In My Father's House, by Brock and Brodie Thoene

The book I am reading, (and will be reading consistently from now on), is called In My Father's House and it is written by Brock and Bodie Thoene. Right now, it is focusing on three young men on the front lines towards the end of World War I.

The beginning chapter introduces them, where they are and what they are doing. They are in Belleau Wood, France in the year 1918. The characters are Max Meyer - a Jew from New York, Ellis Warne - an Irish doctors' son from Ohio, Birch Tucker - an Arkansas farm boy, and Jefferson Canfield - the son of a black sharecropper.
It starts out when Max, Ellis and Birch make a bet while chasing a German plane. Birch bets that the German will die, and Max and Ellis bet that he will live to see another day. Birch shoots and does not miss. As the plane spirals downward, Birch regrets his action of selfishness, and wills the German to get back up and fly.

Birch made a really bad decision, by putting the life of another human on a bet. Birch realizes this only after he shoots. Sometimes, when we make bad choices, we make them in haste and don't think of the end result. This was the case with Birch.

So the action intensifies as Birch watches the German plane spiral. Max and Ellis are willing the pilot to get back up so they could win the bet, while Birch wills him to get up because he feels guilty. The plane crashes. Max and Ellis are sure that he must be dead, and they hand over their money to Birch. He takes the money, and goes to see if the German is all right, hoping that he indeed did live. He finds the man painfully trying to get out of the plane which had now caught on fire. Birch helps him get out, and takes him to the nearest hospital.

So, after making such a horrible decision, he tries to fix it. This is what we all should aim for. When we make a mistake, we should do everything in our power to try and fix it.
However, Birch is helping a German! A German officer, who had probably killed more American men than they could ever imagine! Why would he want to help him? Because it was the right thing to do, and Birch knew it. He created a problem, this was the result, he felt guilty, and in spite of the man's race, he helped him get to a hospital. 


So, at the end of the first chapter, (which is as far as I got), they just got him to the hospital, and got him in, in spite of resistance because the man was a German officer.

And that is my blog for this week!!

Lindsey

The book I'm reading is called Hartford and it is by Angela Elwell Hunt. The story line is the following:

     Daniel hated his brother. He knew it was wrong; he knew his parents, Fallon and Gilda Bailie, would be grieved if they discovered what was in his heart. But he had had his fill living in Taregan's (his brother's) shadow... Taregan the bold, the athletic, the courageous. How Daniel despised him! His only hope was to somehow escape Taregan and the life he'd always known. Then the British soldiers arrive, bringing with them the perfect opportunity, which Daniel accepts ... never dreaming his choices will lead them all into danger, betrayal, and the greatest trial they have ever faced.

     So the story starts out with twin brothers, about twenty, scrambling to be at the top. Their mother, Gilda Bailie favors Taregan. While Fallon doesn't seem to hold this favoritism, he certainly does not favour Daniel. So in this blog, I want to talk about parents favoring a child.
     Obviously, as we see in Genesis, it is wrong. Esau was favoured by his father, and Jacob by his mother. Jacob, then, did not learn his lesson, and favoured Joseph above all of his other sons. The story of Joseph being favoured is a sad one. We see all of the problems that could have been prevented if only Jacob had not favoured Joseph.
    So, I believe that it is wrong to favour a child. Gilda loves Taregan more because he is older, stronger and more cunning, and Jacob favoured Joseph because he was born from his favorite wife. In the end, the other sibling(s) became extremely jealous to the point of doing crazy things, and the favoured child becomes a spoiled brat. Taregan is always told that he is better, and he does not have a problem putting Daniel down because of it. I do not know why some parents do this, but I sincerely insist that it is wrong. It just causes problems, and God created us in his own image, so why would a mother love one son more than the other?

- Lindsey Luna

The Official Summary of A Love to Last Forever

This is the official summary of the book I am reading.

All Beth Gallatin has really wanted out of life is to settle down in one town, with one man, and raise a family. But with her father's roaming ways, she's always been denied that dream; instead, she found solace in reading romantic books. With her father's passing, she can, for the first time, dare to claim the rugged Montana frontier as her home.
Nick Lassiter has loved Beth since she first came to town, but she's always seemed to think of him more as a brother. Just when he finally gets Beth to consider him, however, a challenger threatens the affection growing between them. But neither Nick nor Beth is prepared when they must face the consequences of Nick's complicated past.

Book Two in the Brides of Gallatin County Series

This is the book I will be reading is called A Love to Last Forever, and it's by Tracie Peterson. It is the continuation of A Promise To Believe In.

