Customer Reviews

Revealed (Fountain Creek Chronicles, Book 2)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Move over Petticoat Ranch! I still love ya, but Revealed moves into the top spot now. In fact, I dare say I loved Revealed even more than Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers, which used to be my favorite book...period. The title Revealed is so perfect and sums up the story in so many ways.

What made this book so amazing? The characters were not just flawed, but they grew throughout the story. Especially the hero. To me, this is the most powerful redemption story I've ever read. The tension between the characters was truly believable. As they got to know each other more they discovered that many of their assumptions about each other were not true, which meant they had to change things about themselves because of that revelation. Is that cool, or what?

I don't want to spoil the story for you with too many details, but there was just so much healing and character growth in this novel that it sets it apart from most historical westerns. Sure, you still have the sleazy characters that you want to choke, and they were believable, too. But there is just more depth to this story than most. The spiritual threads were delicately woven throughout the book and not at all preachy, IMHO. And that first kiss was perfect. The finger trailing the lip. The look in his eyes. The romantic waiting. The fact that he said he'd wait. So many things understood between them without a word. Oh, and her scary feelings of love (as a woman should feel) and the wonder of it all was fabulously done. She experienced how special things could be with Matthew.

One of the things I loved best about this story was the theme of how you can't love others if you don't know what unconditional love is. Johnny rescued Annabelle from a horrible life and prepared the soil for her to experience true love for the first time in her life. I also loved how the author used Annabelle's concern for Sadie to reach Matthew as well. Their relationship was so well done, as was the guardedness on Sadie's end. Several times my eyes misted. Great emotional impact! I highly recommend this book.

Once again Tamara Alexander provides us with a story you take to heart and love. With two of the characters from her first novel, Tamera weaves a tale of God's love and forgiveness for even the most broken of lives. Matt Taylor and Annabelle Grayson are drawn together when he learns his deceased brother's pregnant widow needs an escort to take her to join the wagon train she had to leave when Jonathan died. She wants to continue the journey to Idaho to live on the ranch Jonathan claimed there. Matt agrees because he believes the ranch should be his, not Annabelle's. Because of her past life in a brothel, Matt feels she isn't worthy to bear the name of his brother and even doubts the unborn child is Jonathan's. Matt and Annabelle travel westward and during the trip, they learn to respect each other and to trust God to take them safely on their journey. Along the way Annabelle, with Matt's unexpected help, is able to rescue a young friend, Sadie, from life in a brothel. The ending has a wonderful twist that wraps up the story in a most satisfying way. This is one that will be hard to put down once you start reading.

Revealed is the second book in Tamera Alexander's Fountain Creek Chronicles and readers will be pleased to know that Tamera has written another powerful story of two broken people seeking redemption from their past. This is the story of Annabelle Grayson and Matthew Taylor, pivotal characters in Tamera's first book, Rekindled.

After the death of her husband, Annabelle chooses to follow his dream and travel to Idaho and the land he had claimed. She wants to start afresh and locate her young friend, Sadie who has disappeared. Annabelle advertises for a trail guide to accompany her on the arduous journey and is shocked to discover that Matthew Taylor, her late husband's brother, unwittingly reponds. Matthew despises Annabelle and wants nothing more than to expose her as the conniving and immoral woman he believes she is.

Tamera's deft hand writes a tender and realistic story of two people struggling to move beyond their tainted past into a fresh and forgiven future. Annabelle and young Sadie's haunting past is sensitively portrayed as is Matthew's guilt and regreat over his broken relationship with his brother. Matthew's unforgiving prejudice towards Annabelle reveals a tendency in most of us to pass judgement on prior behaviour rather than on a person's current character and conduct. Revealed is a moving story which challenges you to consider how you view those around you in light of God's grace and forgiveness to us all.

When a prostitute is bought out of a brothel and marries a man she does not really love, the reader wants to dislike her right away. Soon enough, Annabella was my hero, even with her jaded past. A tragedy, and we met her as a pregnant widow. Matthew Taylor needs a job, so he applied as trail guide for Annabelle's trip to Idaho and the land her deceased husband loved.

To say these two literally despised each other would not be stretching the truth, both had deep, dark secrets and both had reasons not to trust the other. However, Matthew got the job and much of this book is about the long, 900 mile journey, searching for tiny little Sadie, a 15 yr. old prostitute, nearly losing their lives in the process. Why was Matthew so edgy and seemed to look over his shoulder a lot? The wanted posters told Annabelle some of the reasons--- she was traveling with a criminal.

This book deals with many issues, prostitution in the early settlements of the West, the dangers of whiskey, gambling and women all thrown together and the struggle to forgive oneself even after God has shown complete forgiveness.

Traveling by wagon was not easy, especially when two people who disliked and distrusted each other were alone for three months and there were inate dangers as well as physical and environmental ones. Personally, for me, I related completely to the subtle description of dementia of a very elderly, mean relative.

I have already begun my search for book three by this author. Where did she come from and how did she get to be such a sucess so quickly? Books one and two only slightly overlap with towns and people and book three has a huge reputation to live up to. Thanks for the Christian, historical fiction book that shows the power of change when asked of God.

Revealed

By: Tamera Alexander

Covered wagons and western skies, damsels in distress and bounty hunters, all make dreams of days gone by. If you love traveling back to that era, this book is for you.

