Review of My Heart Belongs in the Blue Ridge: Laurel's Dream

Title:  My Heart Belongs in the Blue Ridge: Laurel’s Dream

Author: Pepper D. Basham

Series: My Heart Belongs

 

Chapters: 26

Pages: 256

Genre: Christian Historical Fiction with a hint of romance

Rating: 5 stars

My Heart Belongs in the Blue Ridge Laurel's dream is my first book by Pepper D. Basham but it will not be my last. It's the seventh book I've read this year and my second 5-star book. Set in Maple Creek North Carolina in the Blue Ridge Mountains part of the Appalachian Mountains chain.  Laurel is a mountain girl who has dreams of college to become a teacher and come back to her mountain home to help her people. Jonathan Taylor is from England and what the mountain people call a flat lander.  Though Laurel her mom and her siblings have a strong faith a lot of the mountain people   tend to be superstitious and not welcoming of outsiders. 

I enjoyed this book. It's the first book that I can remember reading set in this area and this time period.  Jonathan's faith at the beginning of the novel is there it's just not as strong as Laurel's.  What I think is funny is that both Laurel's and Jonathan's faith strength is shaped by their relationships with their earthly fathers.   Though Jonathan's weak because of the fact that he thinks God sees him the way his father does. While Laurel's faith in her Heavenly father is strong because she needs that faith to deal with the two sides of her earthly father. 

Even though my family didn't come from the mountains of North Carolina (in recent memory) or mountains of Kentucky.  I Imagine my great grandma’s up bringing was similar to Laurel’s though all she managed was an eight grade education much like her son's my grandfather. As I am the first in my family to go to college.  I can relate to Laurel wanting to "better herself" to help her family and community. She's a book worm who takes every chance she can get to sneak away to read. 

My Heart Belongs in the Blue Ridge Laurel's Dream has peaked my interest in finding other books set in the time period.  I also look forward to reading other books by Pepper D. Basham.  I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction and Christian Historical fiction with a hint of romance.