Remember Me When

Women of Hope #2

by Ginny Aiken

Inspired by the biblical story of Abigail in 1 Samuel, a Christian woman stands up for what is right, despite life-threatening consequences.
When Faith married her husband Roger Nolan he seemed to be an upstanding businessman, owner of a remote mercantile outside the town of Bountiful, Oregon. But Faith quickly learned the truth-that her husband is dishonest in his business practices and likes his liquor, turning mean when he indulges. When Faith discovers that Roger has yet again failed to deliver critical winter supplies to Nathan Bartlett, owner of the nearby logging camp, she takes the order up the mountain herself. Furious, Roger confronts Faith when she returns, and she is knocked unconscious. When Faith wakes, she finds Roger dead in a pool of his own blood, and she soon stands accused of murder.
Having fought in the War Between the States, Nathan has seen enough violence to last a lifetime. He has always admired Faith's quiet strength and integrity and finds it hard to believe such a gentle woman capable of harming anyone. However, Nathan begins to struggle with his instinct to protect Faith when evidence mounts against her.
As more and more people begin to think Faith is guilty, only her trust in God can give her the hope she needs to survive this trial.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Christian, Christian Fiction, Historical, Fiction, Historical Romance, Romance

317 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Ginny Aiken, a former newspaper reporter, lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and their three younger sons--the oldest is married, has flown the coop, and made her a doting grandmother. Born in Havana, Cuba, and raised in Valencia and Caracas Venezuela, Ginny discovered books at an early age. She wrote her first novel at age fifteen while she trained with the Ballets de Caracas, later to be known as the Venezuelan National Ballet. She burned that tome when she turned a "mature" sixteen. An ecletic list of jobs--including stints as reporter, paralegal, choreographer, language teacher, retail salesperson, wife, mother of four boys, and herder of their numerous and assorted friends, including the 135 members of first the Crossmen and then the Bluecoats Drum & Bugle Corps--brought her back to books in search of her sanity. She is now the author of twenty-seven published works, but she hasn't caught up with that elusive sanity yet.

http://ginnyaikenwrites.com/About_Me....

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good...but not great.

[Sheila Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this story from beginning to end. Face-paced, and filled with unexpected twists and turns.

[Sherri · Rating 4 out of 5]

1870s Oregon. Faith Nolan married her husband out of necessity. He was no prince charming for their three years.

This tale is loosely based on the story of Biblical Abigail. If you know the story, I believe only the first part of the book even hints at Abigail’s story.

Faith ends up going to trial for crimes against her. While she is strong in her abusive relationship, I started to think she wasn’t standing up for herself as her trial continued. However, her strong spirit came through as the story progressed.

Cautions: domestic abuse

As a Biblical interpretation this is a pass. As a pioneer story it was good.

[Billie · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far so good, It did start off a bit slow yet a lot has happened.

[Kacey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was a little wary of reading this, having just come off a novel that had one of the main characters imprisoned, but once I got into it I was still curious about what would happen. But then I got about halfway through and thought about stopping again. I struggled a lot to finish this book. It didn't hold my interest and I ended up feeling bored by the last third.

I feel like one of the problems of this book was making the husband and his brother so unlikable and obviously sketchy. I don't have a problem with these things in theory, especially if the struggles of a physically abused woman is written in a believable way. What I had a problem with was that there didn't seem to be any conflict or concern that Faith could actually be involved in the murder because of the sketchy behavior of both brothers. In fact, to me the brother made himself so obviously guilty by immediately pointing the finger at her that it baffled me that there could be so much waffling around before the truth was finally revealed.

I guess this being a historical novel did make some aspects of it a bit harder to understand and identify with. In the last one, I could still identify with Merritt's identity as a woman despite the time she lived in. Faith seemed so much more a woman of her time, which again isn't a bad thing in theory. I just couldn't really connect with her, and some of the historically-relevant things like them not wanting to jail her/hang her just because she was a woman made it hard to connect. Not really the book's fault but still something that made the whole thing less tense for me. I was always assured things would turn out okay for Faith because of the time period and how women were seen/treated in that time.

So, yeah. Not the greatest pick for me in books. It wasn't bad, it just got boring for me after a while and I couldn't really connect with the characters.

[Tiffani · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was poorly written. I got really sick of reading the characters "jaw" about the problem. I got sick of reading the characters' southern accents/dialect written out for one and for two they seemed to have nothing else to do but talk about Faith being accused of murder and theft. She also got injured way too much. The characters were a-typical and flat. I could only see two reasons Faith and Nathan should get together. They believed in God and were super attractive. I wasn't convinced they should get married. The jump between the last chapter and the epilogue made me roll my eyes. To sum it up, I didn't buy the characters, plot, or setting. Total waste of my time.

