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From Russia With Love
Irina's father was killed by the Russian government, and now Irina goes to bed sad and hungry. Tatiana is desperate and decides that marriage to an American man will ensure her daughter's security. But when Tatiana arrives in the United States, she finds that the marriage she expected was only a cruel joke arranged by Gabe Salinger's immature twin brother. Gabe has no interest in marrying an unknown Russian woman. Still, Gabe is a good man, and he opens his home to Tatiana and her daughter—and Tatiana can't keep herself from falling in love with him. If only… As a Christian, Gabe will not marry a woman who does not believe in Christ. Tatiana, however, cannot forgive God for the loss of her husband. But if she is to stay in America, she has to marry someone… Heartsong Presents #417, February, 2001.
1 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 1, 2000
73 people are currently reading
470 people want to read
About the author
Colleen Coble
150 books6,396 followersUSAToday bestselling author Colleen Coble lives with her husband, Dave, in Arizona. She is the author of dozens of novels including the Rock Harbor Series, the Aloha Reef Series, the Mercy Falls Series, the Hope Beach Series, the Lonestar Series and two Women of Faith fiction selections, Alaska Twilight and Midnight Sea. She has more than 6 million books in print.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
January 26, 2020
Colleen Coble is one of my favorite writers . As usual this book was interesting and held my attention.
She writes with heart and always includes God in her writing. I love the fact the books are clean include history and facts about other countries.
She writes with heart and always includes God in her writing. I love the fact the books are clean include history and facts about other countries.
March 16, 2016
From Russia With Love is a contemporary Christian romance by Colleen Coble, published in 2000. This story is set initially in Russia, then in a small town in Indiana.
Tatiana Lazarenk and her three-year-old daughter Irina are barely surviving in Russia. Tatiana is a widow whose husband was killed while participating in a Christian demonstration. She doesn't earn much money in the kitchen she's working in, and sometimes Irina goes to sleep crying from hunger because they just don't have any food. Tatiana and Irina are overly thin from lack of food, and Irina appears much younger than she is due to malnutrition. Tatiana doesn't believe that God cares for her. How could he?
Tatiana decides to post on a website advertising herself as a mail order bride. Mike Salinger from America is interested . . . on behalf of his twin brother Gabe, unbeknownst to him. He visits Tatiana in Russia in Gabe's name to set the process in motion. But Mike doesn't inform Gabe until the day Tatiana's plane is scheduled to arrive because he's nervous about what he's done. Naturally, Gabe is very upset and wants nothing to do with this plan. But Tatiana feels she needs to find a husband for Irina's sake, and needs a place to stay for the length of her 90-day visa. The Salinger family feel they owe her that much.
Gabe Salinger is a strong Christian. He and his brother own an architectural company and live in a mansion with their mother and a housekeeper. Theirs is a warm, caring family. Gabe is understandably angry with his brother about the unasked-for mail order bride. Besides, he feels marrying Tatiana is not even a possibility for him since she is not a Christian!
What I liked:
*Everything else I've read by Ms. Coble is romantic suspense, which is actually not my preferred genre. I prefer straight romance. But Colleen Coble is a skilled writer, and the amount of suspense she puts in her writing is not overwhelming for me, so I keep reading her books. However, it was a real pleasure to read this story, as it is in my preferred genre!
*I really felt for Tatiana and empathized with her emotions during the story. This is unusual for me. I am almost always able to distance myself from emoting along with the characters of a book, so I think the fact that I did so in this one means that it was well-written for tugging on the heartstrings.
What I disliked:
*This is very minor, but at times I could tell that this is an earlier work of Colleen Coble. Not that it was badly written - not by any means. There were just small things here and there, that while not incorrect, I believe would be written with a bit more finesse if she wrote it today. For that reason alone, I give it 4 1/2 stars!
I recommend this story to fans of contemporary Christian romance or of clean contemporary romance who don't mind Christian references. I will be continuing to read Colleen's books and will probably try her Wyoming series next.
Tatiana Lazarenk and her three-year-old daughter Irina are barely surviving in Russia. Tatiana is a widow whose husband was killed while participating in a Christian demonstration. She doesn't earn much money in the kitchen she's working in, and sometimes Irina goes to sleep crying from hunger because they just don't have any food. Tatiana and Irina are overly thin from lack of food, and Irina appears much younger than she is due to malnutrition. Tatiana doesn't believe that God cares for her. How could he?
Tatiana decides to post on a website advertising herself as a mail order bride. Mike Salinger from America is interested . . . on behalf of his twin brother Gabe, unbeknownst to him. He visits Tatiana in Russia in Gabe's name to set the process in motion. But Mike doesn't inform Gabe until the day Tatiana's plane is scheduled to arrive because he's nervous about what he's done. Naturally, Gabe is very upset and wants nothing to do with this plan. But Tatiana feels she needs to find a husband for Irina's sake, and needs a place to stay for the length of her 90-day visa. The Salinger family feel they owe her that much.
Gabe Salinger is a strong Christian. He and his brother own an architectural company and live in a mansion with their mother and a housekeeper. Theirs is a warm, caring family. Gabe is understandably angry with his brother about the unasked-for mail order bride. Besides, he feels marrying Tatiana is not even a possibility for him since she is not a Christian!
What I liked:
*Everything else I've read by Ms. Coble is romantic suspense, which is actually not my preferred genre. I prefer straight romance. But Colleen Coble is a skilled writer, and the amount of suspense she puts in her writing is not overwhelming for me, so I keep reading her books. However, it was a real pleasure to read this story, as it is in my preferred genre!
*I really felt for Tatiana and empathized with her emotions during the story. This is unusual for me. I am almost always able to distance myself from emoting along with the characters of a book, so I think the fact that I did so in this one means that it was well-written for tugging on the heartstrings.
