith spins Charlotte Hubbard provides readers with an interesting mid nineteenth century journey to womanhood.

Harriet Klausner

If someone is looking for an inspirational or Christian title, this is definitely not one to choose. The language and sexual situations are not appropriate for people looking for a gentle read.

Setting that aside, I had serious problems with the fact that the main character was only sixteen. Maybe that was ok in the 1800s, but it's certainly not all right today and it made me a bit nauseated to read about this girl pursuing a relationship at such a young age.

I do not recommend this book.

This book really inspired me. There are so many examples of how we hurt those who are nearest and dearest to us by words, actions or jumping to the wrong conclusion too fast. Then there are so many examples of living out unconditional love even when those we love the most fail in our eyes.

It would take to many words to describe in detail about how wonderful the book is but I would recommend this book to anyone who needed the inspiration to love your family even on the hardest days.

After waiting for a long time for her mother's return, Christine Bristol sets off on a cross country odyssey to find her wayward parent. Providing protection, transportation, and guidance are Tucker Trudeau and his mother. The way ahead is hard, and the young woman will have to face many hard truths before she finds her mother, and twice as many afterwards. Her journey will also reveal the mystery of love and the way of faith to her, if she can but open her wounded heart.

Though billed as inspirational, it does little to live up to that claim. Christine's trek seems to ramble more than the Exodus, and the people she meets are no where near as interesting as the characters in the Bible. There is also no clear message and very little focus on things that would lead one to faith.