I had great hope for this book, based on other books I have read by Judith Miller. The premise of the book intrigued me, especially the history woven throughout the pages. Great idea for a book, the chapel connected to a train.

However, where it fell flat for me, was Hope herself. I feel like I didn’t ever get a chance to really “like” her and prove to me that she was a person I wanted to get to know. Then the scenarios of the men appearing and then appearing to her again when she’s teaching children’s school just didn’t ring believable to me. She seemed to almost have a "better than you" attitude.

I made it all the way up to the point where she is meeting Kirby and she’s resting after a bump on her head from a clumsy moment. From there, I just found it hard to go on. So I didn’t. I admit, this is one of those few books where I just couldn’t finish the book. However, based on other people’s reviews, I may have to visit it again and actually complete it.

The cover art on the front is good, and that’s what drew me in. The font for the title seems to be fitting for the atmosphere depicted on the art. Would I recommend this book for others to read? Probably not.

Judith Miller wrote a very fun and lovable characters in Luke and Hope. While reading "The Chapel Car Bride" I was swept into the story from the very first word to the last word. Hope to see a sequel of this book.

Actually 3.5 - 4.0 stars
I have read other Judith Miller stories that I enjoy more than this one. It was not my favorite but is was not to bad either. The plot does tend to drag a bit, yet I wanted to find out how it would end in the long run.
Hope Irvine is the chapel car preachers daughter. She has a love for the Lord and a willingness to serve him in some difficult circumstances. She tends to think the best of all even to a fault.
Luke Hughes is a rugged mine worker who too loves the Lord and feels a desire to preach. When he finds he has feelings for Hope will it ever work out or are there just to many differences.
Kirby Finch, the mine owners son, also plays an important part in this novel. Will he ever truly change his ways or is he just to far gone?

Chapel cars in the hills of West Virginia were a new piece of history for me. It made some sense that rail cars could travel and stay at the coal mining towns. In Chapel Car Bride, Hope Irvine leaves her aunt’s care in Pittsburgh to join her pastor father on his latest trip in the chapel car. Hope easily finds her place ministering alongside her father. She adds to the mission with her own gifts of music and as a children’s teacher.
Luke Hughes is a coal mining town resident from a line of coal miners. He soaks up the teachings of Pastor Irvine and finds his own way. We also meet the mine owner’s son, Kirby, who has quite a few hang-ups to work through. Read and learn both about the history and the young folks of this story.

Thanks to Judith McCoy Miller for teaching me about history and thanks to Bethany House for providing me an ARC for a review in my own words.

There is always something special to me about a book set in West Virginia. It's really hard for me to turn down an opportunity to read something set in my beautiful home state. That said, I find so many depictions of the Mountain State to be sorely lacking, especially if the book is historical--fiction or non-fiction. Many times the residents of West Virginia are portrayed as ignorant hillbillies, without a lot of "book-learnin.'" Or they mat be portrayed as mean-spirited, distrusting of outsiders, and criminal moonshiners. In light of this, I always begin such a book with a bit of reservation, wondering which direction a certain author will go. In her newest book, The Chapel Car Bride, Judith Miller has truly done my home state proud. I enjoyed her portrayal of characters, her explanations of why they felt distrustful of strangers who came to visit their little towns, the injustices they suffered at the hands of the mine owners, and the reasons many of them turned to moonshine to survive. I discovered after finishing this book that Ms. Miller has written other books set in West Virginia, and I think I would enjoy reading any of them.

The Chapel Car Bride is set in the coal mining town of Finch, West Virginia. Hope Irvine has traveled there with her minister father. He presides over a chapel car, which is a small chapel built into a train car that can be pulled all around the country. The chapel car travels to a town that had no church or pastor, and stay there long enough to help establish one. Hope travels with her father to help teach the children, and also to provide music for the church services. In Finch, she meets Luke Hughes, a young coal miner who is struggling to make ends meet for his mother and siblings. The mines are unsafe, and there is talk of a strike and unionization. The mine owner, Mr. Finch, has heard the rumors, and has sent his unscrupulous son, Kirby, to find out what he can. But Kirby has other ideas, and plans that could put himself--as well as Hope, and Luke's sister, Nellie--into harm's way. Hope and Luke are definitely on track to something deeper than friendship, but she continues to ignore Luke's warnings about Kirby, and believe Kirby's lies, which drives them apart. When Hope's life is in danger, and Luke finally gets the courage to tell her how he feels, will she return his feelings? Or will they be kept apart by the circumstances of Luke's life? Who will figure out exactly what Kirby is up to, and will it be too late for him when they do? This is one you'll have to read to find out!

