Beauty for Ashes

Title: BEAUTY FOR ASHES
Author: Dorothy Love
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
February 2012
ISBN: 978-1595549013
Genre: Inspirational/historical/romance

Carrie Daly’s husband died during the Civil War, leaving Carrie living with her brother, Henry. But now Henry is getting married. He tells Carrie she’s welcome to stay, and keep her room, but with the arrival of his new wife, Mary, and her two sons, everything changes. Mary insists on her boys taking Carrie’s room, and moves Carrie up to the attic. Not only that, but she treats Carrie as nothing better than a slave, and soon Carrie has enough.

Griff Rutledge is a wanderer, a former member of Charleston society, but estranged from his family for years. He never stays in one place too long, and is only in Hickory Ridge because a woman who owes him a lot of money is there. He is determined that she will pay him back.

Griff is offered a job to train a race horse, and when Carrie moves into town, they see each other a lot. But things are rough on her brother’s farm. Henry has left for Chicago, and his wife is helpless. She insists on Carrie moving back home. With Griff soon heading overseas to Australia, and Carrie on a remote farm, is there any hope of them making a commitment?

BEAUTY FOR ASHES is the debut inspirational novel by Dorothy Love. It is a very excellent story and I’m glad I had the opportunity to read it. Carrie is very much a Christian woman, but she is no doormat and tempers flared a lot between Carrie and Mary making the home less than ideal for anyone.

Griff had a bad reputation as a gambler, and people in town are convinced they don’t want his kind there. He doesn’t seem to mind his bad reputation and keeps his sweet spirit throughout the book, charming Carrie completely. I hoped that these two would find happiness and had to keep reading to see what happens. Discussion questions are included at the end of the book. $15.99. 330 pages.