The END

Gwen Gallatin, who has been thinking that she is cursed, goes to God with her struggles, and gives her life to the Lord. She then later married Hank Bishop. =)

Beth Gallatin, calls a truce with Hank after he ask for her sisters' hand, and stops her childish games. There was no resolution with Nick, but I believe that it will be solved in the next book of this series. Also, she was not able to find any solution to the problems that the girls at the saloon have, but, again, I believe she will find the answer in books two or three.

Lacy Gallatin, after getting into a lot of trouble, makes an agreement with Gwen, that she will stop her foolish hunt for her father's "killer". Also, Dave Shepard, the deputy, declared his love for the wild Gallatin girl, but Lacy refused to even consider him. I am relatively sure that that will be solved in the third and final book in the series. 

Hank Bishop, found what he was looking for after Gwen found the stocks behind the wallpaper in the men's bathroom at the hotel. He then took them back to his mother, came back to the girls, opened a general store, and married Gwen Gallatin. 

This was a story about justice, faith and love. I think that Lacy, made the right choice by swearing to Gwen that she would give up her hunt. I have a hunch however, that the problem is not totally under control. Lacy is known for being pig-headed, and I wouldn't be surprised if Lacy Gallatin still has a long way to go.

        - Lindsey Luna

Justice...Is it right or wrong?

      I would like to talk about a factor in my book that is very crucial. Justice.

                    Lacy Gallatin is a girl probably around eighteen or nineteen who craves justice for her father's death. Her father died by an accident when eight men were celebrating by shooting into the air.  Someone accidentally shot George Gallatin as he was walking to the smithy shop. And so, Lacy would do anything to find the man responsible for the evil act. She has such an extroverted character, that she even walked into Rafe's Saloon looking for his "killer".

     So considering Lacy's obvious obsession with justice, I ask myself: Is justice ALWAYS a good thing? Yes and No. Why? Because, when justice is for good causes, such as bad people who have repeatedly killed (or other), brought to justice, it is a good thing. But in an accident such as the one involving George Gallatin, I do not agree with Lacy's viewpiont. Because killing someone who has accidentally killed another, and you are sure of the accident, then it is not just to kill him in vengeance and punishment.

This is my personal view. (I know Noah will comment something interesting =) LOL)

My personal summary of A Promise to Believe In

The book, A Promise To Believe In, is a story about three unmarried sisters in the Wild West. 

Gwen Gallatin, the oldest, is struggling with her grief from the deaths of her husband and father. Her husband, Harvey Bishop, died ten days after they were married, and her father died in an accidental shooting after Gwen had sent him off to buy something. She believes that she has some sort of curse from God that makes everyone around her die. But when Harvey's supposed brother Hank, shows up, things change for her. Harvey had never told her that he had a brother, and that his parents, very much alive, were dead. Gwen struggles with the fact that her husband had been living a lie, and is very much disturbed by Hank's appearance in her life.

Beth Gallatin, the second oldest, hates Hank for nosing into their personal business. So she sets up a series of hilarious pranks against him to try and force him to leave. These include pouring just a tad of laudanum into his coffee so that he would fall into a deep sleep, dying his white shirts red, and much more. She, stops at no end to try and get him away. In the meantime, her friend Nick asks for her hand in marriage. She refuses with the argument that he drinks occasionally and is not a Christian. Nick is very disappointed, and tries again, but Beth refuses to budge. Also, Beth befriends and tries to help the prostitute girls at Rafe's Saloon. They are stuck there without choice, and have no way to escape.

Lacy Gallatin, the tomboy youngest sister, is in a mood to help Beth with her silly pranks, and find her father's killer. Her father had been walking past the saloon, and at that moment, everyone shot "into the air" for fun. But someone hadn't shot very well, and had hit her father, and Lacy is determined to find out who that was.

Hank Bishop, the brother of Gwen's late husband Harvey, is on a hunt. When Harvey had ran away from home, he had stolen some stock deeds, and expensive jewelry. He is determined to find it, and he had primarily thought that the Gallatin Girls had his answer. But he is realizing that they do not, and he convinces Gwen and Lacy to take him to a nearby town where he can continue looking. 

Lindsey Luna

This is the summary from the back of the book I'm reading!

Gwen, Beth, and Lacy Gallatin fashion a life for themselves in the Montana wilds, operating a roadhouse that is located at the crossroads of two major stage lines. When their father is accidentally killed, the oldest sister, Gwen, reasons that she's cursed. After all, death seems to haunt her: her mother, now her father…and she was married for a mere ten days before her husband died from a bout of measles.
As Gwen and her sisters struggle to maintain the inn on their own, an unexpected visitor adds to the mayhem. Hank Bishop claims to be searching for something in the possession of Gwen's late husband. But mayhem of another sort builds in Gwen's heart as she finds a growing attraction to this man. Can she dare to hope that love might again be hers?

WHAT I AM READING

I am reading A Promise To Believe In, a novel by Tracie Peterson.