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Blessing
Her Secret Was Out...
Uley Kirkland was in a pickle. Nobody in Tin Cup, Colorado, knew that beneath her cloth cap and mining togs, she was all woman. Nobody except Aaron Brown, the handsome newcomer who, thanks to her, was now locked up in the town jail.
In a few days, Aaron would be swinging from a hangman's noose. And it was all Uley's fault. If she hadn't tackled him with a flying leap out of nowhere, he wouldn't be in this fix. Or wasting his last days on earth daydreaming about how pretty Uley would look if she ever got out of those pants and into a dress....
Uley Kirkland was in a pickle. Nobody in Tin Cup, Colorado, knew that beneath her cloth cap and mining togs, she was all woman. Nobody except Aaron Brown, the handsome newcomer who, thanks to her, was now locked up in the town jail.
In a few days, Aaron would be swinging from a hangman's noose. And it was all Uley's fault. If she hadn't tackled him with a flying leap out of nowhere, he wouldn't be in this fix. Or wasting his last days on earth daydreaming about how pretty Uley would look if she ever got out of those pants and into a dress....
298 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 1993
9 people are currently reading
91 people want to read
About the author
Debbi Bedford
12 books2 followersDeborah Bedford was born on 1958 in Texas, USA and earned her degree in journalism and marketing from Texas A&M University. Immediately after graduation, she accepted editorship of Evergreen Today, a weekly newspaper based in the small mountain town of Evergreen, Colorado. While serving as editor there, she worked 70 or 80 hours each week, writing stories and cut-lines, sports and features, chasing fire trucks and checking police reports, taking pictures, editing, laying out pages, opaquing the negatives, stacking papers into vending machines and taking out the quarters.
It was long before she began to dream of returning to her first love, fiction writing. For her birthday in the summer of 1984, her husband, Jack, bought her a copy of the 1984 Writers' Market, and she began to meticulously send letters to every publisher listed in the book. Rejection letters flowed back by the handfuls. She has a large folder where, for posterity's sake, she has kept these to this day. She has also kept the letter from Harlequin Books she received, which invited her to submit a complete manuscript but warned her that Harlequin did not want books about cowboys, airline pilots, guest ranches or Texans. Deborah laughs now when she tells the story. Her manuscript was the story of "a woman who marries an airline pilot in Texas. Then, when he dies in a plane crash, she runs away to a guest ranch and falls in love with a cowboy." When she showed her husband, Jack, the letter, he said, "Honey, you've managed to write a manuscript that has everything in it they don't want." Harlequin bought the manuscript five short weeks after she submitted it. At that time, her editor told her, "This book isn't a romance, but we're going to publish it, anyway."
When Debbi Bedford's first book, Touch the Sky, was released by the Harlequin Superromance line, its sales topped every Harlequin record for a first-time author. It earned rave reviews and a Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice award. During the next seven years, she published six more books for the Harlequin Superromance series and a historical novel, Blessing, before signing a contract with HarperCollins Publishers. This paved the way for her to move on to write mass-market mainstream women's fiction, where her work garnered numerous awards and appeared on the USA TODAY bestseller list. The word she uses to describe her career is "beguiling." Whenever she wrote words about Jesus or God in her stories, those spiritual overtones were never touched, edited or omitted. But, along with those words, she admits that she was writing steamy scenes. "I wanted all the reward that the world would give me," she says. "I wanted all the fame, and all the status. But I realized that I was giving away lentils in the Lord's battlefield. That's when I became convicted. The time had come for a change."
What surprises Deborah the most, she says, is the freedom she now finds in writing for her Heavenly Father. "It feels like gloriously falling forward and wondrously coming home, all at the same time," she says. The Story Jar (March 2001) written with Angela Elwell Hunt and Robin Lee Hatcher and including pieces from Left Behind author Jerry B. Jenkins, Francine Rivers, Debbie Macomber and Lori Copeland, marked Deborah Bedford's writing debut for the inspirational market. It held a spot on the CBA Bestseller list for three consecutive months. While still shopping for the right publisher for her novel-length fiction, she had the opportunity to stand up at the Jackson Hole Writers' Conference, read an excerpt from The Story Jar, and explain to conference attendees about the call she felt to leave mass-market fiction and follow the Lord. In the audience that evening was Jamie Raab, publisher of Warner Books. The rest, as everyone says, felt like stars moving into place.
When You Believe was named a finalist in the Romance Writers
It was long before she began to dream of returning to her first love, fiction writing. For her birthday in the summer of 1984, her husband, Jack, bought her a copy of the 1984 Writers' Market, and she began to meticulously send letters to every publisher listed in the book. Rejection letters flowed back by the handfuls. She has a large folder where, for posterity's sake, she has kept these to this day. She has also kept the letter from Harlequin Books she received, which invited her to submit a complete manuscript but warned her that Harlequin did not want books about cowboys, airline pilots, guest ranches or Texans. Deborah laughs now when she tells the story. Her manuscript was the story of "a woman who marries an airline pilot in Texas. Then, when he dies in a plane crash, she runs away to a guest ranch and falls in love with a cowboy." When she showed her husband, Jack, the letter, he said, "Honey, you've managed to write a manuscript that has everything in it they don't want." Harlequin bought the manuscript five short weeks after she submitted it. At that time, her editor told her, "This book isn't a romance, but we're going to publish it, anyway."
