Lamp in Darkness

Seattle #1

by Colleen L. Reece

Danger pursues a heartbroken nurse

Scoffers said the Seattle hospital could never be built. God and Nicholas Fairchild knew better. Now doctors and nurses follow in Jesus’ footsteps and bring healing to body, mind, and soul

Although Jonica Carr is a respected RN, the heart of a frightened little girl beats beneath her uniform. Jonica has dreamed of finding love for ten long years. Yet sometimes the troubled nurse wonders if she can ever get off the past and on with the future.

Chief Surgeon Paul Hamilton recognizes Jonica’s worth in and out of the OR. He determines to shatter the wall Jonica has built to avoid again being hurt. Paul’s plans are thwarted by a vindictive woman determined to win his love at any cost.

Feeling betrayed once more, Jonica flees from the man she has learned to love and trust. Will God use an accident, a blizzard, and a Lamp in Darkness and bring Jonica home to Shepherd of Love Hospital—and to Dr. Hamilton?

231 pages, Hardcover

First published December 3, 2008

About the author

COLLEEN L. REECE writes under the pen name Connie Loraine and is one of Heartsong's most popular authors. Colleen learned to read beneath the rays of a kerosene lamp. The kitchen, dining room, and her bedroom in her home near the small logging town of Darrington, Washington, were once a one-room schoolhouse where her mother taught all eight grades! An abundance of love for God outweighed the lack of electricity or running water and provided the basis for many of Colleen's 140+ books.

Her rigid "refuse to compromise" stance has helped sell more than 6 million copies that help spread the good news of repentance, forgiveness, and salvation through Christ. Colleen helped launch Barbour Publishing's Romance Reader flip books, the American Adventure series, and her own Juli Scott Super Sleuth Christian teen mystery series. In 1998 Colleen was inducted into the HeartSong Hall of Fame in recognition for her contribution to Heartsong's success.

Reviews

[Nadine Keels · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jonica is excited about her new nursing position at Shepherd of Love, a private hospital. But certain dark aspects of her past still haunt her and may threaten any future she could possibly have with Paul, a surgeon Jonica assists in Lamp in Darkness by author Colleen L. Reece.

On continues my journey through ChristFic old and new as well as my revisits to certain books in general. I first read this novel maybe more than twenty years ago in a romance collection called Seattle.



While I recall that the romantic storylines weren't what I liked most about the collection, there was a family matter in one of the novels that I found unforgettable. Besides that, I loved the Puget Sound setting. I loved the soft blue, hazy evening atmosphere and prominence of the Space Needle on Seattle's book cover as well as the smell of the collection's pages. And most of all, I loved the significant prologue in Lamp in Darkness that explains how Shepherd of Love Hospital came to be.

Yet, aside from that prologue (which I've reread several times over the years), I didn't enjoy my second reading of the novel. While the story gives hospital details and introduces the other nurses who'll have their own books later on in the series, there's barely any romantic development—barely even any interaction between the two main characters—through more than the first third of this story. But then by the halfway mark, the two characters are suddenly in love. Many of the story's events are rushed or skipped over, the villain is overdone, and the escalated conflict depends on a plot device I've never cared for: a character jumping to conclusions and taking drastic measures when simple communication could have resolved the issue in a few sentences.

Also, it's rare that I describe any ChristFic as "preachy," since readers often use the term to single out religious fiction even though any fiction can be preachy on any topic when an author detracts from storytelling to drive home a point. Still, through much of this novel, the narrative and characters use "Christianese" in nearly every other sentence or paragraph.

The novel is not only a romantic fairy tale but a spiritual fairy tale, which one character even points out at the end, saying, "It's such a pat ending it sounds like a novel where the author works everything around so everyone has a 'happily ever after.'" To which another character adds a faith explanation and (mis)applies a scripture to make it sound like everything in life will always turn out happily for Christians who obey God.

Of course, that simply is not the case.

Even so, I'm still fond of the prologue for nostalgic reasons along with its depiction of people moving forward with a goal to bring great help to fellow human beings, even when the goal sounds impossible.

And because I still want to revisit the family matter that I never forgot from (I think) the second novel, I'll be rereading at least one more book in this series.

[China Daniels]

I would have to give this book a 5 star review. The reason behind this choice is that God works in his own way. You either have God in your life or you don't. Lamp In Darkness is that kind of book, it shows you that a simple dream from God can turn into a reality.

We meet Nicholas Fairchild an man in his sixties that has just that a dream from God. He is to build a hospital that will help anyone and everyone. You don't have to worry about paying medical bills if your not able to pay. God provides them with everything that is needed. Nicholas calls a meeting at his house on Christmas Eve for investors and a few selected others. Once the story spreads about how he wants to build the hospital, a donation comes in for land that the hospital is to be built on but only on one condition the land donor is to have a residency in the hospital.
Shepard of Love is now open and in full swing. All the hospital personal are Christians. Staff have a chance to live in a special section of the Hospital that is just for them. You find that the Nurses Pray before each shift and pray for the patients that comes thru the doors.

As time passes we meet Jonica Carr a night charge nurse that has captured the heart of Dr. Paul Hamilton, but his past and her past are so very different. Jonica learns that if she wants a future with Paul she must forgive the past. Paul's ex Lacy has chose to leave her husband to win his heart back. Paul only have feelings for Jonica and Lacy tries to destroy that.

After Lacy shows Jonica a note that Paul wrote about a fundraiser that she wanted to do in order to help Paul. Paul and his dad went to see Nicholas Fairchild about opening up Shepard of Love Sanctuary in the heart of Seattle for the poor. Jonica leaves before Paul can tell her the truth and soon finds herself in a snow storm. She finds a light that is in a cabin, and chose to follow it. Once she comes to the cabin she meets Sarah who in turn helps her find God's love and discovers that she needs God more then ever. By the end of the book you will feel God's love.

[Gloria]

As a series, the whole series was too dramatic for my preferences.