Out of the Ashes
by Tracie Peterson; Kimberley Woodhouse
Pub DateJan 02 2018
Bethany House |Bethany House Publishers
Christian


Netgalley and Bethany House Publishers provided me with a copy of Out of the Ashes for review:


A story of loss, grief, adventure, faith, and love, Out of the Ashes has it all!


Collette and Jean-Michel Langelier are no longer connected to post-war France after the death of their father. Jean-Michel hopes to finally escape the horrors he faced during the war, while his sister dreams of adventure. An unexpected invitation to Alaska and the Curry Hotel seems like a great opportunity for Jean-Michel to change things up.


Katherine Demarchis is a young widow who does not mourn her dangerous husband. Now she just longs for a life of solitude, a quiet life. First, she must accompany her grandmother on her final trip, but never anticipates seeing a man from her past.


There was once a deep love between Katherine and Jean-Michel that was torn apart by forces beyond their control. Now that they are reunited, have the years changed them too much to re-discover what they once had? Is faith enough to heal Jean-Michel's broken heart when his nightmares return with terrifying consequences?


I give Out of the Ashes five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

We all seem to know, or know of someone, who has been through a time of hardship and/or sorrow who thinks there could not be a caring God to have let these things happen. What then needs to be learned is that He is there, a caring Father, to see us through it and trust in Him for all of our care. We have to learn that yes we are unworthy, but Jesus took our place and died for us. And that we need to be glad of that and allow ourselves to be set free. To reach out and know that the love is there for us to take. In this story there are two young people who were forced to part, each have their own hardship, but then later come back together. Learning to cope and trust doesn't come easy, but in this place they are guided and taught, letting each love again.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher and NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

#OutOfTheAshes #TraciePeterson #KimberleyWoodhouse #NetGalley #BooksYouCanFeelGoodAbout

This is book two in The Heart of Alaska series, however it is a stand alone book. This is the first one in the series I have read and had no trouble understanding what was going on, yet I did wonder if it was part of a series, it just really reads like one.

This book is written different than most. Yes, it centers on two main characters, yet there are many characters who play important parts in this book. Which probably help when developing a strong series. You really learn about a lot of different people all working or staying at the Curry Hotel in Alaska. Each chapter may be written with a different characters perspective, yet you know exactly whom is speaking and or thinking.

The author does a great job at her descriptions, dialogue, history and plot. There is a lot going on in this hotel. You will find heartache, forgiveness, finding God, sickness, romance and much more.

I look forward to reading more from this series.

"He wouldn't be going to Alaska."

A voice from his past has summoned Frenchman Jean-Michel Langelier to leave his nightmares behind and travel to the beautiful state of Alaska in order to reunite with memories that are too precious to consider. Haunted by the travesties he witnessed in the Great Syrian Revolt of 1925, Jean-Michel is a broken man, especially following the death of his dear father, resulting in the guardianship of his precocious teen sister.

Lovely Katherine Demarchis has been convinced by her grandmother to leave New York, following the death of her cruel husband, and to traverse America on their way to spending the summer at the renowned Alaskan Curry Hotel. Arriving at their destination, imagine how stunned Katherine is to find that the first love of her life is also a guest at the hotel.

What a lovely story; reacquainting readers with favorite characters from the first book in the series, while demonstrating God's ability to breathe new life into the burned ashes of others' terrible circumstances.

Inspiration as I read this book. Was hard to put down once started. Looking at how God takes the mess of my life and makes something beautiful. Very encouraging.

Book 2 of the series introduces new guests to the Curry Hotel in Alaska. Set in the mid to late 1920s, this volume tells primarily of the story of Katherine, a victim of domestic abuse and her childhood love, Jean-Michel Langelier. As a retired soldier, Jean-Michel suffers PTSD. Neither Katherine nor Jean-Michel knows if they can heal. The joy-filled, God-lead owner/operators at the Curry Hotel provide gentle guidance for these wounded souls. Other guests include young adult Collette Langelier, searching for purpose and more focus on a maturing Thomas, one of the hotel staff. We also catch up with Cassidy, Allen, John and the head chef.