When Debbi Bedford's first book, Touch the Sky, was released by the Harlequin Superromance line, its sales topped every Harlequin record for a first-time author. It earned rave reviews and a Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice award. During the next seven years, she published six more books for the Harlequin Superromance series and a historical novel, Blessing, before signing a contract with HarperCollins Publishers. This paved the way for her to move on to write mass-market mainstream women's fiction, where her work garnered numerous awards and appeared on the USA TODAY bestseller list. The word she uses to describe her career is "beguiling." Whenever she wrote words about Jesus or God in her stories, those spiritual overtones were never touched, edited or omitted. But, along with those words, she admits that she was writing steamy scenes. "I wanted all the reward that the world would give me," she says. "I wanted all the fame, and all the status. But I realized that I was giving away lentils in the Lord's battlefield. That's when I became convicted. The time had come for a change."
What surprises Deborah the most, she says, is the freedom she now finds in writing for her Heavenly Father. "It feels like gloriously falling forward and wondrously coming home, all at the same time," she says. The Story Jar (March 2001) written with Angela Elwell Hunt and Robin Lee Hatcher and including pieces from Left Behind author Jerry B. Jenkins, Francine Rivers, Debbie Macomber and Lori Copeland, marked Deborah Bedford's writing debut for the inspirational market. It held a spot on the CBA Bestseller list for three consecutive months. While still shopping for the right publisher for her novel-length fiction, she had the opportunity to stand up at the Jackson Hole Writers' Conference, read an excerpt from The Story Jar, and explain to conference attendees about the call she felt to leave mass-market fiction and follow the Lord. In the audience that evening was Jamie Raab, publisher of Warner Books. The rest, as everyone says, felt like stars moving into place.
When You Believe was named a finalist in the Romance Writers
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 15, 2009
Best book of all time. The End.
January 14, 2021
Rating: 4 Stars!!
Review:
This was my first time reading a book by this author and my 2nd time reading a book in this Love Inspired Series so i kind of knew what to expect!!
The characters were interesting and the setting was described very well BUT i had to knock off 1 star due to the fact that the female main character's name was bugging me through the whole book, like couldnt the author pick a different name for her especially when i was so hard to say wen reading?!
That was the only thing that bothered me but other than that such a great book set in 1800s Colorado!!
Review:
This was my first time reading a book by this author and my 2nd time reading a book in this Love Inspired Series so i kind of knew what to expect!!
The characters were interesting and the setting was described very well BUT i had to knock off 1 star due to the fact that the female main character's name was bugging me through the whole book, like couldnt the author pick a different name for her especially when i was so hard to say wen reading?!
That was the only thing that bothered me but other than that such a great book set in 1800s Colorado!!
April 24, 2013
Really enjoyed this book. Even among the Love Inspired books you don't often get the interaction of someone leading another to Christ. This book had many wonderful messages in it. Trust, redemption... Great book! I would love to read more of Laura's story... I'm sure the preacher she was in love with could come back into her life... :)
September 1, 2009
Great book. I just keep reading her heartwarming, uplifting, spiritually lifting books.
Great story of a man who is wrongly accused of a crime and how he not only fights his conviction but finds love and God at the same atime.
Great story of a man who is wrongly accused of a crime and how he not only fights his conviction but finds love and God at the same atime.
July 30, 2023
This book was okay. I’d give it three-and-a-half stars. The characters were endearing, and I really liked the premise. The plot was also compelling. I loved Uley and Aaron’s relationship, even if it does seem a little far-fetched since they really couldn’t spend any significant time together. I especially loved his adoration of her hair. It was certainly heartwarming, although I do agree with another reviewer that, if Uley had been smart, she would’ve cut it years ago. And, unlike yet another reviewer, I liked the author’s creativity with Uley’s name. It was derivative of her real female name, but not obvious (ex: calling her “Bob” when her real name was “Roberta”).
Like I said, the plot was compelling, but that doesn’t mean that it was perfect. In my opinion, the story was drawn out much longer than was realistic. A snow storm delayed the judge. A three-week continuance was granted. Yada yada yada. Plus, I understand the reluctance to enter a relationship when one of them is soon to be executed, but both of the main characters were sending major mixed signals. Either be close or separate! Make a decision! I don’t know…overall, there were some story elements that made the book less than flawless.
All in all, though, and enjoyable book that I would definitely recommend.
Like I said, the plot was compelling, but that doesn’t mean that it was perfect. In my opinion, the story was drawn out much longer than was realistic. A snow storm delayed the judge. A three-week continuance was granted. Yada yada yada. Plus, I understand the reluctance to enter a relationship when one of them is soon to be executed, but both of the main characters were sending major mixed signals. Either be close or separate! Make a decision! I don’t know…overall, there were some story elements that made the book less than flawless.
All in all, though, and enjoyable book that I would definitely recommend.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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December 5, 2021a little predictable
February 6, 2013
I love book where Girls pretend to be boys and go off to war or some such. I don't know exactly why i dote on them, but I do. Aaron Brown was caught by Uley(Juila) as he was going for revenge blah blah blah. Aaron finds out Uley is a girl they fall in love blah blah blah. you now the deal. I did like this book,it was a clean book.
February 6, 2017
Cute fluffy book. Would have been 3 stars, but the hair drove me batty. A woman with common sense who isn't overly vain would have cut it instead of stuffing it into a hat to tumble out when the plot required.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 5, 2013
The transformation of the 2 characters was very well-written and I really enjoyed how the story was laid out:)
September 11, 2014
Engaging historical about a woman pretending to be a man in the 1800s
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews