About the Book

Book: Anne

Author: Rena Groot

Genre: Historical Romantic Fiction

Release Date: 2023

It is 1881. Anne is 19, a widow travelling on the Oregon Trail. She has no option, but to travel with her husband’s murderer. As she struggles to survive on the unforgiving trail, Anne must confront her own doubts and fears. Will she succumb to the darkness in her heart and seek vengeance at any cost? Or will she find the strength to forgive, and discover a path to redemption and healing? With each step she takes, Anne must face the harsh realities of life on the frontier and the deep mysteries of faith, trust, and grace. She dreams of revenge…but God has other plans.

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MY REVIEW

With the opening pages readers can get a feel of how hard it was during the late 1880s. There was the threat of the Jesses James group who robbed and killed innocent people that many feared. The weather was not always favorable and trying to survive on the Oregon Trail was very hard.

I like Anne and her fierce, determined and strong character. Being a mail order bride was something she thought would give her happiness. She was quite young and faced so many tragedies. The death of her husband shatters her hopes and dreams. Now she must face having to be around the man who killed her husband. I think it would be very difficult to be near the man who murdered someone I loved.

Logan is very humble and strong in his faith. He decides to help Anne and has her join him on his journey. He wants to protect her and knows she is angry with him. Faced with tough questions he tells her the true facts about her husband that she never knew about. I thought about how people can deceive others when they are not face to face getting to know each other. It is a shock to face the harsh reality that the the man she married was violent and ruthless. Logan continues to show grace to Anne and realizes that he is starting to have feelings for her.

I enjoyed the story and how the author describes the many obstacles our two main characters faced. A simple task we do every day like brushing our teeth was hard for our main characters to accomplish. The thought of brushing my teeth with mint leaves, and twigs does not sound appealing. When the author mentioned how many people lost teeth due to not brushing I thanked God for the simple things we take for granted.

I learned many things about this time period which showed me how we need to trust God and know that he will supply our needs. Forgiveness is a big lesson for Anne and I loved how she relied on her faith to help her. It had to be hard to forgive someone who caused you pain, but Anne knew she had to overcome what was holding her back from happiness. This is a great story where adventure, danger, forgiveness and faith work together and show how faith can move mountains.

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.

About the Author

I am an artist, writer, online course creator (Broken to Beautiful…rena-groot.mykajabi.com), B & B host, have a Bachelor of Education and a Master of Religious Education, have been a teacher in Canada and China, a tour manager from the Rockies to the Pacific, and God has given me the honor of being an ambassador with “The Department of Eternal Affairs” to so many cool places—He must have laughed knowing His plans for me…that one day I would be praying with a voodoo queen in Haiti, another day leading a dying woman to Jesus in a hut in Belize, another day sharing the love of Jesus as an earthquake shook the Earth under my feet. God is beyond amazing. I started a blog to bless, encourage, and sometimes challenge people. Here’s the link. renagroot.com.