"Out of the Ashes" by Tracie Peterson and Kimberley Woodhouse is the second book in the Heart of Alaska book series. The series takes place in the early 1900's while Alaska is still a territory. In this book we meat a Frenchman named Jean-Michel Langelier who wants to escape the memories of war. At the same time an woman from his past a young widow named Katherine is there trying to heal from an abusive husband. We have some of the characters from the first book as we see more of their stories but mainly it is about Jean-Michel and Katherine so you could read this book without having read the first one. This was a well paced story that was a romance but mainly it was about healing from our wounds and not letting them guide the future of the characters lives. I highly recommend this book series.

I was given this book from Net Galley for free and was not required to give a positive review.

The authors bring us back to to Curry Alaska with a story even stronger the first one, In the Shadow of Denali. We see again the familiar characters of John, Cassidy, Allan, Thomas, and Mrs. Johnson. Joining them Jean-Michel, Katherine, Mrs. Harris, and Collette.

Katherine and Jean-Michel were once young and deeply in love. But their love wasn’t meant to be. In the years that followed they both suffered tremendous hurt and devastation. They both come to Curry with a lot of brokenness.

The supporting characters were amazing. I loved the antics of Collette as well as the growth we see in her. I do hope the authors feature her more in a future story.

This story touched pretty much every emotion. There were times to laugh, cry, be angry, but most of all, to experience hope. This story brings to live the truth of God’s love, His forgiveness, and His healing power.

If you enjoyed the first book in the series you will love this one. If you didn’t read the first one you can pick this one up with no problems. The authors did a great job of enough back information to not be lost, but not so much that you couldn’t go back and read the first book.

Definitely would buy this for my friends that enjoy historical fiction.
5 Star Rating on the Amazon Scale
5 Star Rating on Goodreads
Disclaimer: I did receive a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley.com, I was not required to give a review and the opinions here are my own.

Very enjoyable historical fiction. This book makes me want to visit Alaska and see the beauty. I can picture Mrs. Johnson, Collette, Cassidy and Allan, Jean-Michel, Katherine, and Thomas in Curry. Anticipating the next installment. Highly recommended!

Out of the Ashes by Tracie Peterson, Kimberly Woodhouse

Collette and Jean-Michel Langelier leave France after World War I and head to America. They are trying to forget the death of their dad and end up in Alaska. Jean-Michel is trying to deal with the aftermath of serving in the war and the lost of his love. They come to the Curry Hotel.

Katherine Demarchis has recently lost her husband. The marriage was an arranged marriage and very abusive. Katherine had given up on life but her grandmother determined to bring Katherine back to the girl she was gets her granddaughter to travel to Alaska with her. 

The Curry Hotel is the place where Katherine and Jean -Michel reacquaint themselves after the war and a forced marriage have separated them. They each have their issues to work through before they can work on their relationship. 

Out of the Ashes is the second book in The Heart of Alaska series.  The book can be read as a stand alone  with the story revolving around the new characters. However, the reader will enjoy the story more if they have read the first in the series to fill in the narrative of the other characters. The previous title also gives the reader more background about the Curry Hotel. Continuing the Heart of Alaska series,  Ms. Peterson quickly grabs the reader into the characters' life and fills in the backstory of Jean-Michel and Katherine leading the reader to anticipate their meeting and how the plot will continue. The background and other characters in the book support the historical feel of the novel. Readers of historical fiction will enjoy this quick read. Ms. Peterson's fans will devour this title and anticipate the next title in the series. 

I received an ARC ebook from Netgalley  and the publisher, Bethany House in exchange for an honest review.

Having read a couple of books by the author before [1], I am convinced that this author's romances are not really my cup of tea.  Yet again we have a historical scene where the protagonists are in a remote place.  Again the main characters struggle with PTSD, even if there is no name for it yet, and again there is a high degree of preachiness in the character's interaction with others.  There is love and marriage and death, an encouragement of maturity on the part of a silly younger sibling that will likely find a suitor in a later book of the series, and even a first marriage that goes disastrously bad and leaves a young woman conveniently a widow.  These are all elements I have read in the author's work previously--there are even interactions with Alaskan natives, although these are less fraught with danger than the interactions in the previous books I read by the author.  Clearly this author works within a narrow range of writing historical romances about people tormented with PTSD [2], something I find deeply unsettling and uncomfortable.

