Washington – Small Town Romance In Four Novels by Wanda Brunstetter and Lauraine Snelling
From Amazon.com
Product Description
Contemporary Romance: Four unique women have found themselves alone: Sinda wants to leave her past behind. Tabby has been bruised by a life-long speech problem. Robynn determines never to risk her heart again. Lareana must carry on after her husband’s death. Can love, human and divine, make a way to open sealed hearts?

Book Description
Four unique women have found themselves alone–“some closed to love because of haunting secrets, others because of fear and loss. Sinda moves into a rural neighborhood to start a new life and leave her secrets behind. Tabby is a timid woman who steps out to conquer her greatest challenge. A talented jockey, Robynn will risk her life for the race, but she’ll never risk her heart again. Lareana is left with a newborn and a farm to manage after her husband dies tragically. Can these women, bruised by life and love, find the courage to open sealed hearts?
This novel collection, published by Barbour, contains four old Heartsong Presents novels by Wanda Brunstetter and Lauraine Snelling. What’s unique about Wanda’s novels is that these titles are NOT Amish titles. They’re just regular contemporary romances. Wanda’s titles were a bit different because both used child-like objects as part of the plot. Wanda’s first novel, The Neighborly Thing is about a woman who owns a doll hospital and her second novel in this collection, Talking For Two, is about a ventriloquist, so there’s a dummy involved.

I’m going to review this collection a bit differently than my usual method. Three of the stories reminded me of other fiction titles, so I’m going to compare them to other books. I also wanted to point out that I found myself skimming the stories instead of reading them word for word.

This is an old novel collection that has been sitting on my bookshelf for years, and I purchased it myself. A free copy was not provided to me by the publisher, author, or publicist.

From Heartsong Presents website: Sinda Shull has secrets from her past which are the reason she feels she can never marry. When Sinda moves next door to widower Glen Olsen and his daughter, Tara, she struggles to leave the past behind. Sinda’s home business keeps her hands busy, but Glen’s neighborly gestures occupy most of her thoughts. Glen is drawn to Sinda believing it’s his responsibility to do the neighborly thing and befriend her. His daughter, though, has other plans. The would-be detective tries to prove that Sinda is up to no good – and Tara does everything she can to keep her father and Sinda apart.
I thought this story was cute, and it was a unique concept for Sinda to own a doll hospital. People bring their rare, antique dolls to Sinda’s shop for repair. However, the little girl in this story got on my nerves! She was extremely obnoxious and after awhile, I got tired of reading about the bratty kid. The romance was sweet and endearing, though!

Talking For Two by Wanda Brunstetter

From Heartsong Presents website:
Her stuttering and lack of self-confidence have her locked in a trap she can’t escape. She’s faced these problems since childhood, when her pretty, outgoing sister was born. Wanting to serve the Lord–and show her family she can amount to something–Tabby enrolls in a class on ventriloquism. When she visits the shop of accomplished ventriloquist Seth Byers to inquire about buying a dummy, he quickly notices her potential. With the help of Tabby’s best friend, Seth begins a campaign to turn Tabby into what he thinks she should be–the perfect woman to be his wife. But Tabby knows she will never be perfect. Will she ever let go of her shyness and use her talent to serve God? Will Seth be able to love her just as she is? Or will Tabby spend the rest of her life letting her dummy talk for two?

When I read this book, the first thing I thought about was a young adult novel I read several years ago called Alan And Naomi.

In Wanda’s novel, Tabby has a stuttering problem, but when she speaks using her dummy, her stuttering disappears. I read Alan and Naomi a long time ago. I saw that it was re-released and it was originally published by Simon and Schuster back in 1977. I recall getting this novel out of the school library. In Alan and Naomi, Naomi is a traumitized girl, and Alan is expected to spend time with her, against his wishes. When he brings out his dummy and speaks, he is able to get a reaction out of Naomi. The only time Naomi communicates is when Alan uses his dummy. I remember liking this novel as a youngster, but I thought the ending was very sad.

Race For The Roses by Lauraine Snelling
From Heartsong Presents website: As a talented jockey, Robynn O’Dell risks her life every day. But some dangers she avoids at all costs-like putting herself and her young son at risk of being hurt again. Ever since her husband deserted her and then died in a car crash, Robynn has sealed her heart from pain… and love. However, that was before Dane Morgan strode into her life. Stubborn, opinionated, and driven, Dane is determined to win Robynn’s heart. But he hides his own fears and hurts. Will these two wounded people learn to risk being vulnerable, or will fear keep them from discoveing what God has prepared for them?

When I started skimming this book, I thought….hey, wait a minute, I’ve read this book before! I read it when I was member of the Heartsong Presents bookclub years ago! This novel reminds me of my own novel, John’s Quest, because there is a blind little boy who is a secondary character.

Song Of Laughter by Lauraine Snelling
From Heartsong Presents website: Lareana Amundson can almost find something to smile about, even with the tragic death of her husband John, a new baby son to bring up alone, and a large dairy farm to manage. Like majestic Mt. Rainier, the rugged peak that stands sentinel over her property, her faith in God remains unshakable, her sense of humor intact. It is only when she remembers Johnny’s accident at the hands of a drunken driver or the mounting bills that she lapses into a uncharacteristic bout of the blahs. When Trey Bennett, wealthy entrepreneur, offers to buy a parcel of her farmland to help her keep going, she has no way of knowing how their lives will be linked. Though he shares a dream to match her own, his views on drinking challenge everything she has come to value since John’s death. And what about the man who took her husband’s life? Can she ever know real joy again until he is brought to justice?

This novel reminded me of my novel,
Milk Money. The reasons is because both stories are set on a dairy farm, and they deal with the subject of drinking and alcohol.

It’s interesting to read the early works of two of the current bestselling authors of Christian fiction – Lauraine Snelling and Wanda Brunstetter.

~Cecelia Dowdy~