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Nanny Millicent Fairweather adores her two young charges, showering them with love and affection. But suddenly, they are ripped away from her and sent to a boarding school. Floundering and heartsick, she agrees to accompany her sister and brother-in-law to America. They board a ship aptly named the Opportunity and begin to make plans for a better life. Widower Daniel Clark is also aboard the Opportunity. On his way to Gooding, Texas, he hopes his plans to open a mercantile will lead to a new beginning for him and his son, Arthur. But when his nanny abandons the boy, Daniel finds himself in dire need of assistance. Hoping for an old, sour faced nanny, Daniel is stunned when he is greeted with Millicent, yet it is readily apparent that she is more than capable, and soon he realizes he’s starting to fall for his whirlwind nanny. Cathy Marie Hake has become one of my favorite inspirational authors. Her stories never fail to captivate me, and WHIRLWIND is no exception. Millicent is a spunky, compassionate heroine who loves children but is uneasy about taking the short-term job as Arthur’s nanny. She doesn’t want to lose her heart to the boy only to have him ripped away from her, yet seeing how much Daniel needs help caring for Arthur, she concedes. I loved all of the ‘scrapes’ that Millicent gets herself into throughout the story, and the banter between her and Daniel is both sweet and funny. But for all the light-hearted moments in WHIRLWIND, there is plenty of poignancy as well. Daniel wrestles with his fears of failure while feeling the need to control his environment to ensure that things go according to his plan. Millicent strives to be perfect and ends up taking care of everyone’s needs but her own. It is only through prayer that Daniel and Millicent learn how to let go of their fears and trust in God. Daniel learns that he needs to put his fate in God’s hands and listen to God’s plans instead of his own, and Millicent learns that pleasing others is great and noble, but sometimes she needs to ask God to fill the longings in her own heart. WHIRLWIND is an uplifting, enchanting book that is guaranteed to warm your heart and inspire you. I highly recommend Cathy Marie Hake’s latest offering, and once again, eagerly anticipate her next book.
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WHIRLWIND
Posted December 2008 |
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