. . .Annabelle Grayson McCutchens was rescued from her shameful past by a godly man who offered her unconditional love. When Jonathon McCutchens died, she had only one goal. She would travel from Colorado to his ranch in Idaho and birth and raise his child there.

Matthew Taylor was a man with a conflicted heart. He loved and served Jesus Christ. But, after a perceived betrayal by his best friend, ran from his faith, his home, his life.

He knew Annabelle's past and placed judgment upon her. But he needed to get to Idaho and she had the money to pay him to escort her there. His heart burned with the desire to pay off the bounty hunter and to punish her for what she'd done.

When their pasts collide with the present, they must each decide if forgiveness is the road to follow. And as the wagon travels towards Idaho, will faith and love fill their hearts enough for grace to push the past out? . . .

Tamera Alexander has done it again. Book two in the Fountain Creek Series takes you on a journey of love and forgiveness with Annabelle and Matthew. Get a quilt, a comfortable chair and curl up for a great read. You will love it out west and won't be ready to come back to this century.

Unlike others, I was compelled to read this book because of Annabelle's previous occupation and once I started, I could not put the book down, compelled by the artistic way Alexander drew me into the hearts and souls of the characters by her incredible talent to write them in an honest and compelling way, set to the backdrop of an incredible story. It is a story about grace and coming to truly know and believe that grace.

I'll try not to "spoil" the story too much in my review, as I hate that in other reviews.

"Revealed" starts out with Annabelle losing her husband and her regret at not being able to love him the way she wished she could. In her travels to grant her husband's request of being buried by Fountain Creek, she must find another driver to help her meet up with the wagon train that she and her husband were traveling with to the ranch he owned. The new driver turns out to be her husband's brother who did not approve of Annabelle and her past.

The story follows these characters on their journey, both physical and emotion. We are captivated by the way Alexander shows in authentic ways the growth of both characters throughout their struggles.
I can't wait for the next series coming out next month!

This book was fabulous!! I was riveted from page one and I didn't put it down till I had finished it. I read the entire thing on a six-hour car ride. The characters were so real; they all had flaws and secrets. And the relationship between Annabelle and Matthew was developed beautifully. Though they started out butting heads and almost hating each other due to past experiences, they each came to terms, growing individually and then developing a solid foundation for not only friendship, but also for an angsty and subtle romance. It was obvious that these were God-fearing people, but I was a pleasantly surprised to read something a little different than the Christian fiction norm. It was more a change of heart, a change of perspective, forgiveneses and acceptance rather than the typical conversion that we read so often.

My only advice would be to read the previous book "Rekindled" first. I didn't realize this was the second book in a series, so I didn't understand alot of things. MAKE SURE YOU READ THE PREVIOUS BOOK FIRST. I have yet to read it, but it's on my desk at home waiting for me. And the next book in the series, "Remembered" will be released soon, and I can't wait to read that one as well. I'm so impressed with this debut author and what she has to offer her readers. Her writing style is sharp and descriptive, but not too flowery or over the top. Alexander has the skill and ability to pull you into the book so you see every scene and feel every emotion. Everything about this book flowed and fit just right. This is a five star book for anyone who likes historical fiction and Christian romances all wrapped up in one amazing package.

A little slow starting. The only thing I would change would be to spend more time on the relationship between the two main characters and less time getting them packed up and on their way. It was still a very good book. Both characters had a past and prejudices. How they came to relate to each other, accept each other, and learn to forgive made a very tender story. Great follow-up to the first book in the series.

"Annabelle Grayson McCutchens stared at the dying man beside her and wished, as she had the day she married him, that she loved her husband more."

I saw a similarity between Annabelle's story in "Revealed" and "Reedeming Love" by Francine Rivers. Both in subject matter and the sweetness in how it was handled.

This enjoyable and touching novel should appeal to historical and romance fans and those who love to see God at work changing lives and hearts.

A solid, well-crafted novel with moments of pain, beauty and love that almost take the reader's breath away. The further I stepped into the story the sadder I became at the approaching ending.

The only complaint I could log would be that the book wasn't long enough to give a day by day detailed description of life between the main characters. I felt like I missed little shreds of developing relationship - a sign that I got overly involved with the characters. Which is the ultimate goal in fiction, is it not?

Reviewed by Kelly Klepfer

In the late 1860s with the death of her spouse, pregnant Annabelle Grayson McCuthens feels alone as her life is filled with mistakes and regrets. She decides to leave Fountain Creek, Colorado to start fresh in a new home in Idaho in hopes of leaving behind her failures. She seeks to hire a guide to take her to her new beginning.

Two men respond to her want ads. The younger one Matthew Taylor is running from his past just like Annabelle is. He applies for the position that he sees as a chance to start anew, but is stunned to learn if hired his employer is the Widow McCuthens, the woman he blames for his friend's death though he admits he helped cause the wrong that will haunt him for ever.

The second Fountain Creek Chronicles (see REKINDLED) is an inspirational tale starring two souls with much remorse over errors they made that cost them and others plenty. The irony of this superb Americana is that Matthew scorns Annabelle though he holds himself in contempt too. Readers will be hooked early on to learn why as Tamara Alexander provides an interesting Reconstruction Era tale.

Harriet Klausner