Customer Reviews

Light of My Heart (Silver Hills Trilogy, Book 1)

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This book is the first in the Silver Hills Trilogy and I have to admit, I really enjoyed this book. It's about Letitia Morgan, a young female doctor trying to find her way in the booming silver mining town of Hartville, Colorado in 1892. All her life, Letty has never fit in anywhere but she knows that God has called her to be a doctor and to help anyone she can. Unfortunately for Letty female doctors, especially those that are spinsters, are not well liked in this town and she must fight an uphill battle. Especially when she starts ministering to the town's undesirables. But she knows God's call on her life is strong and she's willing to risk everything on what she knows is right.

But will she risk Erik Wagner, the tall handsome newspaper man who has stolen her heart? Can she heal him of a hurt that he is not willing to let go?

If you are looking for a really good romance novel that will make you laugh, get mad and will melt your heart than I fully recommend this one. I also appreciated the the strong Christian morality in this book. I can't wait to read the next book in this series.

--- reviewed by Laurie Jones for Christian Bookshelf

Dr. Letitia Morgan, a young doctor, travels to Colorado to set up her practice. Her job was compliments of a newspaperman who is nursing a long and unsolved very private guilt that he feels maybe a lady doctor can erase. However, Letitia soon finds herself entangled with the health and welfare of some very young "soiled doves" and a family of orphans, much to the dismay of her sponsor and the town. Treating male patients is also denied her since there is already one male doctor in town who is very suspicious, rich and selfish in this mining town.

Dr. Morgan has difficulty making many friends since most see her as a threat. However, she refuses to let their opinions sway her away from her God-called occupation so she ends up in a precarious position, without patients or funds and looking for a new job.

This is the first book of a trilogy and I have already purchased the next two. I am not certain if they contain all the same characters but I do believe they take place in the same town.

Before women's liberation took hold, Letitia Morgan earned the right to be a doctor, but it was a fight all the way to get folks to trust her with their lives. Yet, she found a place where she was needed, a small town in Colorado that desperately needed someone who could take care of their women and children. Not only will she have to prove her talent, but also earn the respect of her potential patients. That means keeping her reputation unspotted and maybe even compromising her hypocratic oath, if some have their way and she only treats respectable folks.

However, Letty won't do that, no matter the cost. No one is too downtrodden for her to help, not a drunk's family, not a bunch of ladies of the night. Eric Wagner admires her determination, but thinks she should be more cautious, for more reasons than one. Eric may be Letty's biggest case yet; he needs heart surgery of the deepest kind. Eric's refused to love anyone since he let his wife down and in his opinion, let her die. He can't chance doing that again, but it may kill his soul not to.

*** The problems of today are the problems of yesterday, Ms Aiken's story says. How to hate sin but not the sinner is a question that dogs both the residents of her Little Housesque world and the world today. This sweet story is saved from being too much so by a slightly gritty edge. ***

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore

Book one of the Silver Hills Trilogy, Light Of My Heart by Ginny Aiken is a soulful novel set in 1892, in the booming town of Hartville, Colorado that has sprung up next to a silver mine. Letitia Morgan is a beautiful young woman determined to practice medicine in the wild frontier land, only to find herself caught amidst potentially deadly quarrels and subject to personal attack. It will take far more than courage to prove herself and establish her career, and when the young Dr. Morgan becomes embroiled in the fate of three orphans, her life will never be the same. The first title in the "Silver Hills" trilogy, Ginny Aiken's Light Of My Heart offers a thoroughly compelling narrative that will leave the reader eager for more.

Was very happy to recieve it as it finishes out a series....Thank You for quick delivery

I picked up this book because of these two reasons:

a) The summary on the back made no mention of 'dark pasts/hidden pasts' or an man who has stolen her heart yada, yada, yada. It was simply about an female doctor. That interested me, and I was further prodded by my second reason,

b) There wasn't a studly guy smirking in the background. You know, everyone has seen those cheesy romances with the girl's dramatic visage in the foreground and the man standing in the background. It breathes predictable. This cover was simply an woman standing in the streets. It held promise.

But boy, was I misled.

Don't get me wrong, about ninety percent of the christian fiction readers out there are women who go wild over this type of writing, but for those of you who enjoy intricate, unpredictable, well-written reads...? Be forewarned, this is not one of those books. It's sad really, because being a christian I would love to pick up an christian fiction novel and be able to read a well-written book; but all too often they are unproffessional romances and I end up disgusted. I have nothing against romances, just romances with seemingly no plotline whatsoever.

The predictability is almost painful. At the beginning of the book Letty is riding on an train to meet her sponser, Mr. Eric Wagner, and of course she has to be thinking the most obvious "oh! I can't wait to meet his wife!" I made an wild guess at the following plotline of the story within the first chapters, and got it right! Shouldn't that tell you something?

I guessed this: Ok, obviously he's not going to be married, and he'll be harboring some deep sorrowful trauma concerning that fact, aka, she died because of him. Enter woman doctor, instant chemistry, some sappy scenes of resistance where they futilely attempt to stay apart. And then the scene of realization where they admit they cannot be without each other. The bits and pieces of Mary-Sue plot that were squeezed in between the obvious were not even worth repeating.

As you might tell, I'm not a happy camper about wasting my money on this waste of time. Don't read this book unless you enjoy the average, ill-written christian fiction romance that leaves nothing to the imagination.