Bodie Thoene

Brock Thoene

Chronicles the lives of two Arkansas families as they try to recover from the collapse of the cotton market in 1931.

Shiloh Autumn

Jeni Enjaian

**Update** Contrary to my initial review, I enjoyed this book. Perhaps I enjoyed it more because I accidentally read it first on my second read through. This book functions well as a stand alone novel even with the subtle references to the prior books in the series. It's a nice, easy, enjoyable read. This book, contrary to the others in the series, survived round two of the purge from my personal collection.

This one sank back into predictability. Only the avoidance of blatant clichés kept me reading .(That and the fact that I've read the rest of the series...why stop now?)
The scope of the narrative shrunk even more with the early departure of Max and Davey Meyer, leaving only Birch, Trudy and Jefferson as original characters from the first book. (Poor Ellis Warne, his character gets the short end of the stick in these books.)
It all made sense though when I read the author's post script and realized that Birch and Trudy were her grandparents. No wonder she stuck with them in the narrative. It does make me wonder though why she ever expanded it in the first place.
It's a decent book. Life doesn't magically get better/perfect for them in the end. (That would have hands down landed this book in the purge pile.)

Would I recommend these books? Probably not. I wouldn't say that they're awful either. If easy, light historical Christian fiction is your cup of tea then you would probably really enjoy these books. They definitely are not ones for readers who like a bit more of a challenge.

Shiloh Autumn

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