The Pattern of Her Heart (Lights of Lowell Series #3) [Large Print] [Paperback]

Tracie Peterson (Author), Judith McCoy Miller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2005

Lights of Lowell Book 3- When tragedy strikes, Jasmine Houston must uproot her family from the Northern mill town of Lowell and take over her family’s Southern plantation, The Willows. But upon her arrival, her anti-slavery positions cause strife between Jasmine and her neighbors and relatives. Tensions continue to rise until an explosive act—the burning of The Willows—causes Jasmine and Nolan to flee north. But the lives of the slaves they’ve promised to protect hang in the balance.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Tracie Peterson is a popular speaker and bestselling author of more than sixty books of historical and contemporary fiction. Tracie and her family make their home in Montana.

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Bethany House Publishers (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764201182
• ISBN-13: 978-0764201189
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,002,781 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fabulous insightful Antebellum historical, October 25, 2005

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Pattern of Her Heart (Lights of Lowell Series #3) (Paperback)

In 1857 Lowell, Massachusetts Nolan and Jasmine Houston pray everyday for a miracle as their five years old daughter Alice Ann struggles to recover from Scarlet Fever. When Dr. Hartzfield deems the little girl is healthy enough to celebrate her birthday that passed three months ago, the Houstons rejoice that their beloved child has healed.

Not long afterward, attorney Forbes tells Jasmine and Nolan that her father, her brother and most of her other relatives died from Yellow Fever at the family Mississippi plantation, the Willows. They need to decide what to do with the slaves and the property. Nolan and Jasmine head south to free those slaves who survived the epidemic. In Mississippi their abolitionist philosophy anger their neighbors and the few surviving relatives until someone burns down the Willows leaving Jasmine and Nolan to wonder how to keep their family and themselves safe while doing the right thing for the slaves they want to free.

THE PATTERN OF HER HEART showcases how violent the country was over slavery just prior to the Civil War. The Houstons meet derision and hatred for wanting to free her family slaves. However as noble and obvious as that seems, the pair soon find how complicated that can be. Several of those they want to liberate have no economic means of survival as they have been dependent on their owners and when the Willows is destroyed causing the Houstons to flee for Lowell they ponder how to protect those they left behind from an angry local populace. Book Three of the Lights of Lowell series is a fabulous insightful Antebellum historical.

Harriet Klausner

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Story of Romance, Heartache, Hope and Struggle, June 13, 2006

By 

FictionAddiction.NET - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Pattern of Her Heart (Lights of Lowell Series #3) (Paperback)

Those women of Lowell are at it again! The Pattern of Her Heart takes us back in time to the pre-Civil War days when our country was divided by economic dependence on slavery in the south and the morality of using slaves to increase the wealth of the owners. Put a killer epidemic and the burgeoning financial disaster looming in the north in the mix and you have a story of desperation and hope.

Our first lady of the story is Jasmine. She and her husband have been very successful in raising horses and selling them.

Jasmine's brother works for the Corporation that runs the various textile mills in town. The economic outlook for the mills is bleak. The girls that work in the mills are being laid off, some of the boarding houses are closing and the financially over-extended (Brother) is desperate for money when they get news that a killer epidemic has hit their home in the south and virtually their entire family has been wiped out.

With a baby on the way and business matters to tend to, (Brother) leaves it to Jasmine to harvest the cotton crop and sell the plantation. All he wants is his money when it's settled. Jasmine arrives in Mississippi and tells all of the slaves that she is freeing them and if they would like, they can stay on to harvest the final cotton crop for wages to give them a fresh start in the north as free men and women.

At first the slaves are skeptical but when they are handed their papers of freedom, they know they can trust Jasmine and her husband to stand by their word. When the other slaves hear that Jasmine's slaves have been freed and are now working for wages, there is unrest among the other plantations.

So much so that Jasmine and her family are run out of town, the sale of the crop and plantation virtually worthless. When she returns, her brother takes matters in his own hands making deals with those who thwarted the sale in the first place.

There is also lots of romance in The Pattern of Her Heart. Elinor Brighton, a boarding house matron, is determined not to fall in love again. She has loved and lost too many times and never wants to feel the pain again but when the newly widowed preacher comes to town that familiar flutter catches her by surprise.

It also catches the preacher's rowdy daughter, Reggie, by surprise making her think Elinor befriended her only to close to her father. Reggie is determined to find out if Elinor is truly her friend or just using her to get to her father as many other women have tried.

Then there's the Irishman, Paddy, who works for Jasmine and her family. When they had to venture to Mississippi to take care of the estate they left Paddy in charge of the horse business.

While he was in charge, he caught the eye of an Irish girl new to Lowell, Mary Margaret. She was an independent girl working in the mill and living at Elinor's boarding house. Paddy thought she was a snob for not living in the Acre with the rest of the Irish folk but will these two ever turn the electricity between the two of them into something other than an argument?

5.0 out of 5 stars The Pattern Of Her Heart, February 14, 2012

By 

Mudd - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Pattern of Her Heart (Lights of Lowell Series #3) (Paperback)

This book was in great shape for $1.00. I would recommend this Book series to anyone Good writing...... Anyone would enjoy this book.