Sunrise Song

Treasures of the Heart #4

by Catherine Palmer

Dr. Fiona Thornton has committed her life to studying and protecting the elephants of Kenya. Rogan McCullough, a wealthy entrepreneur, offers Fiona generous financial support if she will allow him to bring tourists to her camp to see the elephants. When poachers threaten Fiona's beloved elephants, she and Rogan must work together to save them. In the process, both reach new depths of faith and discover an unforeseen love for each other.

Genres: Christian Fiction, Romance, Christian, Fiction, Africa, Kenya, Contemporary

352 pages, Paperback

First published March 13, 2003

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Catherine Palmer lives in Atlanta with her husband, Tim, where they serve as missionaries in a refugee community. They have two grown sons. Cathy is a graduate of Southwest Baptist University and holds a master's degree in English from Baylor University. Her first book was published in 1988. Since then she has published over 50 novels, many of them national best sellers. Catherine has won numerous awards for her writing, including the Christy Award, the highest honor in Christian fiction. In 2004, she was given the Career Achievement Award for Inspirational Romance by "Romantic Times" magazine. More than 2 million copies of Catherine's novels are currently in print. The Author's Work With her compelling characters and strong message of Christian faith, Catherine is known for writing fiction that "touches the hearts and souls of readers." Her many collections include A Town Called Hope, Treasures of the Heart, Finders Keepers, English Ivy, and the Miss Pickworth series. Catherine also recently coauthored the Four Seasons fiction series with Gary Chapman, the "New York Times" best-selling author of "The Five Love Languages."

Reviews

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main character, Fiona studies elephants in the African safari. A rich man comes to try and buy her services and exploit the elephants. They end up falling in love and saving the elephants. It was good.

[Arnetta · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fantastic book with a little of everything: love, loss, betrayal, success and failure. This book shines a powerful light on the plight of elephants in Africa. Sadly the book is fiction and some of their success is not seen in reality. I highly recommend it!

[Lienkie's Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ A lovely tale set in Africa, Kenya. Two opposites attracted to each other but having to overcome life's obstacles and their own pain. A story of love, redemption, salvation and hope. There were some twists and a very sweet ending.

[Tirzah Bump · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is now my favorite in the series!! Soooo good!

[Dorothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this series.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Mama Hannah and those planned dinners.

[Caity · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would rate this book 3 1/2 stars if ever Goodreads would allow half-star ratings. ;P
Like the other books in this series, Sunrise Song was super interesting and I learned a lot more about elephants than I ever would have had I not read this; Catherine Palmer makes learning about random things fun and intriguing. :)
UNlike the other books in this series, the story dragged a bit and I looked forward to finishing; right from the beginning the romance in the story had a soap opera style to it- like the author was reaching for something out of no where and rushing it a bit.
The ending, however, was great! Everything (as usual, when it gets down to it) wrapped up quickly and nicely and I was very satisfied with the last few chapters. So besides being a bit slow and having a rather cheesy romance, I did enjoy this last installment to the Treasures of the Heart series, and I'm glad to have read the fourth Thornton siblings story so as to know each of them individually. ;)

[LibraryCin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fiona is a scientist and has been studying elephants for years. Rogan is a businessman and wants to make a proposal to Fiona, one she wants no part of. So, with the conflict between them at the beginning of the book, you know sparks will fly!

The book was o.k. I really identified with Fiona at the start (preferring animals to humans!), so I liked her. What I wasn’t as crazy about was the mention of God and/or the Bible every few pages. It just didn’t fit in with the story and the flow of the story really suffered, I thought. I loved learning about the elephants (though most of it, I’ve read before), and it’s heartbreaking that they are killed by poachers for their ivory. I averaged out my likes and dislikes about the book to get my o.k., 3 star rating.

[Wendy Sparkes · Rating 5 out of 5]

#4 Treasures of the Heart.

I love how Africa comes to life in this series.

In this book, Dr. Fiona Thornton, the eldest of the Thornton siblings, is in Kenya studying the elephants in the wilds of the Rift Valley. She has no time for relationships, until businessman Rogan McCullough flies in and turns her world upside down.

#1 #2 #3

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like I read two books in one...a story with romance and lots of wildlife and biology lessons! Truly an interesting book with two individuals who are nothing like each other in the beginning stages of a relationship. Even though it appears that Fiona and Rogan both live the extreme opposite of the other's lifestyle, both have hardened their pain of early life and are somewhat tardy in finding themselves and living like real adults. Absorption. One is absorbed with the city and business world, and the other is in the jungle with animals and primitive life. What they do have in common, is desiring to understand life and wanting to know if there is a true creator. Once Fiona allows herself to feel and admit it, they both take new steps on their journey. Read this one and you should enjoy a shift in story writing from regular romance fiction!

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Fiona Thornton has been living in the Rift Valley Game Park for years conducting research on the family groups of elephants in the park. American businessman Rogan McCull0ugh flies in with a proposal of how one of his businesses, Air-Tours Safaris, can help her and the region. Sparks fly - in more ways than one. When drought and poachers threaten the elephants, they need to work together. But can they each risk in what is happening between them?
This is actually book 4 of a series but it sounds like they can stand on their own. Romance as a genre is not something I've read much of; I picked this up for the Africa setting and the Christian fiction. Even though from early on I could take a guess at where things were going, it was thoroughly enjoyable and kept me wanting to read and see how it would all turn out.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book, so well written. She truly gave us a view of Africa and the elephants that Fiona was helping and studying in her research that we don't know about. Through all the troubles she had she finally came out of her shell and brought Rogan to seek God in his life, and in due time they caught the poachers that were killing the elephants, got married, and were expecting their first baby.

[Darah M · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is ridiculously hard to get ahold of. Ended up buying a copy so I never have to book hunt again. Fourth book in the series, but super fun to read! Can't finish the series without Fiona's story too!!! She's very distrustful of others during the whole book, but it's nice to see her character's growth. Didn't see the ending coming - totally pegged the wrong character as the bad guy.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am planning on re-reading it.

Interesting setting, dynamic characters and amazing faith. :)

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book was added later as the conclusion of the three books in the series, so this one needs to be read last.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite, but still fun to read! It sorta dragged in parts and just felt sorta...off. I don't really know why.

[Celeste Batchelor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good Christian author and I like most of her books. A good, clean romantic fiction.

[K.M. Weiland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unrealistic and frustrating characters in the first half, but all in all it was well-paced, well-researched, with a compelling setting.

[Mackenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 4 of 4
*VERY good. Fantastic series.

[Ann Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning romantic adventure series where Palmer paints the setting so vibrantly that it seems like another character. A pleasure to read. 4.6 Stars

[Kari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though this was a romance, I enjoyed it, because of the storyline. Elephant poaching in Kenya made a great background to the love story.

[Julie Sykes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved her attention to detail, and the obvious research, and love she has for Africa.