CFBA: Within My Heart by Tamera Alexander

Song Stuck on the Brain: You Drive Me Crazy by NSYNC

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing:


Within My HeartBethany House; Original edition (September 1, 2010)


by
Tamera Alexander



MY TAKE:

This follow up book in the Timber Ridge series left me teary eyed and heart warmed. This novel tells Rachel and Rand's story. Bringing together two scarred lives and making them whole with love. Not just their own, but the love of God, family and friends.

Tamera touched some very deep emotional chords. Both Rand and Rachel suffered great emotional trauma, but they weren't the only ones. The author included the stories of others' heartbreaks as well, giving the Hero and Heroine a chance to see their pain through different eyes and different circumstances. Ben and Lyda, Rachel's closest friends, were as deeply entrenched in the story as Rachel and Rand. Their love story was just as amazing and important to the story. I love how Tamara wove all the separate story lines together. She did an amazing job.

It was obvious that the author was writing from the heart and real life experience. I felt it with every tear that slipped out while reading. I don't cry easily when reading a story, but I connected so completely with the characters, I couldn't stop myself. And yet, the humor was clear and I laughed out loud too. That is the mark of a fantastic story. When it worms it's way down into your heart and comes to life inside of you. When you put the book down feeling like you've grown because of the experiences you've read. When it makes you stop and think about what you would do in their place, and whether you would have had the faith to stand strong.

I highly recommend this book and those proceeding it. Be sure to read Tamera's note at the end of the story explaining her own experience with death as she lost her mother to cancer during the writing of the book. It shows how deeply she connected with the story and how much she bared her soul to her readers during the writing process. It's very moving.




ABOUT THE BOOK:

Determined to fulfill her late husband’s dream, Rachel Boyd struggles to keep her ranch afloat with the help of her two young sons. But some days it feels as though her every effort is sabotaged. When faced with a loss she cannot afford, she’s forced to trust Rand Brookston, the one man in Timber Ridge she wishes to avoid. And with good reason. He’s a physician, just like her father, which tells her everything she needs to know about him. Or so she thinks . . .

Dr. Rand Brookston ventured west with the dream of bringing modern medicine to the wilds of the Colorado Rockies, but the townspeople have been slow to trust him. Just as slow in coming is Rand’s dream to build the town a proper clinic. When a patient’s life is threatened, Rand makes a choice—one that sends ripples through the town of Timber Ridge. And through Rachel Boyd’s stubborn heart.

From the beloved, bestselling author of From a Distance and Beyond This Moment comes an unforgettable story about faith in the face of fear, about tarnished hopes and second chances, and ultimately about the resilient courage and tenacity of hearts broken––and mended––by love.


If you would like to read the first chapter of Within My Heart, go HERE.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Tamera Alexander is the best-selling author of Rekindled, Revealed and Remembered, the critically acclaimed Fountain Creek Chronicles historical series with Bethany House Publishers. Her second historical series, Timber Ridge Reflections (From a Distance, Beyond This Moment, and Within My Heart), penned in her style with deeply drawn characters, thought-provoking plots, and poignant prose have earned her devoted readers—and multiple industry awards.

These awards include the 2009 and 2008 Christy Award, the 2007 RITA for Best Inspirational Romance, the 2009 and 2007 Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, 2007 Bookseller’s Best Award, and Library Journal’s Top Christian Fiction for 2006, among others.

After living in Colorado for seventeen years, Tamera has returned to her Southern roots. She and her husband now make their home in Nashville with Tamera's father, Doug. They enjoy life there with Joe and Tamera's two adult children, and Jack, a precious—and precocious—silky terrier.