[Haley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. I really like the author- the first one in the series was better. I love this time period and always kind of invision myself during that time period. But then I read a book like this and am glad that I didn't live during a time with such injustice and lack of rights for woman.

[Tam Car · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like mysteries and this one I couldn't put down. As much as I enjoyed it though, I can't give it five stars and there were a few things that really annoyed me. First, how much Faith tried to protect the character of her dead, drunkard, abusive husband when her life was on the line. I understand shame, but there is a difference between shame and stupidity. She just seemed so daft half the time that I had trouble seeing her as this supposedly attractive woman. I also couldn't stand how every woman loved Faith and knew she was innocent, yet almost every single man was just yearning for her to be guilty of killing this horrible human being and how much they couldn't wait to hang her for it, all on the word of the man's drunkard and liar of a brother. I didn't understand the hatred towards men and how a few times Faith spoke for them in assumption that everyone hated her before she knew anything about them. And how many times she got hurt. And not just hurt but concussed in the head, I was starting to feel concern about brain damage coming to her if happened any more. I like a man sweeping a woman off her feet, but I really don't like the poor, hurt woman that desperately needs to be coddled and pitied.
Anyway, after all that it would sound like I didn't enjoy the story much, but her faith was nice and the mystery was exciting and held me. I'd say 3.5 stars

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was so juvenile I question why it was marketed for an adult audience. It should have had pictures & could have had less descriptive words & been much better marketed for a 3rd graders. (They might be at a higher comprehension level for this book, however.)
I cannot believe this author teaches writing in post secondary establishments! That is a farce!!
The main character is annoying and complains constantly and one moment she is brave, yet all others she is a coward. The character development is dismal. And not just for the main character. I found it so silly that the neighbours of Bountiful were literally meeting in the street as events were happening. It's as if the author has a deluded idea that all characters not only must be introduced to the reader but to each other at the same time. It was ridiculous! (A reader can only take 'call me by my first name' every once and a while, not from every darn character!!)
I have a very hard time putting down a book I am reading, even if it is dreadful. Putting this one down was a breeze. It was just downright dumb. A waste of time.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is probably more like a 3 1/2 star but in my opinion not worth bumping up to a full four star rating. I have to say that I like the previous book in the series much better and though this book was also very interesting I have to say that I had it mostly figured out very early on. But that being neither here nor there, I will say that I enjoyed the writing and the characters as well as storyline. I’m not really terribly familiar with the story of Abigail but I did go back to read it in my Bible. It was very interesting and it isn’t one of the main stories that you hear a whole lot about that I recall in Sunday school but it was a very interesting analogy. I have to say that I appreciate how Faith had trust in God and didn’t take the “easy road“ out by marrying right away. She deserves to be courted and one and she held out for that.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. 2nd in series and main characters in book 1 continue in this book also. But could be a standalone.
Faith's parents are killed, and with no other family, she marries a storekeeper thinking she will have a stable life. Her husband is a disappointment in many ways, and when he is killed Faith is accused by his brother. A real mystery surrounds her, and I must admit, I had it figured wrong.
Book kept me on the edge of my seat. Looking forward to the last book in the series.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book in the Women of Hope trilogy, and while I didn't enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the first book, For Such a Time as This, I still liked it a lot. This historical Christian novel set in 1870s Oregon is inspired by the story of Abigail in 1 Samuel. It was not a retelling by any stretch of the imagination, but I could definitely see several similarities to the Biblical story. It was well written and entertaining, and the characters were well drawn. Overall, I enjoyed it, but it's not quite a favorite.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

I greatly enjoyed reading this book! Poor girl, Faith, has been attacked and somebody is trying to kill her! It's a difficult situation, since she has no idea why anybody would want her dead. Her husband was a dishonest store owner that was mean and abusive to her, and he was murdered, but she didn't know who did it or why. She is accused of it, and they have a trial where she is accused not only of murdering her husband, but attempted murder and theft. It's a wonderful story that kept me fascinated to the end!

[Tristine Fjerstad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Faith was put in one circumstance that demanded marriage and she chose unwisely. Now she is in another, but refuses the easy way out. The truth must come to light.

I really didn’t like this book. It was all about the events of the murder and what came after it. Nothing else, the second marriage proposal had nothing built on it and it seemed to skip a ton to get to the epilogue. The events of who murdered her first husband were just dumb and the reasons given as to why it happened, even dumber, and why Faith was made out to be the scapegoat, the dumbest. Bleh.

[Jennifer Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled a little with the first book in this series being too drawn out and the same things rehashed over & over. I almost gave up on this one. To believe the characters could not figure out what was going on, in fact, went out of their way to not consider the obvious, stretched incredulity. I'm going to have to take a break before tackling the third book.

[Veronica · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was okay, but not amazing. The story line and character were somewhat interesting. Ultimately, my biggest complaint is the lack of character or relational development. There was a lot of mystery and barely any romance until the very end.

