Review/Giveaway: Love Finds You in Homestead, Iowa

 A WINNING READINGS GIVEAWAY!

Title: Love Finds You in Homestead, Iowa
Author: Melanie Dobson

Genre: Christian fiction/romance
How to enter: Leave a comment on THIS post right here! If you're a subscriber or a follower, leave a second comment for a second entry.

Entry deadline: April 25, 2010

Restrictions: Open internationally!

That's right, enter right here for this giveaway.  This is my review copy, so it has been gently read.
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This week, the



Christian Fiction Blog Alliance



is introducing



Love Finds You in Homestead, Iowa



Summerside Press (March 1, 2010)



by



Melanie Dobson





ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Melanie Beroth Dobson is the author of the inspirational novels Together for Good (2006), Going for Broke (2007), The Black Cloister (2008), Love Finds You in Liberty, Indiana (2009), Love Finds You in Homestead, Iowa (2010), Refuge on Crescent Hill (2010), and The Silent Order (2010) as well as the co-author of Latte for One and Loving It! A Single Woman's Guide to Living Life to Its Fullest (2000).



Prior to launching Dobson Media Group in 1999, Melanie was the corporate publicity manager at Focus on the Family where she was responsible for the publicity of events, products, films, and TV specials. Melanie received her undergraduate degree in journalism from Liberty University and her master's degree in communication from Regent University. She has worked in the fields of publicity and journalism for fifteen years including two years as a publicist for The Family Channel.



Melanie and her husband, Jon, met in Colorado Springs in 1997 at Vanguard Church. Jon works in the field of computer animation. Since they've been married, the Dobsons have relocated numerous times including stints in Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Colorado, Berlin, and Southern California. These days they are enjoying their new home in the Pacific Northwest.



Jon and Melanie have adopted their two daughters —Karly (6) and Kinzel (5). When Melanie isn't writing or entertaining their girls, she enjoys exploring ghost towns and dusty back roads, traveling, hiking, line dancing, and reading inspirational fiction.





ABOUT THE BOOK

Times are hard in 1894. Desperate for work, former banker Jacob Hirsch rides the rails west from Chicago with his four-year-old daughter, Cassie. When a life-threatening illness strands the pair in Homestead, Iowa, the local Amana villagers welcome the father and daughter into their peaceful society. Liesel, a young Amana woman, nurses Cassie back to health, and the Homestead elders offer Jacob work. But Jacobs growing interest in Liesel complicates his position in the Amanas. Will he fight to stay in the only place that feels like home, even if it means giving up the woman he loves? Or will Liesel leave her beloved community to face the outside world with Jacob and Cassie at her side?



If you would like to read the first chapter of Love Finds You in Homestead, Iowa, go HERE.

What I Liked:  I love books where I learn - about a time period, a culture, etc.  This one had me learning all about the Amana community in Iowa in the late 1800s, with a little diphtheria and bank failure background added in, too.  It's an easy, sweet read about honesty, hard work, and what's really important in life, and a little romance, too.

What I Didn't Like: Not really a criticism of the book, but rather the subject:  I struggled a little bit with the Amana community concept.  I may be one of those Americans who bought into the individualism ideal, but what bugs me the most is the seemingly inward focus; and when people did want to join, it was difficult!  What happened to Christian outreach?  To be fair, the Amana community took in the homeless and hungry who showed up on their doorstep (in this book) without reserve, but they were only allowed so far until they had proven themselves.

Anyway, this made me think about the Acts community after Christ's death, and why a socialized system is so tough/impossible when there are human beings with flaws involved every step of the way.