Just Above a Whisper

Tucker Mills Trilogy #2

by Lori Wick

Through a hard turn of events, Reese Thackery has become an indentured servant. When the owner of her contract dies, the bank has rights to her fate. Conner Kingsley, the son of the bank's owner, comes to Tucker Mills to investigate and soon releases Reese from obligation and hires her to keep house for him.



Reese is grateful for freedom but unsure of her other feelings for Conner. Yet, as her emotional hurts heal, and her faith blossoms, Reese allows herself to trust someone for the first time. But will Conner do the same?



When love at first sight is not the case, can shared faith and restoration grow from a whisper of understanding into a proclamation of love?

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

300 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2005

About the author

FROM THE PUBLISHER:
Lori Wick is known as one of the most versatile Christian fiction writers on the market today. From pioneer fiction to a series set in Victorian England to a contemporary novel, Lori's books (over 5 million in print) continue to delight readers and top the Christian bestselling fiction list. Lori and her husband, Bob, live in Wisconsin with "the three coolest kids in the world."

Reviews

[Arlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

[review based on audio]

I’d like to point out that listening to this book should land me in the indiscriminate reader population. Above a Whisper is comfortably outside of my preferred genre but that didn’t stop me from enjoying this sweet, sweet, pretty, pretty, all-is-beautiful, and everyone-is-lovely read. I was definitely feeling the love on this one. No really! I’m not being snarky, I liked it. :)

The premise of Above a Whisper takes place around 1839, a time when indentured servants where common and close knit communities within a small town defined a way of life. Reese Thakery is contracted for a 4 year indentured servitude when her father is forced to settle his obligations. When the man who owns her contract unexpectedly dies deeply in debt, Reese is handed over to Tucker Mills Bank, which is owned by Conner Kinglsey’s family. She is committed to completing the final 19 months of her contract. Without warning, she is suddenly released from her contact by Conner, and this wealthy bank owner and once servant fall in love and live happily ever after. The end. *sigh*

Okay, yes it’s a sweet love story, but I also liked the underlying themes of fear, faith, injustice and ultimate resolution that were infused into the book. I also enjoyed Connor and Reese's backstory and the secondary storyline of Maddy and Jace. Very lovely.

Nice story that ends perfectly. I need those every now and again. *goofy smile*

[Mayda · Rating 2 out of 5]

After the first chapter, it is pretty evident how it is going to end. And the journey to the end is not all that inspiring or interesting. The plot, what there is, takes a back seat to the author’s witness to her belief in God and the way to be saved through Christ Jesus. There is nothing subtle about it, and the heavy-handedness comes off as trite. The characters are shallow, the plot is thin, and the writing is not great.

[Carolyn Vandine West · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second part in a trilogy. Audiobook.
I really enjoyed this sweet little book. We forget how people used to live. Indentured servants are no longer, at least in The United States of America. There were several points where the thought crossed my mind, oh just use your cellphone. Regular phones were not even an option. But my goodness when the Dr and Police are needed and someone had to “go find and ask for help”.
I loved the slower pace of life that this showed and will get the next part soon.
I listened to this on Libby for a library reading challenge.

[Abigail Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great story from Lori Wick! My fsvorite so far in the Tucker Mills Trilogy!

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Truly abysmal, even at 1.5x speed read by Barbara Rosenblat. The history is iffy, or rather, these are modern characters having modern theological discussions and converting to a very specific form of modern evangelical Christianity identified as the only right way to get to heaven, in a history lite 1840s. Gender essentialism is heavily promoted (our heroine is an ideal housewife after having been an indentured servant!) and only those who are the right kinds of saved Christians can be trusted and those can be, implicitly. It was quite interesting to read this after Dickens’ _Little Dorrit_ which is ALSO a novel about an idealized dependent Christian girl, set in the 1820s but written around the time this book is set, which is so much less fixated on one specific theology while identifying particular behaviors as Christian.

Not worth the time unless these are your beliefs already and you like having them reinforced by cardboard cutout people.

