Sunday, September 19, 2010

A Hope Undaunted By Julie Lessman - Blog Tour!

Ever since Julie Lessman's first book in her Daughters of Boston series, I have been a fan of hers. She actually first drafted A Passion Most Pure, the first book, when she was 12 years old! In that series she focused on each of the O'Connor daughters who belong to a comfortably well-to-do Irish-American family living in Boston at the beginning of the 20th Century.

What I love about Julie's writing is her way of conveying the authenticity of human emotions and passions, but keeping them within the boundaries of a life lived for God. That doesn't mean that every Christian in her story is perfect--none of us are. She portrays the weaknesses and strengths both, but always through a filter of a Redeemer God who is ready to forgive when we repent.

At the close of the third book in the first series, there was yet one daughter who had not had her story told. I was thrilled when I heard that Julie was writing a new series and the first book of that series would be Katie's story. Thus A HOPE UNDAUNTED was conceived.

Katie O'Connor comes of age in 1929, just before the big crash that led this country into the Depression. As the baby in the family, she is precocious, spoiled and cunning, while at the same time beautiful with a soft heart for women's needs. As a child, she often crossed paths with a scrappy, puny street kid who has now grown into a strapping, hunk of a lawyer named Luke McGee.

As punishment for not obeying her curfew, her father forces her to spend the summer before she is to enter law school working as a volunteer at the same agency where Luke works. She finds herself coming face-to-face with a choice. Does she follow her well-laid-out plans to marry Jack, the man who meets every criteria on her list as what would make a good husband, or will she follow the man who she swore to despise forever?

I picked up this rather thick book and wondered how I would ever finish it in time for the blog tour. I needn't have worried. Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down. You will love this book!

Note:

Although you can read this book out of sequence, if possible to start with Book One of the Daughters of Boston series, A PASSION MOST PURE,  it's recommended that you do so.

ABOUT JULIE:

Julie Lessman is an award-winning author whose tagline of “Passion With a Purpose” underscores her white-hot passion for both God and romance. Winner of the 2009 ACFW Debut Author of the Year and 2009 Holt Medallion Awards of Merit for Best First Book and Long Inspirational, Julie is also the recipient of 13 Romance Writers of America awards. She resides in Missouri with her husband and their golden retriever and is the author of The Daughters of Boston series, which includes A Passion Most Pure, A Passion Redeemed, and A Passion Denied.


Available September 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

3 comments:

Julie Lessman said...

PAM!!! Thank you for the GREAT review, my friend -- you are THE BEST!! It was SO great seeing you Indy, and I wish it didn't have to be another whole year before I get to see you again.

Hugs and more hugs,
Julie

tracysbooknook.com said...

I also enjoyed A Hope Undaunted and am a big fan of Julie Lessman.

I found the characters to be fairly three dimensional and enjoyed the interaction between the two main characters, Katie and Luke - although at times I was surprised by Katie’s sudden abrupt turns. The O’Connor family is true to form in their larger-than-life sort of Irish personalities and entertaining as always.

I posted a more in-depth review of my own at www.tracysbooknook.com/a-hope-undaunted-by-julie-lessman-book-review/

-Tracy

tracysbooknook.com said...

Oops!

When I said a "more in-depth review" I meant more in-depth compared to the short comment I had made.

Sorry if that was unclear.

-Tracy