Friday, May 27, 2016

The Soldiers Bride written by: Rachelle J. Christensen - Loved The Story - So Will You! 5 Stars

I thought this was starting out about a young wife of a WWII Soldier, he goes off to war and she finds she is pregnant, only he is never to know as he doesn't come back. She receives word that he has died, his entire group were gone, and he is never to know he was to be a Father. He gave her a music box, with a haunting tune and a dancer that goes around to the music. I thought this was to be just her story, of her heart ache and her eventually finding life again....but the story was oh so much more than that. The music box changes hands several times, and each time it does it has a message put into the lining by the previous owner that ends up being a very profound message to the next person who finds it. We do end up hearing more about the beginning story of Evalyn and Jim but it would be very bad if I were to tell you that part, it would ruin the surprise. Ah, ah, ah.....don't even go there because you would be wrong. This book is full of surprises and they aren't even some that you would guess at. A really great yarn that I couldn't put down. I was reading stirring pots, in bed, a few minutes here and there until I got to the end. Loved the story! So will you!

The description as found here on Good Reads: As WWII ration cards and battle scars become commonplace across America, it seems to Evelyn that even love is rationed out. When she finds a message from her late husband tucked inside a music box, Jim’s words have the power to change her life: Don't die with me.

Words written out of love, long-lost but never forgotten.

Grief stricken, Evelyn is unsure of how to honor his request, but she finds the courage to keep on living. Jim’s note urges her to give the music box away to unlock the secret within, and although it breaks her heart again, Evelyn trades the music box for a cradle to hold her infant son. Thus begins the decades-long journey of the music box, mending broken hearts, reuniting lost loves, and giving people the courage to heal themselves along the way. This romance crosses battlefields and time as the music box touches the lives of two soldiers, a broken father, a crippled child, a struggling farmer, and a woman once called the soldier's bride.