Another Favorite Author, Julie Lessman!!!

You know how when you discover something new you are so excited and need to tell everybody about the new thing you discovered?  Well that is how I feel about Julie Lessman and her books!  Julie's books kept popping up as suggestions on a website so I finally reserved them at my local library.  I got the entire first series, The Daughters of Boston,  last spring which includes A Passion Most Pure, A Passion Redeemed, and A Passion Denied.  Let me tell you that the passion is definitely a prominent theme!  I have to say right off the bat that these books, as well as all of her books, are outstanding.  They are real, not sugar coated.  The books are complicated, there is conflict, and everything doesn't always end up rosy.  I promise that it all works together for good.  Have I mentioned that her books are thick, 480 pages thick? Not a quick lazy afternoon read by any means. 

This series is set in Boston during WWI and it follows the O'Connor family of eight. Patrick and Marcy are the loving parents, Sean is the oldest brother, Faith and Charity are the older girls, Lizzie and Steven are the younger siblings, and Katie is the baby of the family. With six kids you can imagine that there is some serious sibling conflict and it mainly occurs between Faith and Charity.  The family has a strong foundation of faith, but that is rocked over and over. Patrick and Steven go to war and the rest of the family moves to Ireland to be with family.  There is a constant back and for between Faith and Charity and their different love interests. There are real trials and tests to the faith that is the core of this family.  I could go on forever!  The books are bold and address situations that most Christian fiction doesn't even coming close to touching, but the result is incredible. 

Faith's book is A Passion Most Pure and Charity's is A Passion Redeemed.  Lizzie is the younger sister and her book is A Passion Denied. There is also a second series called Winds of Change and has a book dedicated to each of the remaining O'Connor siblings.  Katie's story is first in A Hope Undaunted, Sean's story is second in A Heart Revealed, and Steven's story will be released this year.

I enjoyed each one of these books and was totally engrossed in them.  I think I might just have to start both series over again in anticipation of the last one in the series.  I am looking to add all of the Daughters of Boston books to my personal library since I previously borrowed them.  If you see a bargain somewhere let me know!