Jessica Nelson

It's rare I read a book where I just want to linger (because of the author's beautiful language/writing) and can't stop myself from burning through it. I was 100% immersed.

This is a CLEAN regency romance with all the fun of a historical setting and all the joy of suppressed attraction, societal expectations, and a need to be proper. I hate to say it, but I'm disgruntled. Thoroughly. WHY DID THE BOOK HAVE TO END?! The characters are engaging. Their struggles are solid. The developing romance is so sweet, and the external conflicts make for a compelling plot. I've read far too many romances where the plot is the romance. *snore* How about some depth, people? Life is never about merely falling love. It's about the people who surround us and the external pull each one holds over our hearts, energy, and focus. I adored the emphasis on family and the values the story embraces.

About the actual writing... Having penned a few things in the past, I was in absolute awe at how many different ways the author showed the characters responses/emotions. Every single reaction was unique. Do you have any idea how much effort/attention/time it takes to make EACH sigh, look, or touch completely unique for an ENTIRE NOVEL? Yeah. Blown away. I have to applaud Ms. Nelson for a job VERY well done.

And did I mention I wanted to stay with the characters a bit longer? --Not because the plot didn't tie up nicely, but because I loved the book. Loved. I was ready for another regency from this author as soon as I closed the cover. (Come on, Jessica. Give me another, eh?)

If you love regency romance, read this book.

Content warning: NOTHING. Absolutely nothing. Hand this story to your five year old and you won't have a single reason to blush. ...Not saying a five year old would appreciate the story...… (mehr)

Love on the Range by Jessica Nelson
ISBN: 9780373829149
Gracie has arrived by wagon and will stay with Uncle Lou. He has a ranch in Oregon and his housekeeper is Mary. Trevor who picked her up at the station is also watching Maryto be sure none kidnap her or do worse.
Gracie has escaped the disease in the East and hopes to meet the notorious Mr. Striker as she's written some articles for publication.
She can't believe they don't really pray at meals or go to church so she will tag along with Mary when she meets up with friends on Sunday. Gracie did get in the back of the
wagon and hitched a ride to town to find out if anybody knew where Striker was. The Government is also looking for him.
She is beside herself when her parents show up with a guest before Christmas. She is still trying to find out more about Striker but she has also done some other investigating nto business matters.
Gracie is very opinionated and likes to have her freedon of speech and dress and it's sometimes getting her into trouble by voicing her opinions and doing things not normal for woman of her station.
Trevor talks to her of God and thinks she can understand the way he feels about that.
Now there is another mystery to solve, it just never ends...
Love tale of the government and talk of how the FBI first started out.
Really enjoyed the ranch live and hidden secrets and other mysteries.… (mehr)

I find myself very polarised about this book. On the one hand, I enjoyed the gist of the story, the characters and the narrative voice. On the other hand, I often found myself incredibly insulted by the religious messages that it was pushing. I’m going to start with these.

Gracie, the heroine, is a devout Christian who sees God’s hand in everything. That’s fine, especially considering that this is set in the early 1900’s. But as soon as she discovers that the three male characters on the ranch do not share her beliefs she is shocked and tries to sway their opinion with some God babble. This clearly shows that Gracie has no respect for their beliefs – or lack thereof as the case may be. Even more frustratingly, the story goes down the path of “atheists don’t really not believe in God – they do believe in Him, they just hate Him”. That’s Gracie’s epiphany about Trevor, the hero. This stance annoys me to no end. If you don’t believe in God then you can’t hate Him because you don’t believe He exists. I’d really like to read a story where the religious and irreligious learn to see eye to eye without either giving up on their core beliefs, but I have yet to find one where both characters don’t end up Christian.

There’s a question at the end of the book:

7. Uncle Lou doesn’t talk about God or seem interested in Him. Do you know people like that? What makes someone uninterested in God? Is there a sensitive way to share faith with a person like Lou?

Yes I do – in fact, I know more people who aren’t interested in God than who are. I’m uninterested in Him because I’ve read enough of the Bible to know that I do not believe it to be divinely inspired. There are sensitive ways to share faith with people like Lou, like me, but this author does not manage to get anywhere close. Instead, she – through Gracie - is condescending and does not even try to look at things from the atheist’s point of view. She just pities them for not having her God in their life, not being able to turn to Him in their times of need. This annoyed me so much. I find it incredibly insulting. This is such a shame because when the story actually focused on the plot – Gracie’s desire to meet her hero, Striker, and Trevor’s determination to keep his alter ego from her all while exploring their budding attraction – I really enjoyed it all. But God always came back when you least expected Him. It got to the point where I was seriously tempted to skip whole portions of the story because of this. Instead I just allowed myself to get irritated.

The story itself was fairly transparent. As soon as Mendez, Striker’s enemy, and his means of crime are mentioned, it’s obvious how things will pan out at the climax. Most of the story focuses on Gracie discovering life in the Oregon desert – very different to the busy socialite existence that she was leading in Boston.

I enjoyed her evolution from shallow, annoying Gracie to a much more rounded, better grounded Gracie. The location was also perfect and very vividly drawn. Setting it all against the backdrop of the deadly Spanish flu allowed the author to keep the small number of characters very isolated, which worked in the story's favour. Even how Gracie was trapped in an existence she didn’t want by her over-bearing but well-meaning and old-fashioned parents lent an interesting side to the story as they prevented Gracie from really finding her own two feet. She would practically become another character around them: very quiet, demure and submitting to their wishes, however unwillingly.

Trevor was my favourite character. I liked how he had to battle the horrors of his past in order to be able to get to the point where he could accept the happiness offered to him in his present.

In all, I ended up with two conflicting feelings about the book. I suspect that it will really appeal to Christian readers, but as an atheist, I ended up feeling insulted by its religious message and its treatment of the topic. I wish the author had kept religion out of it all: then it could have been a lovely romance that I would display with some pride on my shelves! It’s a shame that the religious message ruined it for me.… (mehr)

Review:Love on the Range Jessica Nelson
4 STARS
A Good relaxing read about a bad time in history. It must have been scary seeing all the deaths from the Spanish influenza.
Gracelyn is from a rich old family Boston who are sending her out west so she won't get the flue. Grace only agreed to go because she found out that the goverment spy Striker lives out their and if she can interview him she will get a full time reporter job. She wants to be independant.
Her parents also arrainged a mairrage for her even though she has told Huge she does not want to marry him. Told parents that she does not want it. But they even annouced the engagement in the newspaper. Her parents stopped her writing articles for a newspaper. Want her to spend lots of time sewing. Father does not think women should work or vote.
Grace does not know her Uncle Lou because her father and him don't get along. At the train station she meets Trevor and talks his ear off. Then she is surprised he works for her Uncle and has a small house on his ranch.
Her Uncle Lou besides Trevor has James and Mary.
Mary was the first woman Striker rescued from kidnapper and has been hiding out on the ranch from him since.
No one talks about Striker what he looks like or lives that knows him or guesses who he is. Grace has heard about the women he has rescued and builds him up and has a crush on the idea of him.
Lot of people think Striker is bad because he has killed a lot of bad men that the goverment wanted,while rescuing the women.
They don't want Grace to go to town to ask more questions about Striker.
I really enjoyed this story did not have to worry about swearing or sex scenes and look forward to more books from Jessica
I was given this ebook to read in exchange of honest review from Netgalley
04/03/2012 PUB Harlequin Love Inspired Historical… (mehr)