Customer Reviews

A Reason to Live (Forrester Brothers)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Laurel Covey has lost a lot in a very small period of time. Her husband is killed during the civil war, her family has turned its back on her because she dare to marry a Southerner, and the ghosts of the men she tried to help working as a nurse in the field haunt her dreams. Deciding the best way to put the past behind her is to face the families of the dead soldiers and share with them their loved ones last words and thoughts. Laurel hopes that this will not only give the loved ones peace, but maybe just maybe she will achieve a little peace. Her travels are solitary until one afternoon a man races to her rescue. It's providence that they should meet. Creede Forrester, an ex-gunslinger is looking for Laurel. He hopes that she will tell him that his son really didn't die during the war. He has no one right now and his life has never seemed so empty. But, Laurel is going to change all that and together these two wounded people will put the past to rest and find a happy ending.

I have been a long time fan of Ms. McKade dating back to her first titles she wrote for Avon back in the mid `90's. Her talent has only grown as she has perfected her craft penning her romances. "A Reason to Live" is full of heart and emotion and Laurel and Creede are perfectly matched, each helping the other through their individual pain. The eclectic cast of secondary animal characters and human characters as well are a perfect complement to the story. Ms. McKade has done a fine job bringing the post civil war south to life and the reader will see, feel, and hear all of the elements she has described as we travel along with Creede and his Laurel. If you are only going to read one historical romance this fall, I highly suggest you select this one. One word of caution you better have a box of Kleenex handy as you will need it. This is one read that will tug at your heart. Reviewed for CK2S Kwips and Kritiques.

Wow, what a story! McKade is really coming into her own as a solid romance novelist. She has created a heroine who is truly unique, a woman struggling with the bloody horrors trapped in her memory, afraid she's slowly going crazy, and a hero who is also trying to come to grips with his wife's and son's deaths. In the aftermath of the Civil War, Laurel, our heroine, travels the South to bring the victim's final words to their families as she has promised the men she would do. Creede joins her in her quest, and their initial antipathy towards each other turns into respect and then love. But, what is so good here is the vivid descriptions of a South ruined by the War, of people who are much worse off than before. McKade does an excellent job of bringing the reader into the broken, desperate experiences of so many different kinds of people affected by the ravages of the Civil War. Her two main characters are hurting in different ways, but drawn to each other as well. You will see the South through their eyes, but will also enjoy a good, page-turning plot and a satisfying love story. There are at least two more stories that will spin off from this initial novel, and I am thrilled. Can't wait for the next one!

During the Civil War Nurse Laurel Covey provides solace to dying soldiers though no one offers comfort to her. Her Massachusetts parents disowned her after forcing her to choose between them and her Virginian spouse, who died at Gettysburg. His family wants nothing to do with a New Englander. Though watching the young die torches her soul, she writes down their last words promising them she would deliver their final message to loved ones.

In 1865 though bone wary from the war, she begins her odyssey to bring comfort to the grieving family members of those she watched die. When two scraggily hooligans assault her, bounty hunter Creede Forrester rescues her. The Texan has come east to find his estranged son, who fought for the Confederacy. She informs him that his son died. Anger joins his feelings of guilt as he never obtained the chance to reconcile with his offspring. He joins her quest out of remorse for failing his late spouse and son. As they venture from one grieving family to another, they turn to each other for solace; love blossoms, but both has major psyche hurts that make neither able to show how they feel.

Though a historical, A REASON TO LIVE is a deep poignant tale that clearly would apply today as Laurel makes the difficult rounds to provide grieving individuals and families with the last words of their deceased loved ones. The lead couple is an enchaning pair who care about others for different reasons. The romance enhances the story one, but this Post Civil War drama belongs to those suffering from the loss of a loved one; perhaps if the presumptive first strike believers had to visit the surviving family members to tell them their loved one died in combat they would take a harder look at the war only option.

Harriet Klausner

A REASON TO LIVE is the story of a troubled woman that has endured the ravages of war and of a man that goes looking for his injured son and finds that he has died in the war.

Laurel Covey, a confederate nurse, has spent 3 years in army tents, surrounded by the most horrific sights and foul smells imaginable. She has consoled dying soldiers and nursed the few that after healing are thrown back into the fray. Laurel has collected the dying words of soldiers and has written them in a journal. After the war is over, she journeys to deliver the last words of those fallen soldiers to the respective families all over the country. She has lost everything in War - her husband, her possessions and her soul and feels she is loosing her mid as well.

She encounters Creed Forrester. A Texan rancher and retired gunslinger, Creed is looking for Laurel, as he thinks that she is carrying vital information regarding his son's whereabouts. Creed rescues Laurel from renegade soldiers and eventually finds that she was present at this son's death. He struggles with the grief of loosing his son but realizes that the strong woman he has meet is struggling with demons of her own.

Laurel is plagued by horrible nightmares at night and during the day instances make her retreat into the world of cannon fire, dying men with amputated limbs and the stench of death and blood. She carries the terrible burden that she was asked to choose between the dying soldiers, selecting the ones that were not mortally wounded and feels she didn't do enough to save as many as she could have.

The character development is beautiful as Creed and Laurel get to now each, while he accompanies her in her quest to deliver the messages of the dying soldiers. Laurel forms a fragile bond with Creed as she has rejected eveything in life and he helps her heal her wounded spirit and allows her to find her heart.

