| Title | : | Rocky Mountain Oasis (The Shepherd's Heart, #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 335 |
| Publication | : | First published July 29, 2009 |
However, she’s sworn never to risk her heart again.
Brooke Baker, sold as a mail-order bride, looks to her future with dread but firm resolve. If she survived Uncle Jackson, she can survive anyone.
When Sky Jordan hears that his nefarious cousin has sent for a mail-order bride, he knows he has to prevent the marriage. No woman deserves to be left to that fate. Still, he’s as surprised as anyone to find himself standing next to her before the minister.
Brooke’s new husband turns out to be kinder than any man has ever been. But then the unthinkable happens and she holds the key that might save innocent lives but destroy Sky all in one fell swoop. It’s a choice too unbearable to contemplate…but a choice that must be made.
A thirsty soul. Alluring hope. An Oasis of love.
Step into a day when outlaws ran free, the land was wild, and guns blazed at the drop of a hat.
Rocky Mountain Oasis (The Shepherd's Heart, #1) Reviews
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4,25 stars- English Ebook
He's different from any man she's ever known. However, she's sworn never to risk her heart again.
Brooke Baker, sold as a mail-order bride, looks to her future with dread but firm resolve. If she survived Uncle Jackson, she can survive anyone. When Sky Jordan hears that his nefarious cousin has sent for a mail-order bride, he knows he has to prevent the marriage.
No woman deserves to be left to that fate. Still, he's as surprised as anyone to find himself standing next to her before the minister.
When a local merchant is brutally murdered, Brooke faces a new dilemma, and Sky does his best to see justice done.
Notes from June 2019:
Plot and Setting: 4.3 -- Interesting idea to set a romance in the midst of a fairly unusual/mysterious historical event.
I enjoyed the relationships and character development more than the suspense elements, though they were worked together fairly well. Timeline is pretty clear.
Characters: 4 -- I enjoyed seeing Brooke learn to trust Sky and find faith in God (I especially loved that it was Jenny Chang who ultimately led her to Jesus!), as well as watching Jason undergo a pretty significant transformation. Sky is almost too good to begin with, so we don't actually see him grow much, which is kind of a shame. Minor characters are developed appropriately, apart from the main villain, who quickly becomes purely evil.
Mechanics and Writing: 3 -- Decent writing. Scattered word and punctuation errors, mostly rather minor. I didn’t enjoy the use of a semi-universal third person.
Redeeming Value: 4.7 -- Includes memories of abusive relationships, opium and alcohol addictions, racist hatred, and several murders. I appreciated the way each of these things are presented clearly (but not graphically), and then overcome/addressed in some way by characters who find answers and healing through a relationship with God.
Personal Enjoyment: 4 -
In "Rocky Mountain Oasis" by Lynnette Bonner, 18-year-old Brooke Marie Baker has been sent west as a mail-order bride. As the stage nears Greer's Ferry, where she is to meet the man she's pledged to marry, she tries to swallow the lump of nervousness in her throat. Can it be any worse than living with Uncle Jackson...or Hank? All men are the same, aren't they? But with her parents and sister dead, she has no choice.
Sky Jordan, a rancher, holds a single, yellow daisy in his hand as he watches the ferry cross the river. Ever since he'd found out his surly cousin, Jason, had sent for a mail-order bride, his mind and heart had been ill at ease. No woman deserves to be left with the likes of Jason. But now he questions his own plans to claim the bride for himself. Why is he drawn to this woman he doesn't even know?
Lynnette does a wonderful job of capturing life in the Idaho Territory in 1885. I was drawn in from the start to the dangers that were a part of life for settlers a century ago. Still, her characters' struggles are easy to relate to in a modern context. While the concept of a young woman being sold as a mail order bride is far from our contempory consciousness, we can relate to Brooke's feelings about her experience. Does she dare let down her guard with her new husband, or should she steel herself against yet another abusive man?
