Review - The Shadow Catcher's Daughter by Carla Olson Gade

Eliana has secrets. Daring Eliana Van Horn aims to make her mark by joining her father as his photography assistant--disguised as a young man--on a survey expedition to the remote Four Corners.

Living in the shadows of his native heritage, trail guide Yiska Wilcox is thrown off course when the shadow catcher's daughter opens up the uncharted territory of his heart. As they travel through dangerous terrain in the mountains and deserts of Colorado and New Mexico, Eliana and Yiska must learn to overcome the barriers of culture, faith, and ideals to discover common ground.

Though they are worlds apart, will they stake a chance on love?

I got The Shadow Catcher's Daughter by Carla Olson Gade, book 1 in the Love in Four Corners series, when it first debuted... but lost it for a while after I'd started reading it. For a long while. I actually found it just a couple of months ago searching through my mom's house in a pile of books she'd taken off my old shelves and from various corner's of the house. I'm really glad it found its way back to me.

Eliana is the daughter of a photographer. She's accompanying him on a professional trip but she's disguised as a boy, both to keep herself safe and to try and avoid issues with the team. Before leaving on the expedition she meets Yiska. A "halfbreed" who's both a trail guide and a wonderfully poetic writer. They both become enamored with each other immediately.

Along the journey Yiska proves an incredible asset to the team, saving Eli several times and protecting the team from attack on more than one occasion. The trip is not without tragedy though... but along with the tragedy comes hope.

I liked this story. It was WAY too short if you ask me. I wish it had gone on for at least another 100 pages. Yiska was brave and selfless. And as I said before, an incredibly poetic writer. He was a man with dreams that, it seemed, he wasn't sure he'd be able to realize. Until he came across Eliana and her father. Two people who treated him like a human being and not like an animal like it seemed so many others believed him to be.

Eliana was a very determined young woman. She knew what she wanted and she wasn't going to let the fact that she was female stop her from achieving the goals she'd set for herself. She was also extremely kind and so full of faith. A faith that rubbed off on her trail guide eventually.

Her father was wonderful. He was protective but not overbearing. He was stern but he was kind and he was generous. Not quick to jump to conclusions or to accuse. He let Eliana be who she wanted to be and accepted Yiska almost as a part of the family, trusting him to take care of his daughter should anything happen to him on their journey. Or even after.

There wasn't necessarily one defining moment in this story. A peak, so to speak. It was full of mountains and valleys and action scattered all throughout. I love period pieces, especially set in or around this time. The descriptions of their travels and Yiska's stories and journal writings were absolutely lovely. Due to the characters in this story it was not without the issues of prejudice and finding faith. And as I said before, it was not without its tragedy.

But there was a joy as well. Every cloud has a silver lining right? Yiska was Eliana's every bit as much as she was his. And I thought that ended the book fantastically. I just wish it had been longer. I really do. That is the ONLY bone I have to pick with this story.

If you like period pieces as much as I do then this is a wonderful story to read. If you like Christian fiction (mixed in with some actual history!) then this is the book for you. If you're interested in reading at ALL then I suggest picking it up. It's an easy book to breeze through and it's such a wonderful story. Carla is a fantastic writer (I've also reviewed her novel A Pattern for Romance HERE) and a fantastic person as well and I'm glad that I was able to finally get this story reviewed!

Review - Pattern for Romance by Carla Olson Gade

Honour Metcalf s quilting needlework is admired by a wealthy customer of the Boston Mantua-maker for whom she works. In need of increasing her earnings, she agrees to create an elaborate white work bridal quilt for the dowager s niece. A beautiful design emerges as she carefully stitches the intricate patterns and she begins to dream of fashioning a wedding quilt of her own. When Honour is falsely accused of thievery and finds herself in a perilous position, merchant tailor Joshua Sutton comes to her aid. As he risks his relationships, reputation, and livelihood to prove her innocence, the two discover a grander plan a design for love.

I love love LOVE period stories. Pattern for Romance by Carla Olson Gade is set in post-Townshend Acts, colonial Boston. Honour is a quilter who has come to the United Sates by way of England and has taken up residence with the local Mantua-maker who she also works for. Her voyage to Boston had included, at first, her parents, brothers, sister, and herself... but only she and her sister remain, the result of being attacked by pirates and unable to find help soon enough.