[Maria Pierron · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disgusting. Every character was a wet piece of cardboard. The amount of time the word “questions” was used was infuriating.

[ANNETTE · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this story started off rather slow and confusing at times. The end got better

[MJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

In 1839 in a small town called Tucker Mills Massachusetts, Reese Thackery is an indentured servant with 2 years left before she is free. When the man holding her papers suddenly dies Reese is uncertain of her future but has faith that God will protect her. What Reese doesnt know is that the man who dies owed a lot of money to the Tucker Mills Bank and the bank manager has decided that to recoop his losses to hold on to Reese's papers and she can work for the bank. When the bank owners, The Kngsley family, find out they immediately head for Tucker Mills to audit the bank and release Reese from her contract. Conner Kingsley may be the youngest and soft spoken member of the Kingsley family but he is no fool he knows something is going on at the bank and is going to find out what along with his business partner, Troy Thaden and Reese's help. But Reese is scared of Conner and doesnot trust him. Can she put he fears aside to save them both?

That review is more exciting then the book actually is. This is a Christian fiction and like most all Christian fiction the characters are all unbelieavably good with few faults. And in the end everyone acepts Jesus Christ as their Savior and live happily ever after. Which of course is not realistic. Saying that, I did stay up all night to read this book, ok until 1:20am but i started reading at 8:30pm. And I am not sure why. I did not like the authors writing style. She jumped around to other characters in Tucker Mills telling their story which most the time had nothing to do with Conner and Reese's story. This really annoyed me. It was an easy read and required very little from me other than to keep reading. I did not care for the characters and I will probabley forget that had read the book in 5 years. I keep forgeting the name of the book and it was only this morning when I typed the title that I understood what it meant.

If your are in the mood for a lite easy read with nothing objectionable then I would recommend this book. No bad language, sex or violence. In fact the characters had no qustionable morals. The two "bad" people either die or turns out to be crazy. It is part of a triology and I think may be the 2nd book but I didnt feel like I was missing anything having skipped the 1st book.

[Stacy · Rating 2 out of 5]

done and rides into town.

I don’t read inspirational fiction very often and I don’t think I’ve ever made it through one as church centered as this one. I’m sure I would have given up on it if I’d been reading, but the playaway did make my cleaning go faster, so I stuck it out. I can’t say that I really got enjoyment out of it, but it was passable. My biggest problem aside from the absence of a compelling storyline was Reese and the way everyone in town treated her (I think the author would say Christian, but I would say like she was made of glass).

It was well written and the reader was very easy to listen to. Having said that I can’t really say how this stacks up to other inspirationals since I don’t read them. Maybe they all spend considerable plot time having new believers ask biblical questions. This wasn’t my cup of tea, but I know from other reviews I’ve read that it is plenty of other readers genre of choice.

[Dani · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far, this is the best Lori Wick book that I've read. There is more depth to the story, and a realistic reason why the girl doesn't like the guy at first. Once they figure out that they like each other, Wick doesn't keep them apart with a lot of silly misunderstandings. The characters from the previous book are given a subplot that I cared about rather than making a cameo appearance "just because".

The only thing that marred the book for me was the main female character getting pregnant in the epilogue. Wick has done this in the epilogue of every one of her books that I've read. I know that there wasn't a lot to do in pioneer time, but come on! Maybe I should stop reading the epilogues :-).

[Corina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoy Lori Wick's books. She has a talent for taking the reader into the era of which her characters reside. You pick up tid bits of history and facts about life in the pioneer days. After finishing this book, I am still mulling over what happened to the antagonist, Mr Jenness, at the end. As you read this book, it is brought to your attention is is taking place in 1839. So it surprised me when I read that his wife had given away that Mr Jenness was accepted to the 'Massachusetts Mental Health Institute'. To me, this terminology doesn't seem as it would be used in the early 19th century. I would have thought 'sanatorium' of a better term. This may sound as if I am knit picking, but I enjoy continuity of the time period & storyline.

