A Quiet Strength (Prairie Legacy Series #3)

The third of four books make up the Prairie Legacy Series, the sequel to and conclusion of the Love Comes Softly series. They are the story of Virginia, one of Clark & Marty Davis's grandchildren as she grows up from a self-centered thirteen-year-old to a mature mother of four being tested and tried through many trials and heartbreaks. There are some chronology glitches in relation to the previous series -- some ages and timelines that don't seem to quite add up correctly, but they are minor. The more I read of Janette Oke, the more I like her.

This is a well-written Christian book. The characters were well-developed. It was a fast pace comfortable read. It is a continuing saga of Virginia Simpson. I captivates and follows her spiritual and emotional struggles as she works through her wedding, taking on and raising a friends three-year-old little girl, Mindy, a birth of her first child, Martha and taking care of her husband’s grandmother and the grief of her death.

I felt the story was interesting and how Janette Oke described the struggles of a new bride with many duties as a housewife and how she was faced with so many new situations and all she wanted was to be able to be that new bride and share the newness with her husband which didn’t happen right off. The story had show more some side plots that was festinating especially her concern about her friend’s salvation, giving up her child because her marriage was going down hill. Jenny thought by giving up the child it would help her marriage because her husband never wanted any children. Virginia did her best trying to get her friend to turn her life around to the point of intense lecturing but Jenny was not ready to hear anything. She was deeply in love with her husband and nothing else mattered.

Virginia’s marriage started off not what she thought it would be. She and her husband started off living with his grandmother while he slowly built there farmhouse between his occupation raising horses. Their first year on the farm was difficult. With the raising of a child that was so shattered, and neglected, and having trust issues made Virginia’s days long and frustrating. Plus, all the horses weren’t sellable, and the stack of hay burned that they stored for the winter months, and there loan on the farm was due. The story went on from there and Virginia realized she was acting out of character and one night she turned to God and prayed. That night she realized she had choices and being negative was not going to help her family. As the story goes on things started looking up. Her duties were the same but it was her attitude that needed changing… show less

I came across this while I was browsing Goodreads and thought for sure I had read this as a teen. I was going to re-read it for the "one you read more than 10 years ago" challenge in book bingo. But I really don't hardly remember any of the story. Maybe a little. But I will probably try to find something else for this challenge since I'm somewhat in doubt.

This is related to the Love Comes Softly books but is a couple of generations down the line. The story is about a young woman navigating the first few years of marriage and all the things that interfere with what she imagined life would be like. Fairly sweet and mild, although there's some serious bad stuff going on with a childhood friend. A little too preachy. Very fast read.

Through the years Virginia had learned that Grandma's wisdom was right. When God allows something to be taken from you, He replaces it with something better. The long-awaited return of Jonathan and their renewed courtship, with a wedding soon to follow, are proof of God's loving ways. But the inner strength that God has been forming in Virginia's life through trials and disappointments is far from complete.

"In this third book in the Prairie Legacy Series, Virginia dreams that having a home of her own will surely satisfy the longings of her heart. Through the years Virginia Simpson had learned that Grandma Marty's wisdom was right. When God allows something to be taken from you, He replaces it with something better. The long-awaited return of Jonathan and their renewed courtship, with a wedding soon to follow, are proof of God's loving ways. But the inner strength that God has been forming in Virginia's life through trials and disappointments is far from complete."

This is not a bad book by any means, I just am still at the place in life that Virginia was at in book two.

Tropes: none since this is the story of her life

Content: death, alcoholic character, mentions abuse

Love this series!!! It is beautiful and timeless.