Review #21 The Raven Saint

The Raven Saint

By Marylu Tyndall

Publication date: January 1, 2010

My rating: ****

Description:

In book three of the Charles Towne Belles series, Grace Westcott is kidnapped by mercenary Captain Rafe Dubois who has plans to sell her to a Spanish don in exchange for gold to help the poor. Grace has always prided herself on her faith but she can't see why God would allow this to happen to her. Captain Dubois did not expect to find himself caring about his captive or her faith in God.

The Raven Saint, like the other books in the series, combines adventure, faith, and romance. Grace is pious to the point of hurting other people's feelings which doesn't help her to achieve her aims to share her love of God. Captain Dubois even teases her about it calling her a pious prude. She is judgmental and at times annoying. She assumes that God has brought her aboard Dubois' ship to bring salvation to Captain Dubois and his crew and feels like a failure when they don't respond to her attempts to evangelize. Gradually Grace starts to see these negative aspects of her character and she realizes her own need to change. Grace's faith and desire to help people are admirable. I like that her character is flawed. Sometimes in Christian fiction, Christians are falsely portrayed as nearly perfect people without problems or doubts. This is not the case in Marylu Tyndall's books which is something I love about them.  Captain Dubois is a complex character with deep reasons for his actions and beliefs. His back story is important to the plot as are the themes of revenge and forgiveness.

I enjoyed getting to know the characters, even the minor ones such as Father Alers add to the story. I also loved the romance between Grace and Captain Dubois. The minor things I didn't like were the resolution of the story and the information overload at the very end when she is reunited with her sisters. I understand the need for it since this is the last book in the series but I still did not like the epilogue. Overall I really enjoyed this book and the series. I look forward to reading more adventurous historical fiction from Marylu Tyndall in the future.