The Orphans' Blessing

by Lorraine Beatty

In the wake of tragedy…can they build a future together?

Could a complete stranger
be the key to his new family?

After finally tracking down her long-lost sister only to find she’s gone, Sophie Armstrong wants to connect with her orphaned nieces and nephew. But convincing their guardian, Zach Conrad, that all she wants is a relationship with the only family she has left won’t be easy. As Sophie bonds with the children, she’s determined to win over their uncle’s trust…and possibly his heart.

Genres: Love Inspired

Mass Market Paperback

Published July 1, 2020

About the author

Lorraine Beatty was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, but now calls Mississippi home. She and husband Joe have two sons and six grandchildren. Lorraine started writing in Junior High and has written for trade books, newspapers and company newsletters. She is a member of RWA, ACFW and is a charter member and past president of Magnolia State Romance Writers. In her spare time she likes to work in her garden, travel, and spend time with her family.

Reviews

[Anna Marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh my GAWSSSSSHHHHH... this was SOOOO. BAD...!!!!

So all in the same year, Sophie's aunt dies and gives her a business and her house, Sophie's fiancé dumps her, she finds out her sister's dead, and she has to have a hysterectomy because of an infection. WoW, busy year! Anyhow, she takes the money she inherits (too?) and hires a private eye to find her sister's last location/children, puts her conveniently penned bestie in charge of her business, and goes for a MONTH to Mississippi to find/claim her family. That she's never met. That she hasn't bothered in FOURTEEN YEARS to try to find. Because it's not like sissy changed her name or anything. (She didn't.) Anyhow.

We're told Sophie is the spitting image of her sister - which the author says is the spitting image of the youngest child, Linnie. Linnie has pale blonde hair and blue eyes. Only half a dozen pages later, Sophie has hazel eyes, and on pg 30, she has light brown hair. She's also quite a bit shorter. Oh, and finer boned. Then it says Maddie always wore her hair super short, and Sophie's is down at her shoulders. THaT'S NoT ANyWHeRE *NEAR* the spitting image, hello. Gah - I hate when they can't get the description right. I mean, she looked SOOOO much like her sister, the kids freaked at the door, and the uncle was spooked. But they have totally different heights, body shapes, hair color, eye color... Riiiiiiiiiiiiight. But they're dead ringers. Except the neighbor mistakes her for a nanny, NOT the lookalike sister. ((oh, ugh.))

So she hits Mississippi, and decides to 'take over' a project that her sister wanted to do that never got off the ground, would cost a LOT in overhead to get up and running... just because three kids throw temper tantrums about wanting their mom's wish to come true. It's a free-clothing-for-people outreach, exactly like the free-clothing-for-people outreach that her sister's church does. Because the tiny town of Blessings (←NOT kidding) needs *TWO* free-clothing-for-people outreaches. R'something? It's ridiculous.

And of course there's no money for the project, so she... suddenly is putting her aunt's house and business up for sale. Because the author says so. *sigh.* Except... there's MONEY... because when the parents died, they left some for the dead sister. So, yay. We have THAT, too. Also because the author says so. And even though she's only staying temporarily, she's... hoping she can stay permanently, because FAMILY. That she hasn't had anything to do with. And no attachment to her aunt's home or business, apparently?

All of this on the FIRST DAY she's introduced to the nieces/nephew. ?!?!?!? Seriously?

Also on the SAME first day they have together after never. having. met. before, Sophie agrees to take on the three kids for their guardian uncle while he's off on a helicopter job, because (((surprise))) there's nobody else to take them, not even the nanny service has anyone. He works two weeks on, two weeks off, so you'd think he would've lined SOMETHING up, considering this is a regular thing, but no. Worse, the author insists that Sophie's only watching the kids for a week - THREE times, after that. Except his rotations are two weeks gone, two weeks home. So... the other week? What then?

This on top of the fact that he knows NOTHING about her, and he's just giving the kids to a total and complete stranger on the FIRST DAY he's spent with her. For two weeks. Does this even SOUND plausible?!

BAD. WRITING. ***sigh.***

This was a fun one, too: (Pg 81) "Evelyn Roberts was the most fastidious person Sophie had ever met. Never a hair out of place or a speck of lint or dust on her anywhere. Rachel had introduced them at church, last week." Okay, so... from ONE MEETING Sophie knows there's never a hair out of place, and that she's fastidious? Who looks for LINT on someone during a first introduction at church, for the love of Mike?!?!?!?!?! GAH, the WRITING...!!!!!

I had to stop. I made it a little over halfway, but it was horribly written. One dimensional characters, ridiculous storyline, bad dialogue, and so much contradiction, artifice, and drama - with bad parenting and little to no faith on the part of the hero. He goes to church, if that counts, but... sheesh.

Find another book. ANY other book.

[99Kylies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally, some good food.

Theological Nitpick 1: The verse 'let your yes be your yes and your no be your no' (Matthew 5:37, James 5:12, thanks google) kinda undermines the whole 'do not break your promises' conflict of half of the book.

Theological Nitpick 2: The Bridge. I was quite afraid at first that the bridge was going to be some ~magic place~ where God has to grant all wishes, but it actually came across FAR more like a place set aside for people to pray and seek God.

Only other real complaint is that I don't think I've come across one of these Love Inspired books where the characters don't go 'oh no of COURSE I'm not in love' despite it being obvious to everyone else. To be fair, though, this book did an above average job of pointing out why each character, specifically, would be like that, and that makes it far easier to swallow - Main Guy has Commitment Issues and Main Girl has just been hurt too much to let people in easily. Fair enough. Works way better for me than it normally does, thanks to strong characterization.

All in All, an above average experience for the Love Inspired books. Let Lorraine Beatty COOK, y'all.

[Elaine Applebury · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sophie finds her long lost sister, just to find out that she and her husband have passed away. They have three young children that have been left in their uncle’s guardianship. Sophie goes in search of her only family and to see if the uncle is good for them, and to them. Zach Conrad has been left to care for his brother’s orphaned children and along comes Sophie, whom nobody knew existed. Does she expect to take “his” kids away?

[Cassandra Myers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admit I have a thing about promises too, I don't refuse to forgive broken promises but it definitely makes me angry when someone breaks one and doesn't even care. And about making promises you can't keep. Enjoyed the book but lost a star when at the end they promised to always be there. They know very well accidents happen and can cut a life short in the blink of an eye. So after all the talk about making promises they can't keep to change that and make that promise at the end just irked me.

[Kaye Wingo · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book

[Sheila · Rating 2 out of 5]

ok

[Lucinda McClellan · Rating 5 out of 5]

After finally tracking down her sister only to find she is gone, Sophie Armstrong wants to connect with her nieces and nephew, but their uncle is their new guardian.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspirational romance.

[Beth Reynolds Winters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice story