Though my heart is torn
By Joanne Bischof
Reviewed by Martha Artyomenko
From back cover:
Gideon O’Riley has two wives—but he doesn’t know it.
Settling into a simple life in the majestic Blue Ridge mountains, Lonnie and Gideon O’Riley have finally found happiness after the rocky start to their marriage. The roguish bluegrass musician has fallen in love with his gentle wife and the God she serves, and Lonnie rests secure in his tenderness for her and their young son. A heartless ruse interupts their peace, bringing them back to Rocky Knob—and forces them to face the claims of Cassie Allan, a woman who says she is Gideon’s rightful wife.
As Gideon wades into the depths of his past choices, Lonnie is stunned by the revelations. She has no choice but to navigate this new path, knowing that surviving the devastating blow will take every ounce of strength she has.
While Gideon’s guilt and his bitterness towards Cassie threatens to burn up his fledgling faith, Lonnie wrestles to find the courage to trust the God who brought them together in the first place. Will their hard-earned love be able to conquer all?
Lonnie only wanted her husband’s love. Now that he belongs to another, can she surrender Gideon to a God with a bigger plan?
My Review:
I read Be Still My soul last year (Review for Be Still my Soul) and really enjoyed it. It was one of those stories where you could have hope that the really horrible person came around, changed their life and made good, positive changes.
When I started this book, I had read the back cover and was confused, but remembered Gideon was kind of a horrible person and here, it came the time to pay the piper.
I felt like the story moved a little slowly in places, I wanted more explanation as to how this could have happened, a little more explanation in the beginning, but instead felt like it was the middle of the book and I still didn’t have the answers. That frustrated me a bit, but I realized that similar to real life, Ms. Bischof demonstrated the frustration that Lonnie and Gideon would have been feeling as well.
Gideon had worked hard to be a different person, but the past has a way of knocking on our doors when we pretend it isn’t there. In his case, it was lack of follow up to make sure he really divorced the first wife, before being forced to marry the second wife. The culture of that time gave him little choice, and I finished the book wanting the next one to be on hand, to finish out the story.
That is one way to get people to read the next book!! = )
This is not really a feel good, happy book, but more a real life, book about people with major issues. It is well written, engaging and will keep you reading! -Martha
I received this book in exchange for an honest review from Blogging for Books.