As the relationship between Brooke and Sky deepens, the plot takes enough turns to keep us wondering if the two will even survive. A menacing villain sets his sights on Brooke just as she begins to trust Sky. Will Sky win her over to the Lord, or will she succomb to her own fear and the dangers that lurk in the darkness? -
Reviewed for
THC Reviews
"3.5 stars" Rocky Mountain Oasis is the first book in Lynnette Bonner’s The Shepherd’s Heart series. It follows Brooke, a young woman who was abused by her uncle and sold as a mail-order bride to a man in Idaho with whom she’d never even corresponded. She arrives resolved to her fate, but trepidatious about the future. The man who’s there to meet her when she gets off the stagecoach is not the man she was expecting. When Skylar finds out that his ne’er-do-well cousin has sent for a mail-order bride, he doesn’t want to leave the poor woman to her fate, so he intervenes and marries Brooke himself. Sky ends up being far more kind and gentle than any man she’s ever met, but because of her checkered past, she doesn’t feel worthy of him once she begins to fall for him. Then there’s a murder in town and Brooke witnesses a man she recognizes from the stagecoach outside the store where the man was killed. But after the villain makes threats, she keeps her mouth shut, fearing for both her and Sky’s lives, even when other men are put on trial. However, just as she’s about to tell the truth, the villain kidnaps her as bait to lure out Sky so that he can eliminate all those who could potentially identify him as the culprit. I had high hopes going into reading this book, and I did like the hero and heroine. But in the end, the story fell rather flat for me for a number of reasons that I’ll discuss as I go along.
Brooke lost her entire family in a tragic accident and ended up living with an uncle who abused her. Later she fell for a guy who she thought would take her away from the abuse and went to live with him, something that was a bit eyebrow raising for me, given the time in which the story is set. I realize that some people may have “lived in sin” during that time, but it was probably pretty rare. I also felt the reasoning for doing so was weak for an otherwise respectable girl and only a convenient plot device to give her something to atone for. In any case, he ended up being just as bad as her uncle, but by the time she figured that out, she was pregnant with his child, a baby that she lost. Then she went back to her uncle who sold her as a mail-order bride. When she arrives in Pierce City, Idaho, she doesn’t expect much from her betrothed, never having experienced any kindness from the men in her life before, so Sky completely exceeds her expectations. In fact, he’s such a good man that she feels unworthy of him because of her past, so when she starts to develop feelings for him, she keeps him at arm’s length. A large part of the reason I was drawn to this book was because I’m a sucker for the damsel in distress being rescued by her knight in shining armor trope. This is especially true if said damsel has been abused in the past. I just love seeing a woman find strength to overcome past trauma with a good man by her side, but here I felt the author basically brushed what the men in Brooke’s life did to her under the rug in favor of making her the “sinner” instead. Much is made of the things she did and the choices she made, but very little time is spent on her surmounting the horrible things that others did to her. In fact, we only learn about these things through her own introspection. She never relates any of this to Sky until the very end and only a couple of lines are spent on it which I felt did a great disservice to women who’ve suffered abuse like this.
Skylar grew up in Oregon in a loving family. He moved to Idaho with his cousin Jason, hoping to help keep him out of trouble. When he finds out that Jason has bought a mail-order bride, Sky tells himself that it’s none of his business, but soon he finds his conscience won’t allow an innocent woman to be married to the likes of his cousin, who while he isn’t portrayed in a very favorable light, was never depicted as a complete ogre either. Because Jason’s bad side isn’t brought out very well, I kind of struggled a bit with the reasons for Sky’s decision, but suffice it to say that he gave Jason his entire life savings for Brooke. Since there weren’t any other feasible options without ruining the lady, he chose to marry her himself. Almost from the start, he senses that she’s had a rough past and treats her with kindness and respect. Sky worked in the past as a lawman, so when the murder takes place, he ends up right in the thick of things, investigating and trying to keep the peace. He’s far more fair-minded that most other men in the area, and he risks everything to save Brooke when she’s kidnapped by the villain. Sky is a likable hero who’s sweet and gentle, basically a beta. However, sometime I felt like he wasn’t being proactive enough in getting Brooke to open up to him. He mostly just kind of sits back and waits for God to act to bring Brooke around, when I prefer a man to be a little more action-oriented on the romance front.
While I generally liked both Brooke and Sky as characters, I felt like their relationship could have been more romantic. It got off to a very good start with Sky being tender and not expecting anything from Brooke until she was ready. However, months go by and they don’t even so much as kiss until about eight pages from the end. I’ve come to expect that the vast majority of inspirational romances are going to be pretty squeaky clean, but this was a little extreme even for this genre. I also felt like their romance was overshadowed by both the faith message and the mystery/suspense portion of the plot, which had its own issues that I’ll get to in a minute. The faith aspect of the story was a bit too preachy for my taste. It’s become tiringly common for one half of the couple in inspriationals to be in need of Jesus in their life, but here it’s not only Brooke, but also Jason and other secondary characters as well. I felt like there were times that not much was happening besides people of faith trying to convert the non-believers, which kind of left me feeling like I was being beat over the head with this part of the story. Then there was a rather distressing thread involving a Chinese woman in town who was being mistreated by her husband, and it’s implied that she stays with him because she feels it’s what God wants her to do. I was beyond disappointed in this, because it sends an extremely dangerous message to women who are being brutalized by their husbands in real life.