What I disliked:
*This is very minor, but at times I could tell that this is an earlier work of Colleen Coble. Not that it was badly written - not by any means. There were just small things here and there, that while not incorrect, I believe would be written with a bit more finesse if she wrote it today. For that reason alone, I give it 4 1/2 stars!
I recommend this story to fans of contemporary Christian romance or of clean contemporary romance who don't mind Christian references. I will be continuing to read Colleen's books and will probably try her Wyoming series next.
August 8, 2015
Living in cold, wintry Russia with barely enough to survive, Tatiana is forced to find ways to feed herself and her sweet little daughter Irina. A letter from the United States seems to be the answer--she is to be the mail-order bride to Gabe Salinger.
There's just a catch--Gabe doesn't know a thing about Tatiana yet, as it was his twin brother who answered Tatiana's ad on the website and processed the papers. Once Gabe finds out, he is furious and wishes to ship her back to Russia. His mother intervenes and tells Tatiana that she can only stay with them while they try to figure out what to do. Tatiana must find a husband, but her heart yearns towards Gabe who is so sweet and tender to Irina.
It's a modern kind of mail-order bride thing. It's only a novella, and I would have loved to learn more about that moment of change in Tatiana's life, instead of it happening so swiftly.
There's just a catch--Gabe doesn't know a thing about Tatiana yet, as it was his twin brother who answered Tatiana's ad on the website and processed the papers. Once Gabe finds out, he is furious and wishes to ship her back to Russia. His mother intervenes and tells Tatiana that she can only stay with them while they try to figure out what to do. Tatiana must find a husband, but her heart yearns towards Gabe who is so sweet and tender to Irina.
It's a modern kind of mail-order bride thing. It's only a novella, and I would have loved to learn more about that moment of change in Tatiana's life, instead of it happening so swiftly.
February 5, 2014
Tatiana is at the end of her rope. With a poor job, small apartment, no money for food after paying a woman to care for her daughter, Irina while she works and a G-d who doesn't care, she takes matters into her own hands. She places an ad on the internet for a husband in America. One man replies and gives her money to come to Indiana and decide if they wish to marry. She has 90 days to make a match.
But upon arrival all is different than she planned, including her fiance. I loved Colleen Coble's characters. They were vibrant , real people , trapped in an impossible situation. I enjoyed reading Tatiana's story and must admit that at one point I needed a kleenex. So just pour up a cup of tea and settle back for a fun read.
But upon arrival all is different than she planned, including her fiance. I loved Colleen Coble's characters. They were vibrant , real people , trapped in an impossible situation. I enjoyed reading Tatiana's story and must admit that at one point I needed a kleenex. So just pour up a cup of tea and settle back for a fun read.
August 5, 2013
This book is outstanding. I was absolutely thrilled with it.
A strong man with love for and commitment to God. Following His path when all he wants to do is not in obedience to His word.
A deep love for a woman and child. Placing it all in God's capable hands. The heartache that ensues.
What does a destitute woman do when she has no one to turn to. After all, her bitterness won't allow her to turn to the God of her dead husband and brother. Why didn't God protect them when they were standing up for the right to worship Him? Why did he let them die?
Wow, what a read!!
A strong man with love for and commitment to God. Following His path when all he wants to do is not in obedience to His word.
A deep love for a woman and child. Placing it all in God's capable hands. The heartache that ensues.
What does a destitute woman do when she has no one to turn to. After all, her bitterness won't allow her to turn to the God of her dead husband and brother. Why didn't God protect them when they were standing up for the right to worship Him? Why did he let them die?
Wow, what a read!!
April 26, 2014
I loved this story and the characters! My favorite part was when Tatiana finally saw that God was the true and only God. She realized that He died for her and rose from the grave on the third day. In this story, God opened up her eyes to see that she needs Him more than anything or anyone in this world. When she got all excited and ran to go tell Grace that she accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior was my absolute favorite part. The ending was precious as well, I loved the ending.
October 22, 2014
I gave this book two stars because I finished it and I really like Colleen Coble's other books. She is a great author but this book I didn't really like. The last few chapters repeated over and over the same theme. I find it very hard to believe that a Christian man with the principles that this character was supposed to have would act this way. Not crazy for this book but everyone should defiantly read this authors more recent novels. They are very good.
June 7, 2014
This is one of her earlier books. It was so good that I couldn't put it down. I borrowed it from Amazon Prime on my Kindle and now want to add the real thing to my collection. You know how it will probably end, but it keeps your interest to find out how it will get there. Wow, I love every book of hers that I have read.
August 20, 2010
Err...it's not as tasty as I expected. I was bored by reading it and skipped chuncks of words, if not pages, a lot. Hehehe... It's not because its badly written, no no. Maybe it's just my subjective preference... :-)
November 6, 2013
Sweet story. Easy read. Predictable ending from the get-go though.
February 3, 2014
Fairly predictable but still really cute. The characters are loveable though and you care about them and their plight.
February 23, 2014
I really liked this book!!!
February 27, 2014
This was such a sweet story. I really enjoyed it. I look forward to reading more books from this author.
July 18, 2015
not one of her better novels
January 27, 2016
I really enjoyed this book. My Daughter-in-law is from Russia and came to the USA and it reminds me of her. Her mother's name is Tatiana.
May 16, 2016
I love the Russian theme. I am always interested in the mail order bride type of thing. Interesting.
August 27, 2016
This book was very addictive. Held me captive from the start until it was done. Such a sweet story of a mother's love and a Christian man's solid faith!
September 8, 2013
Read Sept 2013 - excellent - love this author!
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews