FOR SOME SOLDIERS, THE BATTLE never ends. 
Dottie Harper fears for her children’s safety. Her husband, Jerrod, is struggling with dementia brought on by shell shock during the Civil War. It’s as though there are two Jerrods locked inside him: the tender and loving Christian man she married, and a harsh man given to unpredictable fits of violent rage. Dottie loves her husband with all her heart, and with God’s help, she’d determined to remain steadfast.
Dottie’s sister, Breanna Baylor, is a certified medical nurse. She’s headed west with a wagon train, planning to visit Dottie in California and meet her family for the first time. Along the way, Breanna meets up with wounded soldiers, contagious townspeople, and injured outlaws. Compassionate and highly skilled, she tends to their physical hurts and shares the gospel whenever she can. Litlle does she know that a life-or-death meeting awaits with her own brother-in-law.
Come alongside these two remarkable sisters, and rejoice in how God takes care of those with faithful hearts.
About the author:
Al Lacy has written more than ninety novels, including the Angel of Mercy, Battles of Destiny, and Journeys of the Stranger series. He and his wife, JoAnna Lacy, are coauthors of the Mail Order Bride, Hannah of Fort Bridger, and Shadow of Liberty series. The Lacys make their home in the Colorado Rockies.
My review:
This novel has 2 stories. Lacy begins with the continuing love story of Breanna Baylor and John Stranger. When they are not lovingly gazing into each others eyes and telling of their undying devotion, they are fighting off outlaws and healing the sick. I can only surmise that Lacy included this plot line to bring together the various characters in several of his continuing series. The telling is very heavy-handed — long on sermon, short on story. I found myself rolling my eyes at the conclusion of every scene involving these two lovers.
The second plot line concerns Breanna’s sister, Dottie Harper and her husband Jerrod. Jerrod has a mental illness brought on by his service in the Civil War — a sort of 19th century post-traumatic stress disorder. While this story is much more interesting than the first, and in my opinion should have been the only subject of the book, the ending is a little too pat and is somewhat distasteful given the faithful heart of Dottie.
I received this book as part of a Grab Bag of Fiction Blog Tour from Waterbrook/Multnomah Publishers (I got it free and the review was given without any monetary consideration). I would only recommend this book to those who are true devotees of the historical/romance/western genre or to young teenage girls looking for a romance.
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