When I first started reading The Chapel Car Bride, I thought it was okay, but pretty predictable. I was wrong, though. It had several twists and turns that made it a really good read. I had never heard of chapel cars before, and it was very interesting and inspiring. As I mentioned before, I enjoyed the way the author portrayed the people of Finch, West Virginia. They were good, hard-working people, trapped in circumstances they couldn't escape, but I was a little disappointed in how the story ended for Kirby. I thought there could have been still determined to live the best lives they could. I didn't care for how the story ended for Kirby. I thought there could have been more. But I did like how it ended for Hope and Luke. I wish this book was the beginning of a whole series about Hope and Luke and their adventures in West Virginia. Definitely a series I would recommend! Even though it's just one book, I loved The Chapel Car Bride, and highly recommend it to lovers of historical fiction

I struggled to get through this book--which is unusual for me with a book by Judith Miller. The author seemed to spend a lot of time setting the scene and I kept wondering when the story would start. The characters are likable, but the antagonist seems a little one-dimensional and the protagonists a little too credulous. From a historical perspective, I learned something I'd never known before--that church organizations sponsored Chapel Car Churches in rural West Virginia during the early 1900s.

I must admit that this book is not my favorite and I did not finish it because it just did not grab me. While I was intrigued by the ideal of a chapel in a railroad car, the story itself held no ONE plot at all. There was just to much going on at once, which made it difficult to actually connect to the story because each chapter darted one thing to another thing. I felt There was no depth or true storytelling at all.

The Chapel Car Bride by Judith Miller tells the story of a minister and his daughter who ride the rails from town to town preaching the gospel. The chapel car stops in the mining town of Finch, West Virginia, and Miller creates plots involving a wayward boss' son, poor working conditions, and the fear of unionization. Add in a dash of danger involving bootlegging moonshine to create an exciting historical fiction book. Of course with any of Miller's books, there is a great boy meets girl romance.
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Eternal optimist and dedicated daughter, Hope Irvine, cannot wait to serve alongside her father as a missionary in his traveling chapel car. When they reach a rural mining town in West Virginia, Hope sees endless ways to bring joy and aid to its families and surrounding areas. Local miner, Luke Hughes, feels called to become a preacher, but has no way to attend school or earn a living outside the mining community he'd always known. While he is immediately drawn to Hope, he begins to wonder if she returns his affections when she spends time with the untrustworthy son of Luke's employer, Kirby Finch. Will Hope's desire to find the good in everyone blind her to Kirby's faults and put her in danger? Will Luke be able to convince her of Kirby's true intentions without appearing to simply be jealous?

Judith Miller brings the fascinating world of the coal industry to life in The Chapel Car Bride. Miller's portrayal of the relationships between the miners and the wealthy mine owners, the colorful depiction of the mining families, the seedy underground of bootleggers and revenuers, and a bustling railroad make for a thoroughly entertaining setting. Additionally, Luke is a believable and worthy protagonist and romantic lead. I did, however, find myself regularly frustrated with Hope. While it's certainly noble to strive to forgive every offense and believe the best in people, Hope's utter naiveté is far more annoying than it is endearing. I enjoyed Kirby as an antagonist, but unfortunately his storyline ends in an abrupt and very unsatisfying way. Miller's latest has potential and several high points, but I just never truly found myself engaged in the story.

I love Judith Miller's books. They are wholesome in a day and age where we definitely need it. This was a very different read for me and I enjoyed it! I love books that make me want to look into more information, whether it be about the time period, a different profession or the ways of a certain set of people. If you like Christian Historical fiction, this is for you!

Judith McCoy Miller writes amazing novels with charming characters and incredible settings. Her research is impeccable and informative. I learn something nearly every time I read one of her books.

The Chapel Car Bride taught me that there was at one time in history train cars where preachers traveled on the railroad teaching about Christ. I'd never heard of this before, but it's not outside the realms of credulity.

This takes place soon after the turn of the century of 1900s. Prohibition was about to come into play, but in West Virginia, it was already being enacted, county by county. Where prohibition exists, moonshining and bootlegging exists alongside. Moonshining is part of my family's history--a cousin and a great uncle on my mom's side of the family were the still owners, and my grandfather on my dad's side was their customer. Cousin Wesley was the grand joke of the family. If something was mentioned about illegal booze, Cousin Wesley's name was not far behind. He spent time in and out of the federal penintentiary, and often listed his occupation as "sugar delivery for Weyerhaueser." I know this world, not well, but I know it.