[Crystal B · Rating 1 out of 5]

I used to love Lori Wick's books, but I find her newer ones have the same type of characters each time. I love that she explains salvation each time, but it seems that once her characters come to know Christ, they all turn out the same. I also find that she jumps around from story line to story line too much. We see snippets of all these characters, but often none of it really adds to the storyline.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tucker Mills 2

I very much enjoyed this book, as I do all of hers. My favorite thing about her books is that people have such a hunger for Jesus and His Word. I love that someone always accepts Him. This story shows me that God wants good things for His children, no matter how hard life can seem at times. I can’t wait to read the other books!

[annabeth ☼ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought that it might be a possibility that I would like this book better than the last, because the relationship isn’t problematic and I actually at least enjoyed the main characteristics of the main character, but it managed to still just completely suck.

Still hate Maddie and Jace. Still couldn’t care less about the town or the random people in it. Not even Doyle and Cathy. The romance was still ridiculous. Nothing has changed even when the main characters have.

The characters were one-dimensional, the romance was one-dimensional (and so rushed — I kid you not, it was squished into the last 50 pages), the setting was one-dimensional, the plot was one-dimensional. I mean, you get the point. It just gets very boring and frustrating to read after a while.

And the writing. I don’t know if Wick always writes in this style of prose and unnatural-feeling dialogue, but I can’t stand it, and if I didn’t feel an obligation to finish this trilogy, I would just throw in the towel already. Possibly even on Wick as a whole.

I mean, the fact that Conner & Troy freed Reese from her slavery is great, amazing, I applauded. But, also, that was the only good thing to happen in the entire three-hundred-page novel, so…

[Anna Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The list of characters included at the front of the book was helpful. More of Lori Wick’s books should include this, since she often adds a confusing amount of characters, especially when her sequels also involve previous main characters.
Also, the beginning of this book includes the end of the previous book with Jace and Maddie. That was fine with me because I liked how the previous book ended. But, I did grow tired of having scenes with Jace and Maddie in them throughout the book. It seemed like filler fluff and did absolutely nothing for the current storyline. I already read about Jace and Maddie, now I wanted to read about Reese and Conner. The end of the book started to bore me a bit, but overall Reese and Conner were entertaining, fun, and interesting characters.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute quick read, that can stand alone, although part of a trilogy. Reese is an indentured servant to Mr. Zantow, and although she is afraid of him when he drinks, which he does often, she is making the best of it. When she comes home and finds him dead, she has high hopes that she will be free. BUT no the banker has claimed her for the bank so she now cleans the bank, helps at his home-even though his wife does not want, and whatever else he can come up with. Then a note is sent to the owner of the banks, and family comes to town to see what is really going on. What will happen with Reese....what about the bank...and what about the guy whom just up and walked out on the meeting to find out was happened.

[Ellen White · Rating 4 out of 5]

It starts with Mr Muldoon the pastor that Jake is interested in hearing. Though he is not their pastor. Jake was searching for truth and understanding of what the Bible was teaching. Reassuring Maddie they would be doing this together.
Reese was an indentured servant when her owner died. The bank was holding the papers, of which seemed to delight Mr Jenness.
Doc had never heard of such a thing. The owners of the bank come to town to do an audit and find that money was owed by the deceased and he thought this was a way of getting some of the debt paid.
The story dragged and seemed repeated at times.

[Margaret Fraleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reese's father was an indentured employee an when he died his daughter Reese
was forced to become an indentured employee of Mr. Zantow's. When Mr. Zantow
died suddenly the manager of the bank decided that Reese would continue as the
banks indentured employee for another 2 years- cleaning the bank and helping his
widen his home.

The owners of the bank. the Kingsley family were contacted and appraised of Reese's situation.

Connor Kingsley and Mr. Troy came to Tucker Mills to deal with situation. Mr. Jenness left Tucker Mills with no explanation.

Reese was relieved of the indenture and was free,

Life was not the same but the town all rallied around her.

