Through Rushing Water by Catherine Richmond ~ Review

At the prologue, I couldn’t help having sympathy for this main character. Being spurned by the guy who has made you think he wants to marry you in front of hundreds of people? People that all knew he was sure serious about our heroine. Yeah, I cringed more than a little bit for the poor woman.

            

After being “left at the altar”, Sophia is determined to do something that will give her something…and hopefully get her back to her homeland. Being a teacher to Indians wasn’t really her plan. Watching her change from the inside out, was a beautiful sight in this character. I loved that she took on their plight and fought for it like it was her own.

          

  I will admit I did not like the book near as much as I expected. The plot seemed lost many times and the romance weak amongst the background of the main story of protecting and providing for the Indians. I couldn’t truly identify with the characters, though I loved Sophia’s determination and heart. It just all seemed too much and too…lost.

           

That isn’t to say there aren’t good qualities to the story. Will is a charming character and a great hero. I wish I could have gotten to know him a bit better. The ending was a happy one and the preacher was good at making me dislike him. ;-)

           

All in all, not my favorite yes, but enjoyable qualities still to the story.

          

This review is my honest opinion. Thanks to the publishers for my copy to review.

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More about the novel...

Sophia has her life all planned out-but her plan didn't include being jilted or ending up in Dakota Territory.

Sophia Makinoff is certain 1876 is the year that she'll become the wife of a certain US Congressman, and happily plans her debut into the Capitol city. But when he proposes to her roommate instead, Sophia is stunned. Hoping to flee her heartache and humiliation, she signs up with the Board of Foreign Missions on a whim.


With dreams of a romantic posting to the Far East, Sophia is dismayed to find she's being sent to the Ponca Indian Agency in the bleak Dakota Territory. She can't even run away effectively and begins to wonder how on earth she'll be able to guide others as a missionary. But teaching the Ponca children provides her with a joy she has never known-and never expected-and ignites in her a passion for the people she's sent to serve.


It's a passion shared by the Agency carpenter, Willoughby Dunn, a man whose integrity and selflessness are unmatched. The Poncas are barely surviving. When US policy decrees that they be uprooted from their land and marched hundreds of miles away in the middle of winter, Sophia and Will wade into rushing waters to fight for their friends, their love, and their destiny.