According to the author’s note at the end, the mystery/suspense portion of the plot was based on a real-life murder that occurred in Pierce City during that time. After reading her note, I realized that it felt like she took that case and built the rest of her story around it, which wasn’t necessarily a good thing as the latter half or so of the book was more about the mystery and less about the romance. There were also a number of plot holes that bugged me. Here’s where I may be giving away some spoilers, so if you don’t like those, you may not want to read the rest of this paragraph, but know that I also took issue with racism in this part of the story.
As I mentioned, Rocky Mountain Oasis got off to a very good start that showed a great deal of promise. I enjoyed the first few chapters and thought that the book had the potential to earn keeper status from me. But as the story progressed, the book rating meter in my head slowly started dropping because of all the various problems I’ve already cited. By the time I got to the end, I just wasn’t all that impressed anymore. Sky and Brooke were very likable characters, but I couldn’t help feeling like both their characterizations and their relationship could have gone much deeper if the author had chosen to focus more on them and less on the overdone faith aspects and the shaky mystery/suspense part of the plot. I would have loved to see these two gradually come together and for Brooke to share her past with Sky and find genuine healing for the abuse she suffered. But instead it all magically went away when she accepted Jesus, which in my experience is not how real life works. The same was true for Jason, who becomes the hero of the next book, which at this point I’m not terribly excited about picking up. Although he wasn’t a completely horrible person like other characters in the story, he didn’t really seem like hero material either. The writing itself was reasonably sound, but it could have used better editing. The author repeatedly used “further” when it should have been “farther,” and the entire book was in desperate need of more contractions in dialogue. As written, much of the speech was far too formal and stilted for cowboys in the Old West. I badly wanted to love Rocky Mountain Oasis, but in the end it was just OK. That said, though, I’ve read far more frustrating stories, which is why I still gave it 3.5 stars, but I’m sorry to say that it hasn’t left me with any strong yearning to continue the series. -
I really enjoyed this story. I felt for Brooke and her painful past. But Sky was the bomb! I love his character for so many reasons. How he wanted to do what was right even at a cost. His love for his family and the people around him. The way he took care of Brooke was touching.
I enjoyed the story as well. I should have figured out more of it sooner, but I didn't and that was okay. It allowed me to just enjoy the story and the outcome.
I'd give this story 4 stars. -
This started out really good, meaty and full of emotion. However the more I read the more preachy it became. Its not that I do not appreciate the message but the way it was presented was overly pushy.
DNF -
Christian romance that I got for free from Book Bub. Loosely based on true events.
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Brook—mail-order-bride, was sold to Mr. Jordan by Uncle Jackson, so she’s off to Idaho to marry a stranger. Brooke Baker’s life changed forever after her family died in a buggy accident and she was sent to live with her physically and verbal abusive Uncle. Brooke hoped for a better life in Idaho, away from her Uncle and abusive Fiancé. But deep down in her heart she knew men were all the same.
Sky Jordan, rancher and a man after God’s own heart, interrupts his cousin Jason’s plans to marry a mail-order-bride. Sky wasn’t certain why he was drawn to a women he didn’t know, but he just knew he couldn’t let an innocent woman marry his drunk, violent tempered cousin. He was bad news.
Lynette pens a tender, heart warming, action adventure story based on real events in Idaho history. Lynette creates believable characters that take the reader through a wide range of emotions. Sky watched Brooke’s reactions to situations and knew she had been mistreated. He was determined to show her unconditional love. Sky says this to Brooke after she flinched because she thinks he’s about to hit her, “I will not hurt you.” His voice was low and tender, “I promise not to touch you until you say it’s okay…You have nothing to fear from me…I will never hit or abuse you in anyway.”
Brooke thought, “the probability of his keeping his word is about as good as finding an oasis in the middle of a desert…Hank her fiancé had started out being nice to her too, and look how that turned out.”