All they have left of their mother is the indigo quilt they sleep with, and the bag that Honour carries all her quilting supplies in. But she loses it during a hailstorm at the beginning of the book. Handsome, honorable Joshua Sutton comes to her rescue though... in more than one way. The two set out to find Honour's possessions and along the way encounter quite a few obstacles that would deter most people. Luckily, Joshua is not easily deterred.

He's kind and he's caring, and even though he's told himself he's not ready to fall in love, he does. As does Honour. He's the perfect gentleman. Ok, maybe not perfect, but he's pretty darn close if you ask me. He's kind to her and to her sister. He goes out of his way to help her when (at one point) she doesn't really deserve it. He never seeks to compromise her beliefs and does what he can to help her retain (or in some cases regain) her reputation.

Like I said, I love period stories. On top of being so much fun to read, you actually learn things. Who'da thunk it. I love the language in this story and the setting. I love the details that make it seem like something that could have actually happened a couple hundred years ago. And I love being able to picture the story in my head because everything is described so wonderfully.

With that being said... Honour has some of THE WORST luck I have ever seen. The worst. I don't know how many concussions a person can have or how many times a person can hurt themselves before they decide that maaaaaybe it's not safe for them to leave bed. Ever. She definitely had that kind of "damsel in distress" thing going on.

Joshua did not disappoint. He was the colonial equivalent of a chivalrous knight in shining armor and I thought he was wonderful. He was quite noble in his task to protect Honour and restore to her things that were rightfully hers, along with helping her out in other areas as well. If he were a real person, and alive today, you'd be hard pressed to find a better man I'd wager. Family oriented, professional, kind, sensitive, persistent.... ::sigh::

It was a pretty quick read once I really had a chance to sit down and focus on the story. It actually turned out to be perfect timing, too... my oldest is studying a lot of what the colonial settlers in the book were going through as far as the Townshend Acts and taxation without representation and things of that nature are concerned. 

The story was a fun one, albeit riddled with misfortune, mostly on Honour's part, but she has a lot of people around her who love her and care for her when she needs it most. When I read things like this it always makes me wish I could travel back in time and see it all first hand.

If you like colonial stories or period stories I definitely recommend this. It's easy to read and it's incredibly interesting in its history. It's suitable for any age, although it would probably be best understood by late teens and up.

Waiting On Wednesday

WoW is a weekly event hosted by Jill over at Breaking The Spine. It spotlights upcoming releases that are anxiously awaited.

I know that my WoW post is day late, but aside from books and stories that I've already posted about, I couldn't really think of what I was waiting for. UNTIL I took a journey on over to a friend's blog; Writing To Distraction. Carla Gade, over at Writing to Distraction, is a Christian historical romance novelist. She has two projects debuting in 2012. The first is called The Shadow Catcher's Daughter which is book number 1 in the Love In Four Corners series (other authors doing books 2 and 3). Release date is January of 2012..

NOW... Today's post is about her second project. A collection of novellas by various artists set to debut in May of 2012 (too far!!), Colonial Courtships features Carving a Future by Carla. Here's the description for this particular novella: "Carving a Future (1752): Ship figurehead carver Nathaniel Ingersoll has apprenticed for many years under his Uncle Phineas and hopes to become a master ship carver in his own right. Constance Starling was spirited away from England to the Connecticut coast as an indentured servant, arriving too ill for anyone to accept her. When Nathaniel takes pity on her, he purchases her contract. Has he jeopardized the future he has worked so hard to achieve for the welfare of a weakly servant?" .

And here's the lovely cover:


Isn't it beautiful? I love the expression on her face. I wonder what she's thinking about. I can't wait for EITHER of her stories to come out. I absolutely love historical fiction (and just history in general) and the fact that it's a Christian historical romance novel just makes it all the more exciting (The Heirs of Cahira O'Connor series comes to mind in this category as well, by Angela Elwell Hunt). I know it's going to be a great read. They both will be. When the time comes you should definitely check it out. Carla is just an overall outstanding person and I know these won't disappoint if they're anything like her!