This book offers an unusual cast of characters who by chance and design get stuck at the same Alaskan hotel near Mt. McKinley (or Denali, if you prefer).  And what is our cast of characters in this preachy melodrama?  We have a French young man Jean Michel who is guilty about having avoided World War I but afflicted with leg wounds and PTSD from his experiences in the Druze revolt in the early 1920's in Syria and his flirtatious younger sister Collette, who have just lost their father and are grieving.  We have Katherine, a woman that Jean Michel had loved and lost five years ago, who is overcoming the abuse suffered at the hands of her late Senator husband, who is brought to this hotel because of her scheming and (spoiler alert) dying grandmother, who has heart failure and wanted to bring the former lovers back together.  We have a Scot-Irish cook and her Scottish assistant, with whom she quarrels continually until he nearly dies and then they get along conveniently.  There is a woman who serves as an assistant cook who married a couple of years ago and is having a pregnancy that leaves her confined to her bed.  We have a boiler explosion, close encounters of the bear kind, a quarantine because of a flu outbreak, and a French soldier not in his right mind who feels it necessary to deliver a message to try to bring him out of his own torment over what happened in Syria.  Much of this is accompanied by a great deal of heavy-handed preaching on the part of the book's characters about the need for a Savoir and solo gracia.

In looking at this book, I get the feeling that the authors are writing this book and the dozens like it in the author's oeuvre for themselves as well as for others.  But who else is reading this book.  These are not the sort of romances that are likely to gain crossover appeal with many guys.  These books seem to be written to reasonably intelligent Christian young women who suffer from PTSD and want to know if love will come their way, and the book promises that it will with a ruggedly handsome military man who suffers from PTSD as well so that two broken people can be healed by the grace of God.  That is all well and good, except that life is seldom as convenient as this book would have it, where the circle of people is very small.  There is a fine line between a work that is meant to demonstrate divine providence and a book that simply offers unrealistic convenience, and this book (and others by the author) cross that line too often, especially because what divides the couple until the ending in this book seems so unrealistic.  I secretly wished for the young woman's husband to actually be alive as that would be a real obstacle, but alas, I was to be disappointed in seeking something that was genuinely a surprise.  This is an author I will likely avoid in the future, having given three chances to write a compelling romance and having been disappointed each time.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017/03/16/book-review-treasured-grace/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017/07/05/book-review-beloved-hope/

[2] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016/08/26/book-review-ptsd/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016/02/09/book-review-many-faces-of-ptsd/

Out of the Ashes by Tracie Peterson and Kimberley Woodhouse is the second book in The Heart of Alaska series. Jean-Michel Langelier just lost his father which leaves him responsible for his younger sister, Collette. Collette has been encouraging Jean-Michel to take a trip to get away from the memories that haunt him, when he receives an invitation from Maria Harrison. She is asking him to travel to Alaska and stay at the Curry Hotel. Katherine Demarchis is the widow of Senator Demarchis, but she does not grieve his loss. The man her father forced her to marry was a cruel, demeaning person. Katherine just wants to live out her life as quietly as possible, but her grandmother (Maria Harrison) has requested that she accompany her on a trip to Alaska. After taking the scenic route across the United States, they arrive in Alaska and Katherine is startled to see Jean-Michel. Katherine and Jean-Michel had fallen in love five years prior in France. However, her father was against the match and quickly set out arranging a marriage for Katherine. In the intervening years, they each have experienced different horrors that have changed them (Jean-Michel was a soldier in a war zone and Katherine had an abusive husband). Will the magic of the Curry Hotel and its congenial staff help these two heal? Is there a chance for them to have a future together?

