A Refuge at Highland Hall by Carrie Turansky

Title: A Refuge at Highland Hall
Author: Carrie Turansky (carrieturansky.com)
Series: Edwardian Brides, #3
Genre: Christian historical romance
Age-Range: young adult/adult
Era: WW1 (1915)
Setting: England with some scenes in France will our darling Alex.
Publisher: Multnomah Books
Source: library
Rating: 5/5 stars
Content: 2/5. Okay for any highschool teen. One of the characters (a servant) has a child born out of wedlock (this happened in Book 2). She’s still around. Treated as wrong. It’s set during a war, so there are people dying and getting wounded, although it’s not described in detail. Romance is clean and beautiful. Mentions of childbirth and pregnancy. Mentions of a miscarriage.
Cover: Oh. My. Word. It’s just so … so … perfect! *sobs* Really, though, the girl looks just like I imagined Penny and the biplane in the background (okay, technically it’s not a biplane …) is just so awesome! I adore this cover. 🙂

The Refuge at Highland Hall by Carrie Turansky

In this third and final book in the Edwardian Brides Series, you’ll be swept away to England and France in 1915 as the Ramsey family and their staff and friends face the dramatic challenges and losses of World War One, yet they also experience the hope and triumph that comes as they put their trust in God to carry them through.

Penny Ramsey helps the family welcome a group of orphaned children to Highland Hall, but she soon discovers caring for them is more difficult than she’d expected. She writes to Alex Goodwin, a daring British pilot, who chases German zeppelins across the sky over the Front Line in France, and longs for the day she will see him again.

You’ll be delighted by two pure and heartwarming romances: Penny and Alex, and Lydia Chambers and Marius Ritter, a lady’s maid and a prisoner of war. But most of all I hope you’ll be inspired by the characters’ examples of trusting God through the trials they face.

Buy on Amazon ~ Add on Goodreads

Oh. My. Gosh.
I’m going to warn you right now that  this whole review will contain nothing more than me telling you  HOW AWESOME this book is. Because it is one of the best books I have read in a while.
I have often called Carrie Turansky’s Edwardian Brides series my ‘clean, Christian Downton Abbey.’ They are like Downton Abbey in that they include peeks into many people’s lives. However, we are never distracted away from the main plot, and every story becomes important to us so that we don’t mind moving from one to another. It is less dramatic than Downton Abbey, too, but it has the same … I don’t know. Beautiful vintage feel, perhaps?
The plot was AMAZING. I was so miserable when it ended, yet it was perfectly resolved. Although I think Julia should have had more children …
None of the characters got more or less screen-time than they deserved. I loved Penny to death (she was just such an awesome person) and Alex was cool, too. I like to see Lydia’s story resolved. Of course, every minute I spent with Julia and William was excellent. I just love Julia … she’s by far one of my favorite book characters. I want more of these guys!
The Christianity was inspiring and yet not too much. I think any Christian would vastly enjoy this book. 😀
I was absolutely transported away to the era. I read far less about WW1 than I’d like to, as it isn’t as … I don’t know, modern-feeling as WW2 (yes, I did just call WW2 modern …), yet it is still a major event.
A few words for Carrie Turansky: THIS CAN’T BE THE END!!! I NEED MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
~Kellyn Roth