Another significant part of the plot is the location--the back hills of West Virginia. Hill people are hill people, no matter where they are, and Judith has written a true portrayal of the hill people in this book. They are closed off, wary of strangers, slow to trust outsiders, and definitely mistrustful of people from the government. I've lived in a community like that. Some of them believe they are a law unto themselves, and can tell stories about that, but that's for another day.

The relationships Judith has put into the plot are charming and insightful. I LOVED this book. I couldn't wait to finish it, but I wanted it to go longer. It's five stars, two thumbs up, and NO moonshine!

My thanks to Bethany House for allowing me to read and review this book.

I must admit that this book is not my favorite. While I was initially intrigued by the ideal of a chapel confined to a railroad car, the story itself held no clear plot or motive. There were about four/five different plots going on at once, which made it difficult to actually connect to the story because each chapter darted from plot to plot. As well, none of the multiple plots were deep in any sort of way. I felt like I was reading a summary of the story, as opposed to a story itself. There was no depth or true storytelling throughout.

As for the characters, they were shallow and one-dimensional; very typical to the genre: goody-two-shoes Hope who does everything right; rugged love interest Luke; refined second love interest Kirby who is obviously not the man for Hope. Even the love triangle (which doesn't bother me as much as it might others) was frustrating because it was impossible to tell if anyone actually had feelings for one another. Until the author came out and said flat someone was romantically interested in another, it was difficult to tell.

All in all, I would not recommend this novel. Maybe I would if it had been written better.

"The Chapel Car Bride" is a historical novel set in 1913 in West Virginia. At the beginning of the story, we get an overview of how chapel cars worked and what they looked like. The coal mine existed only to explain how the poor conditions and pay motivated some workers to do an illegal side business to feed their family. This illegal activity was the motivating focus of the story.

The main characters were nice people. Hope assumed the best about everyone and wanted to help people. Luke had the unfortunate tendency toward self-sabotage when it came to his dreams. He wanted to become a preacher and immediately fell in love with Hope. Hope returned his regard, but the son of the mine owner offered to help Hope reach out to the children in surrounding towns. Luke assumed that this made him a rival for Hope. When this man's true character was revealed and Hope and Luke declared their love, the author apparently felt it'd been to easy. A previously nice character suddenly turned nasty and got in the way. Yet the obstacle didn't really exist and the solution was so obvious that this just irritated me.

The Christian element was references to their holding services, praying, and care for the poor. There was no sex or bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this book.

This is the first book that I have read by this author. I was so delighted with it, that I hope that I will find more great books from this author. It was a good Christian read, interesting, entertaining and hard to put down.

Hope Irvine and her preacher father, travel in a train car which is both the home and the "chapel". The traveling duo have an assignment in Finch and find themselves in a mine company town that has a little more than mining going on. This book is captivating. I loved how Hope and hero, Luke, work to make this little town a better place for all. Their Christian beliefs keep them working on good projects that sometimes are entangled with a little bit more, without realizing it.

Great book and story. I enjoyed it very much!
I received an ebook copy from NetGalley for my honest review, which I have given.

With Judith Miller books, some of her books have been awesome, and I devour them instantly, but I have found some of them not to be so great. With her newest book The Chapel Car Bride, I don't think this story captured my attention either. While the characters and plight of Hope Irvine, who is a daughter of a preacher, riding the rails through the American west in 1913. She is a strong woman who isn't afraid to tell the story of Jesus to everyone, especially the little children in town. I admired her humble spirit and her willingness to step out of her comfort zone and share Jesus to people she met. On a parallel note, Miller wrote the hero, Luke Hughes, as a man who grew up in the mining community with a compassionate heart for the mistreated who wants to be a preacher. The romance between Hope and Luke was not one of my top romances. It moved along just like a romance novel should. It was predictable and unoriginal. As for the pace of the novel, it dragged for a long time. It was hard to stay focused for a long time. There is a mystery element surrounding Kirby, the son of the father who owns the mine, but the idea didn't grasp my attention as I originally hoped.

I received a complimentary copy of The Chapel Car Bride by Judith Miller from Bethany House Publishers, and the opinions stated are all my own.