Title: Maggie Rose
Author: Sharlene MacLaren
Publisher:Whitaker House
ISBN: 978-1-60374-075-3
From the back cover:
"Maggie Rose, the spunky, friendly, twenty-year-old middle daughter of
Michigan resident Jacob Kane, feels compelled to leave her beloved hometown of
Sandy Shores to pursue what she feels in her heart are God's plans for her
life--in New York City.
Maggie Rose adjusts to her new life at Sheltering Arms Refuge, an orphanage
that also transports homeless children to towns across the United States
to match them with compatible families. Most of the children have painful pasts
that make Maggie aghast, but she marvels at their resiliency. As she gets to
know each child, her heart blossoms with new depths of love and compassion.
When a newspaper reporter comes to stay at the orphanage in order to gather
research for an article, Maggie is struck by his handsome face -- and concerned
by his lack of faith. She can't deny their mutual affections, though. Will she
win the struggle to maintain her focus on God and remain attuned to His
guidance?"
~~~~~~~~~~
When we open up the cover of our latest romance novel, we expect to be drawn
into a love story. We hope for our own hearts to yearn and hope for the happy
ending that usually awaits at the end of whatever trials the characters must
endure. With inspirational romance, we even come to expect some kind of growth
in the characters. The very best authors may even challenge us as we read to
look at our own lives and how the lesson apply to ourselves.
What Sharlene MacLaren has done with Maggie Rose goes above and beyond
all those things. She picks out stories of the least of these and makes them
shine like emeralds. The tales of the orphans and poor of that period aren't
new to us, nor are they absent today. This book weaves theirs into the plot so
smoothly that you cannot tell what the main story is. Whether her true purpose
was to grab our hearts with the redemptive love of a man and woman, or with the
endearing characters of children who had no hope without the men and women who
volunteered and showed them compassion, self-worth, and God's love ~ It is a
tale masterfully woven.
Everything sings about this latest book. The cover art is gorgeous, the writing
is descriptive, and the plot is exciting and tension filled.
He felt now that he was not simply close to her, but that he did not know where he ended and she began. ~ Leo Tolstoy
Inspirational
Writing, Reviews & Reading
Lee Smith