Dawn's Preludeby Tracie Peterson - MY REVIEW

“How could I hold up my puny attempts at love and faithfulness and demand He bless me for my efforts?”

(p. 144)

The words Aunt Zerelda speaks to Lydia Gray reflect the deep longing Lydia has to believe that someone loves her and cares about her deepest needs. For you see, Lydia has spent the last twelve years living in a hellish nightmare of abuse and neglect, and her wounded soul refuses to believe that God could possibly care for her at all. If He did, then why did He allow her to suffer so cruelly for so long? Why didn’t He hear her cries?

Oh reader, prepare to have your heart ache a bit when you read Tracie Peterson’s latest novel, Dawn’s Prelude. Lydia Gray is the central focus of this story, and her story is rather sad. It is not a plight however that was very unusual in the late 1800’s. Oftentimes, marriages were arranged for financial reasons and little thought was given to the woman’s needs or desires. Lydia was cursed with step-children every bit as cruel as the man with whom she had to spend twelve years of her life. Just about the time you feel like she may have escaped, danger comes knocking on the door and things are upended first one way and then another!! A woman can only bear so much, after all!

Tracie Peterson creates a tale of intrigue that thickens with twists and turns page after page. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of tension that was built within the storyline! I also appreciated the fact that Tracie chose a rather unlikely character in the story to act as the hand of redemption. I was satisfying for some of the women in this story to stand up and say, “Enough is enough!” More than anything, I loved the way Zerelda and Kjell painted such a clear and beautiful picture of God’s grace and His precious gift of salvation.

Dawn’s Prelude does a terrific job of revealing the darkness that must precede a new day, but it is a story that offers hope in Christ through all of those dark and painful moments. I enjoyed this story and recommend it to anyone who wants to take an honest look at God’s redeeming love and unending mercy and grace.

Please visit the Bethany House website to read an excerpt, enjoy an interview with the author and learn how to order your own copy of this terrific historical read!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Tracie Peterson is a best-selling author of almost sixty romance novels. Tracie had wanted to write books since she was little. She knew she wanted to write romance, but at the time the only romance available was in the secular market which she wouldn’t write for because of the sexual content and language—so Tracie put writing on hold for a while. It wasn’t until after she had picked up a Janette Oke book that she started working on outlines and proposals.

At the beginning of her career, Tracie used the pen name of Janelle Jamison but now uses her real name. She writes both series and standalone books. Some of her series include, Ribbons of Steel, Westward Chronicles, Yukon Quest, Bells of Lowell, Alaskan Quest, and Ladies of Liberty. Some of her standalone books are Entangled, A Slender Thread, The Long-Awaited Child, Julotta, Silent Star, Castles, I Can’t Do It All, and Where My Heart Belongs.

When it comes to balancing writing and family, Tracie says, “I’ve always tried to make sure they knew that the writing wasn't more important than they were. I have to say that God's blessed me with the ability to stop and start. I'm not one of those writers who has to hide myself away and have absolute silence or anything like that… I wrote my first five or six books out in the middle of the living room with the television going and the kids flying around the room.”

She, her husband, Jim, daughter Jennifer, and friend Charity Kauffman make up Peterson Ink, Inc., which produces Barbour Publishing’s Heartsong Presents book line. Each year, fifty-two Christian romance novels (half contemporary, half historical) are published through Peterson Ink.

She and her family of five live in Montana.