[Kbarker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad story......but it got kinda redundant to me. Faith had some really bad luck or was always in the wrong place at the wrong time!!!!!! It just seemed like alot. She did too she put herself in jail.

[Blaire Foote · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't very romantic at all. When Nathan didn't trust faith and then all of a sudden trusted her again and proposed just seemed weird and unnatural. It wasn't a horrible book but it wasn't all that great.

[Joelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, but not as much as the first one in the series.
I did feel that the end was a bit rushed, and that the "romance" element was missing in this book.

[2rengirls1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was interesting to read about the trial and trying to solve the mystery of who actually committed the crimes instead of focusing on the romance. Lovely story.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the greatest writing to really grab me in. The plot was a bit far-fetched for my liking.

[Charity U · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely enjoyed the first book more; the heroine of this one wasn't one I really identified or empathized with, in many ways. Not bad for reading this once tho.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was mostly sad. It reminds me of Jesus and how He was falsely accused. The ending turned out differently for Faith, but still it made me appreciate all He went through for me, for you.

[Jess Denzler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love all her books. This one is great. Very well written. I don’t know how she is getting bad reviews. They are great books. I loved them.

[Teresa Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read! Interesting, different, not predictable, suspenseful, realistic, and I could go on…

[Sharon Jarka · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't care for this book as much as the first book in the series. The characters were not believable, especially the heroin.

[DD · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lo disfruté.

[Rosey Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written story!❤️

[Kathleen (Kat) Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Out of the frying pan and into the fire! That is just what seems to be happening to Faith Nolan after marrying Roger when she lost everything in a fire and had no place to go. First she lost her parents and thinking there were only a couple of single men left to marry, she opted for Roger. Only in hindsight years later, she wished she would have taken up the charitable offers of the town's resident's to stay with them. She just didn't want people to feel sorry for her and she certainly didn't want to be considered a charitable case simply because she had no where else to go.

Helping to run the General Store seemed to give her an outlet of feeling helpful to others, as well as caring for the three mules they owned to get supplies from the town of Bountiful up to where the store was in Hope County, Oregon. Their main customer was the logging company owned by Nathan Bartlett as well as some of the men serving at the Army Fort just outside the town's limits. Now if only she could find a way out of Roger's violent outbursts towards her whenever he and his brother Theo got drunk, which seemed to happen every single night. Thank goodness for long sleeve shirts to hide what bruises he left on her. She only prayed God would hear her prayers for something to change, she just never expected He would answer the way He did.

When faced with another of Roger's lies about missing supplies for Nathan's company, Faith did what she felt God had placed on her heart, and that was waiting for the next shipment of supplies and fulfill Nathan's order before they went missing again. She knew that by defying Roger, she would be faced with another beating but she had to do what was right and hope God would come through in the end. Sure enough Roger and Theo were waiting for her when she arrived back to the store and they were drunk yet again. Only Roger would never take his anger out on Faith, when anyone was around, she knew he would wait for Theo to leave and then have his "discussion" with Faith.

Sure enough like clock work that is just what happened but something snapped inside of Faith this time, and she wasn't going to let Roger take his anger out on her once again. Grabbing a fireplace poker, she attempted to fight him off, but when he pushed her away from him, taking the poker from him, the last thing she remembered before she hit the ground was pain and darkness. What she didn't expect when she came to, was to see Roger's body on the ground with the fireplace poker in the back of his head and their store on fire. Fleeing for her life, she ran, but never in her mind did she think she would be arrested for Roger's murder. But things are about to get a whole lot worse for Faith. Is this God's answer to her prayers?

I received Remember Me When by Ginny Aiken compliments of Faith Words, a division of Hachette Book Groups for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation and the opinions contained here are strictly my own. This is the second book in the Women of Hope series and one that I fully enjoyed being a huge fan of westerns. I always thought I would have run a general store if I lived back in that time frame but loved where Ginny Aiken took this one. Faith is about to have her faith tested when one circumstance after another seems to stack the deck against her innocence and one by one, the people she hoped she could count on are shaking their own heads in disbelief. It will take an act of God to free Faith from the hangman's noose and to find a way to turn the hearts of the town's people back to believing she is innocent. Truly an unforgettable novel and one that I can proudly add to my personal library and well deserving of a 5 out of 5 stars. This novel also contains a Reading Group Discussion guide at the conclusion.

[Sarah Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

Faith is trapped in an abusive marriage yet defies her husband to help others. She gets accused of murdering (guess who?), and Nathan Bartlett comes to her aid; I read afterwards that this book is based on the Biblical account of Abigail and David in the Old Testament, and I definitely see the similarities. I can't give away the ending of the murder investigation, since I have no memory of what happens. Guess I fell asleep before the verdict, since I often listen to audiobooks at bedtime.