Haven

Rating:
Summary: Warm and wonderful
Review: Irene Bennett Brown's Haven blends impeccable historical research with a romantic plot reflecting the morals and manners of the 19th Century. It's this kind of accuracy that has endeared Brown to her fans. For history buffs, background details on her strong-willed heroine, Laila Mitchell's, crusade against the destructive patent medicine industry lend an unmistakable aura of authenticity. Even a wee glimpse of the well-constructed plot would spoil the intrigue for readers. But the setting is a search for her grandparents that leads to a magical peach-laden canyon, and the handsome entrepreneur, Ash Corbett, who disapproves of her independent bent. There's an adorable wild cat of a little girl, and Ash's father, a cantankerous old man who fights change to the last ditch. Haven is a treat for readers of all ages. Another feather in the cap of this fine historical novelist!

Rating:
Summary: Warm and wonderful
Review: Irene Bennett Brown's Haven blends impeccable historical research with a romantic plot reflecting the morals and manners of the 19th Century. It's this kind of accuracy that has endeared Brown to her fans. For history buffs, background details on her strong-willed heroine, Laila Mitchell's, crusade against the destructive patent medicine industry lend an unmistakable aura of authenticity. Even a wee glimpse of the well-constructed plot would spoil the intrigue for readers. But the setting is a search for her grandparents that leads to a magical peach-laden canyon, and the handsome entrepreneur, Ash Corbett, who disapproves of her independent bent. There's an adorable wild cat of a little girl, and Ash's father, a cantankerous old man who fights change to the last ditch. Haven is a treat for readers of all ages. Another feather in the cap of this fine historical novelist!

Rating:
Summary: powerfully vivid description of a bygone era
Review: Laila Mitchell was an orphan by the time she was fifteen. A few years later in 1893, Laila decides to join her grandparents living in la Grande, Oregon where she hopes to make a living from her medical skills learned nursing an elderly person for five years. In Boise, Laila meets widow Kate Boston who is crossing the Snake River to work as a housekeeper to a gold mine owner, Austin Corbett. When Kate is injured in an accident, she persuades Laila to cover for her on her new job until she can take over.

Across the river, the two women are shocked to learn that Ruby Gold is not a mine, but a peach farm. Austin welcomes the two women, but his father is nasty and abrupt. Austin warns Laila not to go down river, but she does anyway. There she is the only female besides an abandoned wild child. Austin keeps coming down to ostensibly see that's he is okay, but in fact has fallen in love with Laila. She reciprocates, but her need for independence threatens any future together.

HAVEN provides readers with picturesque view of life in a remote area (decades before Kneval's failed jump) during ironically that is so opposite to what is often seen in novels occurring during the "gay nineties". The cast is fabulous as fans can see their movies especially the heroine's need to prove herself to herself. Fans of historical fiction with romance as a secondary subplot will take immense pleasure in this powerfully vivid description of a bygone era.

Rating:
Summary: powerfully vivid description of a bygone era
Review: Laila Mitchell was an orphan by the time she was fifteen. A few years later in 1893, Laila decides to join her grandparents living in la Grande, Oregon where she hopes to make a living from her medical skills learned nursing an elderly person for five years. In Boise, Laila meets widow Kate Boston who is crossing the Snake River to work as a housekeeper to a gold mine owner, Austin Corbett. When Kate is injured in an accident, she persuades Laila to cover for her on her new job until she can take over.

Across the river, the two women are shocked to learn that Ruby Gold is not a mine, but a peach farm. Austin welcomes the two women, but his father is nasty and abrupt. Austin warns Laila not to go down river, but she does anyway. There she is the only female besides an abandoned wild child. Austin keeps coming down to ostensibly see that's he is okay, but in fact has fallen in love with Laila. She reciprocates, but her need for independence threatens any future together.

HAVEN provides readers with picturesque view of life in a remote area (decades before Kneval's failed jump) during ironically that is so opposite to what is often seen in novels occurring during the "gay nineties". The cast is fabulous as fans can see their movies especially the heroine's need to prove herself to herself. Fans of historical fiction with romance as a secondary subplot will take immense pleasure in this powerfully vivid description of a bygone era.