Sky and his family’s faith in God touches the people around them and Brooke in a big way. She hadn’t known any Christians before. Sky helps the sheriff track down the person responsible for murdering his friend; things get tense and suspenseful as Lynnette describes how this town tried to capture the bad guys and how justice was done. This is the first book in the Shepherd’s Heart series. I’m looking forward to the next book in this series you will too.
Disclosure of Material Connection:
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”
Nora St.Laurent
The Book Club Network
www.bookfun.org
The Book Club Network blog
www.psalm516.blogspot.com
Book Fun Magazine
www.bookfunmagazine.com -
I enjoyed the read, but found myself occasionally rolling my eyes at its preachiness and coincidental plot.
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The story was riveting. It kept me on the edge of my seat. I loved the hard topics covered, such as abuse and PTSD recovery. Some might consider the male protagonist cliche, but he was sweet and just what the wounded female protagonist needed. Sure was a delightfully different character... afraid, vulnerable, and recovering. The story contains a complete gospel message.
However, the conversion felt a bit fake and the ending left me wanting more. Intimacy after all they'd been through as a couple would have been appropriate, but was carefully avoided by the author. -
I really enjoyed this book. It is a story full of anger, hurt, hate, rage, hopelessness, beauty, hope, forgiveness, and love! I enjoyed the way the author used mystery, suspense, drama, romance and comedy to tell the story. Afterwards reading that some of it was based on a true story made it even better. A well written easy read.
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hard to put down!!
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Fun christian historical romance. I'd recommend a parental pre-read though due to violence and a strong theme of past physical abuse.
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I really enjoyed this Christian mail-order bride story with a mystery. I appreciated the character development and the faith element that was integral to the story. The heroine's name, Brooke, which didn't become a popular girl's first name until long after the setting of this story, distracted me. There were some other elements of the story that didn't seem to fit the time period.
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Brooke has been sent away as mail-order bride by her uncle. She has no choice and leaves the abusive life she knows, expecting a life of abuse with another man.
Sky's cousin -Jason- has bought Brooke as mail-order bride. When Sky learns about this he wants to prevent the woman from a sorrowful life with Jason. Jason is a drinker and takes no responsibility for whatsoever. Sky comes up with a plan to buy Jason's intented. Sight unseen, he marries Brooke as soon as she gets into town.
Sky soon learns that Brooke has had a rough life and therefore distrusts men. He must learn to win her trust. Sky prays that she will get to know the Lord and will find healing of the wounds of her past.
Besides a nicely written love story, there's also a murder mystery in this book. Lynnette weaves the two stories nicely together. The characters are well developed and easily loved. The healing process of Brooke is very well done. I admired Sky's patience with Brooke and how he trusted the Lord for deliverance. Lynnette also puts Scripture to practice in this wonderful novel.
I have read this book some time ago and reread it recently to review. Normally I don't read books twice, but this book was a pleasure to read again. I highly recommend it! -
This book was such an easy and sweet read. I really enjoyed it.
It was mushy-gushy. This is sort of a matter of opinion but I'm a mushy person so I loved reading about this. Some people may be annoyed with that, though. It had a good amount of suspense in it, but it wasn't until a few chapters into the book. There are definitely more things I enjoyed but I can't tell you why due to spoilers.
Some things to be aware of are mentions of abuse (physical and hints at sexual), a pretty graphic description of a murder, and another "scenes" of such. There is also a choice word, but there is only one.
I do recommend this if you are looking for a short, easy, mushy romance book. -
Nov 25, 2015
I've just finished listening to the audio book while fixing things for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. What pleasant company! I've loved the story of Sky Jordan and Brooke since the first time I read it right after it was released. I've read it several times now and listened to the audio book twice. Love this author and the Shepherd's Heart series.
Review from 2012
Lynnette knows how to tell a fun story. I enjoyed this book and have anxiously awaited the sequel which just came out. Can't wait to finish reading it and looking forward to more books from this author. :) -
Brooke, a mail order bride, does not marry the man she had been purchased by...she marries his handsome cousin, Skyler Jordan, a strong Christian man who feels God's calling to save Brooke from a hard, lonely marriage.
A sweet love story full of excitement. The West really is wild at the pen of Lynnette Bonner! Filled with the powerful truth of the gospel, Rocky Mountain Oasis reminds us that it is never too late to turn to Jesus and that the truth is always the best way. -
Rocky Mountain Oasis was a good read. I immediately connected with the main characters, Sky and Brooke, so the story moved along at a nice pace. There was some repetition, and that did get to be annoying, but at the same time it was believable that some of it would be repeated - since I think it would take Brooke awhile to accept change. Overall, it was a nice read and one I would recommend.
