Faithful Heart...Review

About the book:
Continuing with the adventures of certified medical nurse Breanna Baylor, the Angel of Mercy series tackles the real-life issues of faithfulness and abuse in Faithful Heart. Picking up where A Promise for Breanna left off, Book Two follows Breanna to San Francisco, where she discovers that her sister Dottie has been beaten by a husband who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of serving in the Civil War. As the story unfolds, Breanna, Dottie, and Dottie's children find themselves at risk as they fight to save a man they can no longer trust. Readers will experience the heartache and hope of two woman striving to save a family in Faithful Heart.

The second book in the Angel of Mercy series, this picks up immediately where A Promise for Breanna leaves off. Breanna is still traveling with the wagon train enroute to San Francisco. The story alternates chapters between Breanna's story and her sister Dottie's story. Dottie's husband Jerrod suffers debilitating episodes of post-traumatic stress syndrome stemming from his Civil War experiences. Because of this, Dottie and her children are frequent victims of abuse. Dottie and Jerrod's story is one of heartache and despair, as they try and cope with Jerrod's issues with faith and love.

Breanna continues her journey by wagon train, this time accompanied by her true love, John Stranger. She runs into a bit of drama in the high Sierra's but the emotional aspect from the first book is missing.

The sisters' stories don't intersect until near the end of the book, when Breanna shows up in time to help everyone. Like the first one, Breanna's Christian faith is at the forefront, as is her sister's. The story didn't ring quite true for me. I'm sure the idea of PTSD is not new, but Jerrod's diagnosis and the explanations seemed so modern and contrived, and not historically accurate. Of course my medical knowledge, past or present, is woefully inadequate too.

While I wasn't as drawn to this one as I was the first, it's still an enjoyable, easy read. I will be looking forward to tracking down the remaining books in the series.

Thanks to Liz Johnson of WaterBrook Multnomah, a division of Random House, for the opportunity to review this book. You can purchase your own copy here.

Read 2/10

* *
2/5 Stars