High Desert Haven by Lynnette Bonner~ First Wild Card Tour with review

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book! 
You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

Today's Wild Card author is:

Lynnette Bonner

and the book:

High Desert Haven

Lynnette Bonner via CreateSpace (DATE)

***Special thanks to Lynnette Bonner for sending me a review copy.***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

The daughter of missionaries, Lynnette was born and raised in Malawi, Africa. After graduating high school from Rift Valley Academy, a boarding school in Kenya, she attended Northwest University in Kirkland, Washington where she met her husband, Marty. They married in 1992 and moved to Pierce, Idaho a few years later.

Marty and Lynnette have four children, and currently live in Washington where Marty pastors a church and Lynnette works as an administrative assistant.




Visit the author's website.

SHORT BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Is Jason Jordan really who he says he is?
Everything in Nicki's life depends on the answer.

Oregon Territory, 1887

When her husband dies in a mysterious riding accident, Nicki Trent is left with a toddler and a rundown ranch. Determined to bring her ranch back from the brink of death, Nicki hires handsome Jason Jordan to help. But when William, her neighbor, starts pressing for her hand in marriage, the bank calls in a loan she didn't even know about, bullets start flying, and a burlap dummy with a knife in its chest shows up on her doorstep, Nicki wonders if this ranch is worth all the trouble.

To make matters worse, terrible things keep happening to her neighbors. When her friend's homestead is burned to the ground and William lays the blame at Jason's feet, Nicki wonders how well she knows her new hand - and her own heart.

A desperate need. Malicious adversaries. Enticing love.
Step into a day when outlaws ran free, the land was wild, and guns blazed at the drop of a hat.

My take on this book:

It's  July 1883 and seventeen year old  Nicki Vasquez can't help but worry about the situation her family is in.  Her parents owe money and if they don't pay her father will have  to go to jail, so she prays for a solution. When a man named John Trent stops for water he sees Nicki and wants to buy her. While her parents are against it Nicki sees it as a way to help her family and agrees. She winds up going to Oregon Territory with John where he buys a ranch. They eventually have a son, and while she doesn't love John he has been good to her. When John is killed in a suspicious accident, Nicki decides to stay and run the ranch. but will need help. She has an offer of marriage from a neighbor who wants to run the ranch but she isn't interested,instead she hires Jason Jordan to help out. She soon learns that the bank holds a note on the property, and not only that strange things start to happen, not just to Nicki but to her neighbors as well, someone is trying to scare off the ranchers but why? Just who can Nicki trust?

Vivid descriptions and details along with a very likable cast of characters made this a great historical fiction tale. I was pulled in from the beginning because Nicki was such a selfless character willing to sacrifice herself for the sake of her family. She had a strong sense of faith, and never wavered from it.I also enjoyed the secondary stories that went on . I thought the story line that revolved around Brook and Sky was great, the love they shared, which was something that Jason hoped to have someday. I thought Jason's sister Marquis and her husband Jeff also added another element to the story. For me there was never a down time, the plot moves along at a brisk pace, filled with rich detail, along with a strong faith filled message that was very well done. Overall a very well written historical romance with a faith based theme that has suspense,and romance that easily pulled me back in time, and leaves me anxious for the next book in the series. While this book is the second in the "Shepherd's Heart " series it can easily be read as a stand alone work, although I enjoyed this story so much I fully intend to go back and read the first book in the series.Historical christian fiction fans shouldn't miss this one! 

Product Details:

List Price: $14.77

Paperback: 334 pages

Publisher: Lynnette Bonner via CreateSpace

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1477586482

ISBN-13: 9781477586488

I am having problems posting the first chapter of this book so please clickhere to read the first chapter.