Book Review: Lovelier than Daylight

Title: Lovelier than Daylight
Series: The Saddler's Legacy

Pages: 358

Author: Rosslyn Elliott

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from Thomas Nelson Publishers through their BookSneeze program in exhange for an honest review.

Susanna, a woman of principles, is headed off to college at Otterbein College in Westerville, OH in the summer of 1875. She stops by her sister’s house to visit with her before arriving in Westerville and discovers her sister and children missing. Her sister Rachel’s alcoholic husband, George, tells Susanna that Rachel has left and taken the children to orphanages.

Susanna tries to get the children out of the orphanage to take them home with her while she searches for her sister. Her efforts in both areas are fruitless.

Johann is a brewer’s son and also writes for the German newspaper. He has an opportunity to go to New York and become a journalist. He struggles with loyalty to his father and staying in the family business and going on to pursue his own dreams and God-given talents.

When a saloon opens in the dry town of Westerville, OH, Johann and Susanna cross paths. Will Susanna be able to look past her preconceived ideas and balance righteousness and love? Will Johann make the right decision between duty and his dreams? In the hunt for her orphaned nieces and nephews and her missing children, will Susanna find them… and more?

Lovelier than Daylight is a story based on the real Westerville Wiskey War of 1875. The characters in it are based on real people from Westerville and their stories all rolled up into one.

This was a really good book! There are several other books from this author using characters in this book. I would love to read them all.

Each character was well-developed and strong… and different. It was easy to keep them separate because each had their individual personalities.

This book raises questions of real issues such as whether or not alcohol is acceptable to drink. It also presents real problems like abandoned children and the reasons their parents abandoned them. Many of the struggles that the characters faced are ones that we can all relate to in some way, such as Susanna’s stuggle with finding balance between righteousness and extending grace and trying to find the relationship between the two. Many of us can relate to Johann as he struggles to make a decision based on what he wants versus what his responsibilities are. We can relate to Rachel as she struggles with the consequences of her sin, because we have all sinned. And so many of us can admire Uncle Will and Aunt Ann and their gentle, quiet ways of standing for right but giving so much love and grace at the same time.

This was an excellent, well-written book with a fantastic storyline. I highly recommend reading this.

You can find more information or purchase the book by visiting the Thomas Nelson product page.