To Everything a Season

To Everything a Season by Lauraine Snelling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

To everything a season...the little town of Blessing, North Dakota is growing as is the hospital. The hard work Ingeborg, her husband, Norwegian farmer, Haakan Bjorklund and their family have put into the community is showing. The small town is thriving, new shelters must be built for the arriving workers and the new hospital will soon have nurses riding the train in from Chicago. But, with growing towns - new issues also turn up such as crime and differences in faith and worship. Will Blessing be fractured or can the differences be resolved?

One of my very favorite series....

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Love Blooms in Winter

Love Blooms in Winter by Lori Copeland
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In Lori Copeland's latest release, the plot is set in the dead of winter in a tiny prairie town of Dwadlo, North Dakota - where the Chicago & North Western railroad steams through. Mae Wilkey, is the postmistress who also helps Hal Murphy in his general store and watches over her younger brother, Jeremy and elderly snuff-chewing neighbor, Pauline, who has a few lucid moments now and then. In Mae's quest to find a relative of Pauline's, she comes across a single piece of paper with the name Tom Curtis. Could Tom be the family, come visit and be Pauline's caretaker instead of Mae? When Tom finally arrives, racking his brain over this long lost aunt, it's because he can combine the trip with railroad business. Out of compassion he goes along with the nephew/relation idea. As he tries to wind things up in Dwadlo, events happen, including a train wreck, that cause him to stay put and eventually Tom begins to fall for the petite postmistress and the funny characters who live in and out of town.



Note: I get a kick out of the quirky characters that Copeland creates. Hal,Lil, and Pauline especially gave me many belly laughs.

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A Heart for Home

A Heart for Home by Lauraine Snelling

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The story opens with Dr. Astrid Bjorkland tending the Indians, dying from disease and starvation on a reservation in South Dakota, a place where she believes God has sent her. When she finally arrives back home in Blessing, North Dakota, Astrid comes to the conclusion that she can not marry the man who has been courting her - for he can not understand that she is first and foremost a doctor and on top of it, he carries a deep bitterness towards the Indians. Meanwhile, the town of Blessing is growing and more hands are needed for building homes and the new hospital before winter sets in.

A fellow librarian suggested An Untamed Land, the first in the set of series, back in 2002 and I've enjoyed this entire series from the very beginning and I look forward to each new book that Snelling authors.

Red River of the North, Return to Red River, Daughters of Blessing, Home to Blessing.



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A Christmas Blizzard

A Christmas Blizzard by Garrison Keillor

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


A decidedly different book about Christmas! Laugh-out-loud humor follows James Sparrow, a millionaire (previous life: bank robber)who doesn't like Christmas or winter and who has "pump handle syndrome" - the fear of sticking your tongue on a frozen pump handle or any metal object and never being able to pull it off w/o ripping your tongue! When James has to fly back to his hometown of Looseleaf, North Dakota, he must face his fears and his family.



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A Christmas Blizzard is available for holds @ http://www.alleganycountylibrary.info