Out of the Ashes is nicely written (I like the writing style) and has a good pace throughout the story. It did, though, take me a while to get into the story. Once I did, my attention was held until the end. While Out of the Ashes is the second book in The Heart of Alaska series, it can be read alone. The religious aspects are prevalent throughout the story (having faith, scripture, forgiveness of others and oneself, power of prayer). We get to see people discovering God and developing a relationship with Him. We get good descriptions of the characters, town and area. This area of Alaska sounded beautiful. I liked the characters who worked at the hotel. They are what make the story enjoyable (enhance it). I felt that the authors accurately portrayed how a victim of mental abuse would act and feel. It is not something that goes away immediately just because the abuser is gone. It can take many years (if ever) for an individual to get the thoughts to go away. There is, of course, some predictability to the story, and I felt that the book was a little too long (could have used some editing). There is a lovely ending that wraps up the main storylines. I give Out of the Ashes 4 out of 5 stars (I liked it). The next book in The Heart of Alaska series is Under the Midnight Sun.

Out of the Ashes is the second book in the Heart of Alaska series by Kimberly Woodhouse and Tracie Peterson. It can be read as a stand alone novel. Alaska's Curry Hotel becomes the destination for Katherine Demarchis and Jean-Michel Langelier who meet again years after a broken relationship. The years have not been kind to either of them as Katherine endured a loveless marriage with an abusive husband and Jean-Michel was traumatized by the horrors of war. Will either of them learn to love again and put their past behind them? The supporting cast of characters also learn the importance of selfless love and the strength to perserve in the midst of tragedy and truimph. Another heartwarming tale from the powerhouse duo of Peterson and Woodhouse. that beautifully reveals the power and love of God through the lives of thier characters.

I have never read anything by Tracie Peterson or Kimberley Woodhouse, but the idea of Alaska in the early nineteenth century captured my attention. While I know some of these places have been embellished, I really enjoyed learning more about the Alaska Terrority before it became a state. Being a historical romance, I knew the story would feature characters who fell in love, but the story takes place around something historical, but allows the characters to roam around the historical world they live in.
The research was splendid. I enjoy when authors say they have gone to the places their novels take place. Being in a one-income family, I don't have that opportunity at all, so most of my research comes from the internet or books. But I do think being in the place actually makes the story more realistic. Peterson and Woodhouse did a great job at creating a story with clear and concise writing. I could imagine the elaborate Curry Hotel and would love to visit there myself.
The characters of Katherine and Jean-Michel had a love story that started long before this novel. I feel bad for both of them when I learned their love story and why it didn't happen. Katherine was forced into a horrible marriage and figured that was what she was due. Jean-Michel had to learn to move on from the horrors of the war and build strength in his legs as much as in his heart. Their romance was nice and moved in a nice fashion.
The plot didn't rush or drag. I enjoyed the novel the moment I started reading it. Since Alaska was still a terrority and not a state yet. A story set in this time would read different than Jen Turano's stories that take place in the same time period, but in completely different settings. No flapper girls in this stories.
Overall, the plot kept my attention with its unique setting and characters who jumped off the page. Maybe someday, I could add Tracie Peterson's other novels to my to-be read pile, but that is already so big. I think fans of twentieth century historical novels might enjoy Out of the Ashes, a novel set in Alaska in the 1920's.
I received a complimentary copy of Out of the Ashes by Tracie Peterson and Kimberley Woodhouse, but the opinions stated are all my own.

Out of the Ashes has such a shocking out of the sky, blasting, pounding with your heart beat beginning, your heart is stunned and broken, then it is immediately contrasted with heartbreak, but then you have two peoples stories - Jean -Michel's and Katherine's. Poor Jean-Michel goes through something so very traumatic - something I never want to ever go through but something - I am sad to say - exactly that so many are going through today that he went through in 1925. Now Katherine - she went through something that many people have gone through - but I am sorry they have gone through it - After all that they visit Alaska - while there Katherine sees someone - a man - from her past and Jean-Michel sees someone from his nightmares - Can he handle it? Well with GOD all things are possible because you can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens you - so ...........what will happen to them both when their pasts catch up to them?