Love's Rescue

A beautiful story you must read!

Love's Rescue is book one in The Sierra Chronicles and the first book I've read by Tammy Barley.
I can think of only one other author who's book I've read that I've enjoyed as much. Tammy writes her story in such a familiar way that you find yourself considering the characters friends. Jess and Jake are the two main characters. Jake Bennett is as good as it gets when it comes to men. He will melt your heart from the first time you meet him and leave you daydreaming about finding such a man in your own life. He gives of himself completely even though he has suffered great loss. You'll also fall in love with all the ranch hands and friends that Jess makes along the way.
The book is packed full of adventure, heartache, humor, joy and love. I was amazed at each clever twist in the plot. I sobbed, I laughed, I cheered for my friends...I hated to close the book each night and eagerly looked forward to my next chance to read again.
Jess finds herself drowning in grief and the only person who can save her is Jake. His faith in God and patient ways actually save her several times over. This story includes kidnap, fires, raids, rescues, runaways, heartbreak, prisons and a myriad of other dramatic events that never seem overdone. It confronts the culture clash between North and South as well as between the Native American people and whites. I can't even imagine the amount of research the author had to do to make this story so authentic.
She writes so honestly that the characters really find a place in your heart.
This is a Christian Romance and if that makes you leary for some reason, don't let it. You are not going to get beat over the head with references to God. Instead his message will blend into the pages seamlessly and beautifully leaving you feeling full of hope as well as answering some of the deep questions we have about life and death.
This is not "just another romance" novel. My goodness--it's oh so much more! This beautiful love story is intertwined with so much depth that I don't even know as though it could be classified as merely a romance.
Western and Historical it is indeed and as I mentioned before--Tammy does an amazing job with her research and attention to detail.

The only negative thing I can say about this book is that it comes to an end....but with book number two waiting for my on my nightstand right now I guess I can't complain.

I wholeheartedly recommend Love's Rescue. I can't think of how anyone could not enjoy it.

Wonderful

I really enjoyed this one! All the ranch happenings were really fun to read about and didn't get so detailed that you were bored. The way Tammy skipped long periods of time was very well written. Since this book takes place over a few years, she couldn't include all the day-to-day occurrences; I think she wrote the book in a way that the gaps weren't missed and it was still easy to follow the storyline. The civil war era is one of my favorites to read about, and this book didn't disappoint. I loved the way Tammy wrote the cowhands! They are now some of my favorite characters. I especially loved how gentle and protective they were with Jess. It was too sweet! I'm now very anxious to read book two. ;) Congrats to Tammy Barley for this great read!

Quite Good Reading

I enjoyed this book. It has a lot of very interesting parts and I truly did want to keep reading it. There were just a few things about it that frustrated me, like why the main character continued to blame the male character for the death of her father. He did try to hold him back from the fire, but her father broke away and entered the burning building anyway. For that, she blamed the male character throughout the book? Parts of the book seemed too unrealistic to me, I'm sorry. But overall, it was a good book. For really good reads I would recommend Tracie Peterson, Karen Kingsbury, Sharlene MacLaren, Tamera Alexander, Kim Vogel Sawyer, Julie Lessman.

Shirley Cranstone
Traverse City, Michigan

A Western for the Women

It's 1863. To escape the ravages of war, Jessica Hale's family leaves their beloved home in Kentucky for a new life in the Nevada Territory.

Jessica's brother, Ambrose, is determined to help defend their southern homestead. Against his father's wishes, the young man joins ranks with the Kentucky militia and returns to the south. When Ambrose goes missing in the midst of the War Between the States, Jessica's attempts to find him set off a chain of events that will change her life forever.

In the wake of a close encounter with political fanatics, Jessica loses everything that matters and then finds herself spirited away to a remote ranch in the Sierra Nevada wilderness. There, Jessica's every effort to escape is thwarted by handsome rancher Jake Bennett and his loyal cattlemen.

Jake knows what it's like to lose everything. He's determined to protect Jessica through her time of loss. There are those who would harm the young woman for nothing more than being a Southerner, and Jake and his men have no intention of allowing that to happen. Still, how can he help Jessica's wounded heart to heal when she so deeply resents him for what she perceives as his failure to save her family? He can't make her see the truth, but he can protect her, and he can pray while her eyes are opened and her broken heart mends.

