Grace’s Pictures (An Ellis Island Novel) by Cindy Thomson {Review}
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Grace's Pictures by Cindy ThomsonSeries: Ellis Island #1
Find the Author: Website, Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Amazon, Pinterest
ISBN: 1414368437
Genres: Christian Historical Fiction
Published by Tyndale House Publishers on June 2013
Pages: 392
Format: ARC
Source: Author
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Grace McCaffery hopes that the bustling streets of New York hold all the promise that the lush hills of Ireland did not. As her efforts to earn enough money to bring her mother to America fail, she wonders if her new Brownie camera could be the answer. But a casual stroll through a beautiful New York City park turns into a hostile run-in with local gangsters, who are convinced her camera holds the first and only photos of their elusive leader. A policeman with a personal commitment to help those less fortunate finds Grace attractive and longs to help her, but Grace believes such men cannot be trusted. Spread thin between her quest to rescue her mother, do well in a new nanny job, and avoid the gang intent on intimidating her. Grace must put her faith in unlikely sources to learn the true meaning of courage and forgiveness.
*This post has been updated with my new format
on February 9th, 2016, thanks to the Ultimate Book Blogger Plugin.*
When I was preparing the Coming Soon from the Pen post featuring historical Irish-fiction author Cindy Thomson, I was planning to link back to my review of Grace’s Pictures, An Ellis Island Novel #1 that I read in July 2013 and loved beginning to end. I was surprised to discover while that review is prominently on my Goodreads shelf it seems to have either disappeared or never quite made it to my blog. But then, that was a drastic summer (surgery and all). Now I’m delighted to post that review as well as the brand new interview with Cindy to entice you to the entire series!
Grace is a different character from what I usually read and I did not take to her at first. However, our hero had me as a fan from before Grace was even sure what she thought of him. Grace’s story starts in Ireland, continues on a ship and then in New York from about three or four different settings if you include Owen’s locations. December 1900 America – Irish lass. While reading, I was taking blip notes as I bookmarked and said, Interesting start. “I already like Owen, definitely hero worthy so far. 🙂 Grace is timid, but growing on me. I’m not sure what I think about Grace, but then I have no way to really relate to her experiences and fear. Owen, however, is seemingly a dream right off the bat. I have no clue how they might end up together, which I assume is the end direction. I’m definitely reading this book for Owen but I have hope for Grace…” By the end of the story, I’m definitely fond of Grace as she grew as a person and a character. While this is not seemingly the normal historical fiction I read it was enchanting throughout and kept me entertained and turning pages.Â
At the end, I did not expect certain things with her step-father and mother as it has been painted a different way, but I think that made the growth and knowledge of the characters past and presents all the more. The mixture of gang issue with the police force of the time was really neat to read as I’m sure I haven’t seen it anywhere else before. The cover calls this An Ellis Island Novel, so I’m intrigued to see if Cindy will come out with more I’m delighted to be reading the sequel and second novel of Irish Immigrants through Ellis Island in Annie’s Stories right now! I definitely wouldn’t mind reading them even more stories if they were to come to publication. After all, this got a five star from me, and that’s a hard score to reach. 🙂Â
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Anne Payne
I think I would like this book very much! I read BJ Hoff’s Emerald Ballad series and loved it. I also recently read a book where I was more interested in the hero than heroine in the beginning, but she grew on me as the story went along. Actually, Now that I think about it, I’ve had that happen with several books this year. Hmmm….wonder why?
CherryBlossomMJ
It seems to me this last year has been the year of the hero in my opinion. A lot more authors that I seem to have read for years have been focusing on their male protagonist. At least that’s what I’ve noticed…