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book in this series more than the first one. Based in Massachusetts during the 1800s. This book follows Reece, a young woman and an indentured servant to a carpenter. When he dies, and it is found that he had large debts, the bank comes in to try to recover some of the funds. In doing that, they take over Reece's contract, not due to expire for another two years. God has other plans in mind, though, and the book is that journey. Some great characters, some lessons of love and how to be satisfied wherever you are. No sex or profanity.

[JLynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book started slow and it was confusing at times to figure out as it jumped from one group of people to another quite quickly but the author did put a characters list in the beginning that was very helpful. I also liked that the chapters were short with many breaks. The story line was new and a different look at how people think, but it was predictable and I appreciated that Reese's character was so positive. The author isn't the clearest writers and a several times I had to re-read to figure out what the meaning was.

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 2 in the Tucker Mills Trilogy.

An interesting and enjoyable read. I especially like reading about the religious growth of the characters. The questions about life, death, faith and the permission to mature at their own pace as each person grows in faith.

The town of Tucker Mills is small but the interaction of those in the community is strong. They protect, encourage, provide and assist each other.
I particularly enjoyed the relationship between Conner and his co-worker Troy and the employer/ employee relationship between Conner and Reese.

[Joy Lokey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellently surprising story

Who knew that the ownership of a young lady who's father's indentured state would pass on to her like a noose to a most unworthy man, and then be passed along again to a greedy banker to pay off debts. How would she ever be free of such tyranny? People's spirits reflect their heart. Reese's spirit had learned well to reflect Christ, attracting the attention of a certain bank owner in the most unique way. A lovely, heart touching story of one gracious heart that impacted the entire town.

[Randy Tramp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reese Thackery is an indentured servant. Conner Kingsley, the son of the banker's owner, comes to Tucker Mills to investigate and soon releases Reese from obligation.

A nice Sunday afternoon read or in my case, an April Blizzard. I liked almost everything about the story. (There were a few times the writing turned peaching.) Besides that, I enjoyed the Bible mixing with everyday lives of people, producing only what God can create.

A love story, both human and God.

[Kelly Nimegeers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an awesome novel about faith, strength, and the courage it takes to survive an ordeal like being an indentured servant for the bank after her first master dies of old age. The sad thing about this person was, he would drink and then he would rape her. You would think that after the struggle of that event, the bank would just free Rose and that would be the end of this horribleness in her life. However, into her life comes the bank manager who treats her with the most contempt and disrespect I have ever seen. Until the owner of the bank, Connor Kingsley, comes to free her himself and gives her papers back. You have to read the rest of the book to find out what happens.

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reese Tackery becomes an indentured servant to the Tucker Mills bank upon owners death to fill out her father's debt (probably unlawfully).

Bank owner Conner Kingsley hears about the situation and comes to town to audit the bank's business and negates the contract with Reese and gives her a job housekeeping in his family's mansion.

The bank manager looses it and goes into hiding, thinking they are out to get him for his decision to use Reese.

[Mary Garbarino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lori Wick is one of my favorite authors. Her books totally touch my soul. This story of Reese Thackery and Conner Kingsley is just such a book. Her situation is one that everyone in Tucker Mills is aware of. However, no one pities her as she is such a capable woman. A must read for anyone who is compassionate.

[Lila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, I finished this in one day, in 7 hours actually. The characters were adorable, lots of banter. I did skim certain characters POV because I knew what was going to happen since I read the book after this one first accidentally. 1 star off because some of the theology is a little sketchy and changes quite often, and the christian parts seem really forced some of the time.

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

I liked the main characters and the Christian message. However, the book was a total fail when it came to portraying 1800s Massachusetts, and the author even admits she included things that weren’t real until decades later. The modern names are jarring and the writing scenes are so short that the tale feels very choppy and fragmented.

[Anita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet story of a a young indentured woman and her strong Christian beliefs that see her through hardships - the death of her master, the passing on of her papers and the development of a lasting love.

[Oluwakanyinsola Adebayo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story admittedly was cliche. But there’s no doubting the lessons Lori shares in the plot. Those I was able to take away and appreciate.

There’s nothing impressively new or special about the story but it was a comfortable read.