The Promise of Dawn by Lauraine Snelling

"Our someday has already begun. I see promise of dawn every day when the sun touches the tops of the big trees, the smoke rises from the chimney... and the cows bellows that we should hurry... "
- Rune Carlson , The Promise of Dawn by Lauraine Snelling



Hey Readers, I have another wonderful book for you to check out.  My latest "Must Read" is  by Lauraine Snelling. The Promise of Dawn is a historical fiction story that is set in the untamed land of Minnesota in the early 1900s. I would recommend this book if you:

• Have read any of this author's other writings ( she has written over 45 books for adults and several series for youth) 
• Like to read books by Lori Copeland and Tracie Peterson.
• Would like to read a sweet story about love, hope and one family's journey toward their dream. 
• Just want to read a great book :)

So here is the story:

The Promise of Dawn is the story of Rune and Signe Carlson who live in Norway with their three young boys Bjorn, Leif and Knute.  All of them loved Norway but there were not many opportunities for the boys to learn and eventually find jobs. So when a letter from Signe's cousins in Amerika  ( America) arrived asking for help in exchange for passage to Minnesota, They decide to make the journey to the new world in hopes of a better life for them and their children. The journey was long and especially hard for Signe because she found out a few days before their ship left port that she was pregnant. Finally arriving in Minnesota, they discover that the life they had pictured for themselves was very different from reality. Signe's cousins Einar and Gerd are both mean and cruel,  Einar only cares about how many trees they can cut down and how much work they can get finished and Gerd refuses to get out of bed because she is sick and assumes that Signe will do EVERYTHING around the house.  They do not even have beds to sleep in or a house to themselves! They are given the one room attic to live in and nothing to sleep on.  It takes some time but finally Signe accepts that God brought them here and that He has a plan for them so she decides to have patience with Gerd and help her to get stronger but its hard to help someone who does not want your help. After working for Einar and Gerd for several months, They are worn down to the bone. One of the boys broke their arm and Einar still expected him to work!  Then when Rune and Signe wanted to enroll the boys in school, Einar yells at them  stating that he paid their passage and that they have to work for him until it is paid off or he will have the sheriff arrest all of them.  Signe is sure they have worked enough to pay off what they were given but will they be able to prove it to the sheriff if Einar follows though with his threat?

When all seems lost, Their dreams appear to be impossible... Will they cling to the promise of dawn?


So what did I think? 
Well  The Promise of Dawn is the first book in Lauraine Snelling's new series  Under Northern Skies and it did not disappoint. Although the book has several Norwegian words within the story, it was not hard to read or understand ( It just took a few pages to get used to it) I love the amount of detail the author put in the story, describing the house, the farm and the surrounding lands. I did find that though the plot and story line were interesting that the story seemed to slow down a bit towards the middle of the book but then picked right back up to end the story perfectly. Overall I think this is a fantastic beginning to a new series and I definitely will check out book 2 when it comes out.
 I give the book 4 out of 5 stars****


If you want to check out any of this author's other books or would like to look at this series, Here is the link:
http://www.laurainesnelling.com/html/books.html


Happy Reading :)

  I would like to thank Bethany House for allowing me to read and review this book in return for a free copy. I was not asked to write a favorable review, Just a honest one.