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A fun story when a young man marries a mail order bride to save her from a man who was a bully and totally living an unsavory life. He falls in love with her but she has had a hard life and lived with a man who was brutal to her and caused her to lose a baby girl. She cannot forgive herself or allow herself to love so she shys away from Sky her husband. But with many praying for her and events beyond her control, she accepts Christ and finally learns to trust and love. A very sweet story!
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I thought this was good after I got about 15-20% in. It took awhile to get going, but it was a sweet novel. Not my usual mysterious type of pick, but a fun read, even though the lead lady's life was less than stellar for her beginning years. But...it was corrected by the end. There really was no guessing on the "who done it" spectrum, it was all laid out for you, but still a nice, happy read.
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Actual rating 2.5. My husband, daughter and I listened to this together. It is a nice Christian romance with murder, outlaws, law men, hangings, and robberies besides. I think I may have liked this better if I had read it instead of listening to it.
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Popular Christian author but a little too Christian for me. It was also too heavy and left some holes.
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I had a hard time getting into this book, but hang in there it does get way better. Turned out to be a good book.
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I enjoyed this book. This is the first book that I have read written by this author; but I know I want to read more and plan to do so. This was a very well written book. It had a lot of twists and turns and there was plenty of drama. I liked all of the characters in the book. I thought they were very well developed. I got to a point where I couldn't put it down. The main characters were Brooke Baker and Sky Jordan. I enjoyed both of them. Brooke definitely had a lot to overcome. She had been mistreated or seen others mistreated quite a bit; especially by men who should have loved and cared for her. The thing I like about Sky Jordan is that he shows that not all men are alike. Each person needs to be judged on their own merit and not lumped together in one heap. Another character in the book that I especially like is Sky's cousin, Jason Jordan. There were multiple stories going on here. The main story was about Brooke Baker and the situations she had been in and the situation she now found herself in. Learning to open her heart to the love that Sky offered her and to build her trust with Sky. It was also about Brooke accepting Christ and the freedom that she felt as a result of that. It was also about Jason Jordan who had shut Christ out because of his desire for revenge against the person he felt was responsible for the death of his mother. Third was also a third story and that was the prejudice and discrimination heaped upon the Chinese people that lived in the area. I look forward to reading more about Jason Jordan. I think this is one of the best books I have read this year. I enjoyed it so much.
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An interesting story about a young woman who had been abused much her life, eventually sold by her uncle as a mail order bride and sent to Idaho.
Skyler Jordan just heard Jason bought a mail-order-bride who was coming in on the coach. He couldn’t imagine a beautiful young lady being used and her life ruined by his cousin, so while Jason was drunk and asleep in town, Sky greeted Brooke's coach and acted as if he was her intended. The traveling preacher (hired by Jason to perform the quick ceremony) married Sky and Brooke instead.
It didn’t take Sky long to realize Brooke was a damaged woman, fearful and jumpy. Patience and kid gloves were the only way to earn Brooke's trust.
Much of the story after that dealt with Sky helping head up an investigation of a murder in town, one to which Brooke inadvertently became a partial witness, and consequently threatened.
There was a strong faith message, with a surprising character who delivered the gospel in an impactful way.
The narrator for the audiobook was a tad melodramatic so I switched to reading it instead and enjoyed it much more. However eye-roley dialogue near the end tying the title into an emotional scene is typical with this author and she didn’t fail to add it to this story... oasis, desert, mirage... ugh.
Also, the disgusting-Jason-turned-good-Jason storyline needed a bit more to be believable. Years of bitterness and bad living doesn’t turn around overnight.
3.25 stars. -
This is the second book I've read by Lynette Bonner, and now I know that she can write fantastic historical fiction as well as contemporary. This book has everything to make an excellent and beautiful read. The characters are interesting, well drawn and very appealing (well the ones who are meant to be). Their faith is very real, deep and authentic. The development of the relationship between Brooke and Sky is wonderful to watch as we see how Sky gently treats Brooke with love, respect and tenderness, and she comes to a place of wholeness and healing from her past. Then there is the intriguing story of events in the town, which are, in part, based on true historical happenings.
I just didn't want this book to end, and, having fallen in love with Sky and Brooke, I really wanted to know more about what happens to them next. I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of the series and highly recommend Lynnette Bonner and her books.