The story is poignant and beautifully written, not for the faint hearted, as the horrors of war are painstakingly portrayed. It is a story of hope and deliverance - a story of the human spirit, with strong people forced to live in a harsh period in our history. Maureen McKade has vividly re-created the post civil war era, and how the ravages of war have torn the country in two. The misery and despair of the ravaged South Creed and Laurel encounter as they travel is so well portrayed that you feel you are traveling right along with them. The beauty of this story will stay with you for a long time.

"A Reason to Live" is another triumph to an acclaimed author Maureen Mckade. The story is not a typical historical romance that you would expect from a romance author. It is a heart wrenching saga of two emotionally scared characters that are trying to come to terms with their pasts and ultimately finding a reason to pursue their future. Laurel served as a combat nurse during the Civil War and ultimately witnessed the wreath of the devastating War Between the States. After the war she feels obligated to all those soldiers that died in her care to carry their messages to their loved once. Through her eyes we are witnessing the aftermath of the war and its affect on the people. Creede's son died at the war. He is drown to Laurel as the last link between himself and Austin. Throughout their journey they reopen the wounds of the past and rediscover their future. I enjoyed the book tremendously, following Maureen's work over the years you can definitely see her evolving as an author. I can't wait to read her next novel.

A Reason to Live is the story of two lost souls finding each other and... a reason to live. It's aptly named.

Laurel Covey is a Civil War widow and nurse. Now that the war is over, she's traveling around the country on a mission to deliver the last words from soldiers who died in her care.

Creede Forrester is a widower whose only son had reportedly been injured in the war, and he's tracked down Laurel to find out what happened to him.

They meet unexpectedly when he rescues her from outlaws, and despite her objections, Creede's conscience won't allow him to let her continue her journey alone. But Laurel has a secret--she's trying to deliver all the messages before her sanity finally deserts her. Contemporary readers will recognize she's suffering from PTSD.

Up until this point, A Reason to Live was an intensely emotional, 5-star read, but it lost steam as the pair traveled from town to town delivering the messages and having brief adventures--rescuing a kitten, finding a family for a young ex-slave, treating a bullet wound, etc. It's a very realistic-feeling if optimistic portrait of America immediately after the Civil War, and it touches on some interesting issues, but I lost the thread of the story in the side trips.

Still, there's a twist or two near the end, and the way their growing relationship gave meaning to lives they felt were over brought tears to my eyes a few times, and I'm glad I read it.

I honestly don't know what to think of my reactions to books by Maureen McKade. I've read seven of her books. Four I've rated 5 stars, three zero stars. I'm sorry to say that the only reason I gave this one two stars (zero in my personal notation book) is because I have enjoyed other stories from Ms. McKade so very much. I have my notes on other McKade books and am amazed. Evidently I either love her stories or I don't like them at all. Sorry to say, this is a don't like it at all for me.

Widow Laurel Covey is on a mission to visit the families of soldiers who made death bed statements to her while she was a nurse for the Confederate side in the war which ended just six months past. Creede Forrester was searching for her to find out if she knew whether his son had died in battle. His information indicated his son was wounded but now that the war is over, he cannot find his son. Once he finds Laurel and understands what her mission is, his conscience will not allow him to let her make the last visitation trips alone. He goes along with her even though she plainly states that she does not want him. This story does not "resonate with heartfelt emotion" as the cover states, for me it was just plain depressing. Everything turned out well for Laurel and Creede in the ending but it was a struggle for me to wade through all the war recollections and emotional baggage Laurel was carrying. I know, I know. That was the whole point of the story, but uplifting it was not! A little bit of "happy" along the way would have gone a long way toward making this an easier read. So very much seriousness just weighed me down. I didn't WANT to finish reading it but I did. Was the introduction of the starving, orphaned kitten supposed to form some of the "happy" moments which were otherwise sadly lacking? If so, it didn't work out that way for me. How could we be expected to believe that a starving, orphaned kitten could walk fifteen miles from one campsite to the next? If the starving, orphaned kitten could do it, why did the perfectly healthy horses only make it those fifteen miles? See, I'm being picky, picky, picky. But once it starts, everything begins to snag my attention and I loose concentration and the desire to continue to read.

Sorry to be so negative but I just cannot see myself recommending this to anyone without a strong warning first. I have two more Maureen McKade books left to read. If my yo-yo is correct, surely one of them should be a five star read.

This book should be on everyone's top ten historical romance list, if not romance list of all time. This is a masterful story written by a talented author. I won't go into a blow-by-blow description of the plot becuase everyone has done this. This is a book that you will re-read and seach high and low to find another copy when yours wears out.

Very touching story. The inner story is a good one...Laurel is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from being a nurse during the Civil War. Both her and Creede have lost everything in their lives worth living for. He insists on accompanying her back to Texas to deliver her last message and on the way they grow close and Laurel discovers her PTSD becomes better the more time she spends talking about her experiences with Creede and having him hold her close at night. And he ultimately heals when he arrives back on his farm in Texas with Laurel.

This is the 1st book in the Forrester Bros. series. The next is "A Reason to Believe" and last is "A Reason to Sin" out in March 2008.

I would definitely recommend this book and the 2nd. And more than likely the 3rd when it comes out.

America 1800's post Civil War

A REASON TO LIVE is a great tale of recovery from tragedy and loss and finding love along the way! Be sure to read A REASON TO BELIEVE and soon to be released A REASON TO SIN. The trilogy is about the loves of the rough and rugged but sensual Forrester brothers.

Very enjoyable!