A sweet, sweet read. Looking forward to reviewing more of her work. Thanks for sharing.

This is the first time I have read a book by Tammy Shuttlesworth . She is a new to me author.
I would recommend this to lovers of frontier Christian romance. There are two stories here connected by the same characters that take place about 5 years apart. The book had a nice ending. There was a sentence that made no sense in where it was placed. I could not figure it out.
Pub Date 01 Feb 2017
Thank you to NetGalley and Barbour Books for providing me with a digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately, this one slipped through the cracks before I could read it.

"The Memory of Love" is not your typical memory loss story. I found this to be simultaneously refreshing and maddening (though in a good way). What an odd combination of impressions, right?

"The Memory of Love" (Barbour, 2017) and the included “bonus” story "Healing Sarah’s Heart", both by Tammy Shuttlesworth, comprise the latest of Barbour’s two-pack re-releases of Heartsong Presents books. (Heartsong Presents is no longer publishing new books as of mid-2015.) These are Ms. Shuttlesworth’s first two published books, and "Healing Sarah’s Heart" is a sequel to the first. Both books are standalone, though reading them in order will give insight into Sarah’s character and her past (when reading the second book). I selected this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review because I’ve been enjoying Barbour’s two-story releases. Tammy Shuttlesworth is a new-to-me author.

Overall rating: 3 3/4 stars (though I came very close to giving this a four.)

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STORY #1

"The Memory of Love", originally published as "A Different Kind of Heaven" (Heartsong Presents, 1998) by Tammy Shuttlesworth is a historical Christian romance set in the Ohio Valley in a Moravian mission village in 1777.

Rating: 4 stars

I looked up the term Moravian online, and found the following information on Newsmax: “Moravians originally came from ancient Bohemia and Moravia in what is now called the Czech Republic. Their name comes from the denomination's original birthplace of Moravia. During the 18th century, Moravians split from the Roman Catholic Church.”

The heroine: Callie Troyer, 23, is the village’s healer, whose responsibilities include birthing babies. However, she hasn’t had formal training, and her knowledge is limited to what the Delaware tribe’s medicine woman was able to teach her before leaving. Callie is not at all satisfied with her level of knowledge, and is very burdened when faced with deaths.

The settlement Callie lives in is made up of Moravians and Delaware Indians, who are often called “Praying Indians”. Five years previously when the orphanage Callie lived in was destroyed by a great flood, she and her sister Sarah were taken in by the Moravian missionary. Callie lost her memory as the result of being injured in the flood, and five years later, she finds it frustrating that she still cannot remember her lost years. Unfortunately, Sarah cannot fill in the gaps of Callie’s life for her, because the two of them were kept apart at the orphanage.

The hero: Joshua Johnston arrives on the scene rather abruptly in chapter one, walking in on Callie while she is attending her best friend, who is in labor too soon. Callie asks him, “Who are you, and why are you here?” “‘I have come to help,’” he replied matter-of-factly.” Joshua has gone to medical school, so he is able to help significantly. The reader becomes aware early on that “he had planned this for five years, praying fervently all that time that Callie would take one look at him and remember who he was.”

Christian elements:

*I thought learning about the Moravian church was interesting.

*When making a promise to her sister, Sarah replies, “God’s promise. That is better than just a plain promise.” Callie’s mental response was: “So it was. People might fail, but God’s covenants stood fast.” I was not thrilled with this, because while yes, God’s promises are completely dependable, Sarah was the one making the promise. Not God. In fact, the Bible actually counsels us AGAINST making promises!

What I liked:

*The conflicts in the story were well done.

*There is one aspect of the end that I was pretty surprised about. (I am always impressed by the unexpected in a romance novel, because the reader knows the hero and heroine will get together and live happily ever after. Being surprised is, well... a pleasant surprise!)

What I didn’t like:

*There was one sentence that just didn’t make sense to me, and it was pretty important to the story. I wonder whether some of the dialogue was accidentally cut out. I read the section a few times and finally made my own conclusion.

*This is just a preference and not a flaw of the book: The story is not very lighthearted. The tone was more on the serious side, which did work well, but isn’t what I look for in a book. :-)

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STORY #2

I was a bit hesitant to read this book, because Sarah annoyed me in "The Memory of Love", (which was originally released as "A Different Kind of Heaven"), the tale of Sarah’s older sister Callie. However, Ms. Shuttlesworth did a decent job of pulling it off. I was still somewhat annoyed with Sarah in this book, though it was in a different way.

"Healing Sarah’s Heart" (2000, Heartsong Presents), sequel to "The Memory of Love", by Tammy Shuttlesworth, is a historical Christian romance set in Ohio in 1781, right in the middle of the Revolutionary War. The British are asking the Indians to chase the Americans out, and the Americans are retaliating by attacking and massacring the Indians they believe to be responsible. The novel is a standalone story, but the reader may prefer to read the first book for Sarah’s background.

Rating: 3 1/2 stars
(I considered bumping it up to 4 stars because of the excellent ending, but Sarah annoyed me too much throughout the story.)

The heroine: Widowed Sarah Lyons, 25, has traveled seventy miles with her four-year-old son Samuel and her friend Bessie Hall. They are to join Bessie’s husband “Captain” at the militia encampment. Bessie and Captain are faithful friends to Sarah and are strong in their faith in God. “Sarah prayed occasionally, but it had been a long time since she’d believed God answered her prayers.” Sarah is really struggling in her faith as well as her zest for life. “No matter how important this move was for her son’s future, her feelings about it were as dismal as the mud-covered moccasins she stared at.”

The hero: Jeremiah Stewart does not want to kill others. In fact, he is in the army strictly as a courier, and he’s even been considering asking to be relieved of his militia position. Unexpectedly, his superior officer signed him up as a county lieutenant without asking Jeremiah, and Jeremiah is extremely unhappy about it. However, after much persuasion by the colonel, Jeremiah accepts the position on a temporary basis - for 180 days. The colonel urgently needs a suitable replacement as he will be gone for much of the time. But Jeremiah still dislikes his position so much that he tells his clerk not to call him Lieutenant Stewart!

Christian elements: The presence of faith in the story as a whole is well-done. I did take issue with Sarah’s inner thoughts: “She could not pinpoint a time, but she knew it wouldn’t be long until she again believed in God. She looked forward to that day when she could cast off her fears and feast on the promise of eternal life.” From this quote, it seems apparent that she already believes in God, and that was my impression throughout the story, too. Sarah believes in God, but she cannot understand why He allowed bad things to happen, so she’s angry with Him and hiding herself from Him. I think a more apt quote would be: “She felt her anger towards God dissipating and looked forward to fully casting off her fears.”

What I liked:

*I appreciated the incorporation of historical events as an integral part of the plotline, rather than as merely as a backdrop. Even though they’re both standalone, after reading "Healing Sarah’s Heart" and the book preceding it, I wonder if Ms. Shuttlesworth planned out the plot of both books at the same time.

*I liked the overall story very much, particularly the militia portion at the end of the book.

What I didn’t like:

*The initial romance seems a bit forced (and instant) to me. I think Sarah was flustered by Jeremiah too easily and too quickly, and Jeremiah was overly gallant overly early to the point that it felt a bit unnatural.

*I also felt that Sarah tends towards the irrational and that she is too quick to take offense. Yes, she’s hurting, but still…..

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I will not seek out more of Ms. Shuttleworth’s stories because the rest of her books are in collections of short stories or novellas, and I try my best to avoid those. (The reason is silly -- I have a terrible time writing just a one-paragraph review for each story.) If I end up with a collection with one of Ms. Shuttlesworth’s stories, however, I will certainly read it. :-) I recommend this two-story combo to fans of gentle Christian historical romances.

This was a really sweet book and the first time that I have had the opportunity to read a book by this author. It was an American historical romance with some very nice writing. I enjoyed the story very much.

Callie Troyer joins a Moravian Brothers mission group and serves as their medical helper there. A stranger comes to the mission also with medical training and seems to have an interest in her. A part of her past and her future seem to come together in a most interesting way. The story has its sad moments and trials as the pioneering souls fight to make a life.

A very nice Christian read. I believe it was probably of novella length. It comes with a bonus sequel, Healing Sarah's Heart.