Tammy Barley's action-packed debut novel is wonderfully rich in historical detail. It's a tightly woven, riveting tale of love and loss, faith under fire, and wild hearts on the run. As the author unfolds this spellbinding story, a vivid picture of life in the Old West is revealed with stunning clarity and depth. Love's Rescue provides everything a reader expects from this era: cowboys and Indians, damsels in distress, good guys and bad hombres, gunfights and moonlit nights. The last page leaves the reader longing for more of Jess and Jake. It's an absolute must-read for the lover of historical romance.

A masterpiece of storytelling intricately woven with spiritual wisdom and insight, and threaded throughout with the good, the bad, and the ugly of love, life, and humanity.

Bravo, Ms. Barley!

An Action-packed Western Romance

Jessica Hale's family heads out West to avoid the escalating tensions between North and South and moves to Nevada Territory, but trouble finds her there. Her beloved brother returns to the States to protect the family's Kentucky homestead, and Union sympathizers burn their Carson City home, killing her parents and little sister and leaving her alone and at risk. To make matters worse, she's injured in the blaze and whisked away to cattleman Jake Bennett's ranch deep in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, far from civilization.

Realizing the danger Jess is in, Jake takes it upon himself to protect her, which is no easy task considering the fact that she can't stomach the sight of him, blames him for her father's death and tries to escape at the first opportunity. But that's fine by Jake. He doesn't intend to lose his heart to a firebrand like Jess when he's got his own set of troubles--just keep her safe. Both struggle to deal with their emotional scars independently until they trust the Lord with their hurts and heartaches and allow Him to bring healing.

Tammy Barley has crafted an action-packed adventure that pulled me in and kept me entertained from first page to last. Plot twists aplenty, nice touches of humor and deep emotion kept me turning the pages eager to see what would happen next. Jess, a spirited heroine who hides her softer side, wound her way into my heart. Jake is the consummate hero, with a caring nature beneath his sun-bronzed, take-charge exterior, whom I fell for--hard. Barley sprinkles the story with a liberal helping of secondary characters who people the ranch and add a nice blend of sweetness and spice.

Love's Rescue, Barley's debut novel, is one of the best books I've read this year, and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes inspirational Western historicals. I look forward to the sequel, Hope's Promise, and the opportunity to spend more time with Jake and Jess.

Check this one out!

If you're a historical romance fan, pick up this book. Jessica Hale was a heroine with depth and spunk, and I loved her from the first moment. This story has a good message, fun, unique characters, and it never got dull. The events on and off the ranch were always adventurous. Some of the crazy events included mustangs, bad guys, and the occasional lassoing (and tying up). Just when I thought I could put it down for the night, something else unfolded. I ended up staying up until I finished the whole thing.

While most books like this focus only on romance, this one's plot is based on the Civil War and real events occurring in the US during that time. It brought in historical accuracies and still had all the romance. You can't beat that! So if you're into historical romance, this one deserves to be in your permanent book collection!

Uplifting Romance

Set in 1863 during the Civil War, the conflict between the Confederates and Unionists is evident even across the country in the Nevada Territory. A book that explains not only war facts, but the history of the people's relationship with the native tribes.
The main character Jessica's story will capture your heart and mind. Finishing this story was on the four front of my mind during the times I couldn't be reading it. Though a little slow to me in the beginning, the end more than makes up for it! Jessica's tenacity gets her into many scrapes, but her rescuer is always there to help her out!
This book was extra interesting to me as it is set in a territory that I am familiar with in modern times so to hear about it during Civil War times just intrigued me. Also the ranch life was interesting as the area I live in has ranching as a way of life so to read about the way they ranched in the old days was very interesting.

An Unforgettable Story of Love and Loyalty

Set in the Nevada Territory during the War Between the States, Tammy Barley's debut novel tells an unforgettable story of love and loyalty, hatred and healing and the true meaning of family and friendship. Like the blanket her heroine weaves, Love's Rescue blends fascinating details of Paiute culture, well-placed moments of humor and heart pounding drama to create a beautiful portrayal of a woman's struggle to survive after tragedy.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.