When Sparrows fall.

Author:  Meg Moseley

My recommended age: 12+

Their recommended age:  NA

Publisher:  Waterbrook Multnomah publishing group

Number of pages:  352

Publisher’s description:

"A widow and mother of six, Miranda Hanford leads a quiet, private life. When the pastor of her close-knit church announces his plans to move the entire congregation to another state, Miranda jumps at the opportunity to dissolve ties with Mason Chandler and his controlling method of ruling his flock. But then Mason threatens to unearth secrets from her past, and Miranda feels trapped, terrified she’ll be unable to protect her children.

College professor Jack Hanford is more than surprised when he gets a call from his estranged sister-in-law’s oldest son, Timothy, informing him that Miranda has taken a serious fall and he has been named legal guardian of her children while she recovers. Quickly charmed by Miranda’s children, Jack brings some much-needed life into the sheltered household. But his constant challenging of the family’s conservative lifestyle makes the recovering mother uneasy and defensive—despite Jack’s unnerving appeal.

As Jack tries to make sense of the mysterious Miranda and the secrets she holds so tightly, Mason’s pressure on her increases. With her emotions stirring and freedom calling, can Miranda find a way to unshackle her family without losing everything?"

My thoughts:

 I'm not uasally a romance reader.  I just don't like it.  I despise Amish Romance with a horror, and most others I shun.  I had hoped this one wouldn't be too mushy, since I liked that Miranda home schooled her children and it was based it the south.  I wasn't all the was disappointed, but it didn't fully meet with my hopes either.  Miranda and Jack kiss before being married, and THAT is the big deal for me.  I really don't like that.   Everything else, I liked it. But if there just wasn't those kissing moments, I'd been happy.

Cons:

 Jack and Miranda kiss before marriage.

Jack is divorced and falls in love with Miranda.

Pros:

 It looks positively at homeschooling.

All the characters are well formed.

The descriptions aren't overbearing, but you still just know how it all looks.

Language:

None.

Romance and sexual content:

Miranda and Jack fall in love and kiss quite a few times.

Violence:

 None.

Drugs and drink:

Jack drinks Glenlivet.

Jack's mom died of Pill overdose.

Jack drugs Miranda's food with pain pills when she is hurting, and doesn't tell her.  He later apologizes.

Random Snippet:

"There were no sounds but the soft splashing of water on rocks and a few birds singing. Far from the commotion of her household, she could almost believe that God would speak to her, but either He wasn’t answering or He’d struck her heart deaf to punish her sins.

Mason heard God though, or claimed to. If he heard correctly, heaven had asked a hard thing of her. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Miranda removed the lens cap from her camera. The fog was lifting. If she worked fast, she could capture the mountains veiled with fog but kissed by the sunrise.

There it was. The perfect moment. She tripped the shutter.

A new wave of dizziness blindsided her. She hung her head to send blood to it, the camera still held to her face, and smiled at the silliness of staying in picture-taking mode when she had only a clump of dry weeds in the viewfinder.

She fought to step away from the cliff’s edge, but her feet melted beneath her. Someone dropped a curtain from the sky, shutting out the light."

Ratings:

You can see what the problems I had with it.  The romance was the only thing that stopped me from giving it a 5 star, regretfully.  If Ms.  Moseley could have done it without all the kissing, I'd be a happy reader.  But she didn't, so , I have to give it a:

Where you can buy it at:

You can buy it from Amazon for $9.99 or Multnomah's site for the same price.