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Shenandoah Sisters #4
Together Is All We Need
Following the Civil War, Katie, the daughter of a plantation owner, and Mayme, a young slave, formed an unlikely partnership. Despite the odds against them, they've managed to hang onto their friendship--and the plantation--while hiding the fact that they are war orphans. Through sheer grit, determination and faith, they've sheltered others, battled threats and faced danger. But what will happen to them when Katie's uncle decides to claim Rosewood as his own?
317 pages, Paperback
First published April 30, 2004
94 people are currently reading
857 people want to read
About the author
Michael R. Phillips
250 books610 followersLibrarian Note: there is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads database.
Michael Phillips has been writing in the Christian marketplace for 30 years. All told, he has written, co-written, and edited some 110 books. Phillips and his wife live in the U.S., and make their second home in Scotland.
Michael Phillips has been writing in the Christian marketplace for 30 years. All told, he has written, co-written, and edited some 110 books. Phillips and his wife live in the U.S., and make their second home in Scotland.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 99 reviews
January 31, 2014
Together Is All We Need by Michael Phillips is a wonderful book about friendship and family sticking together and sacrificing to help each other out. This is a very enjoyable coming of age series with a marvelous ending. Kathleen and Mayme not only became friends and together worked to save Kathleen's plantation and made it productive again after the Civil War, but also built a very unusual household with both blacks and whites living together under the same roof in harmony. The girls also learn from a good friend, Henry, how to trust the good Lord.
I highly recommend you read the first three books of this series first before this last one to fully appreciate it. I absolutely LOVED this historical Christian fiction series and zipped through all four books. They were enlightening, giving insight into how things were after the civil war for both whites and blacks and how even though the slaves were set free, they were still looked down upon by most. This series shows how much people can accomplish when they work together unselfishly. I look forward to reading more books by this author.
(Karen's review)
I highly recommend you read the first three books of this series first before this last one to fully appreciate it. I absolutely LOVED this historical Christian fiction series and zipped through all four books. They were enlightening, giving insight into how things were after the civil war for both whites and blacks and how even though the slaves were set free, they were still looked down upon by most. This series shows how much people can accomplish when they work together unselfishly. I look forward to reading more books by this author.
(Karen's review)
March 23, 2015
Together is All We Need is book four of the Shenandoah Sisters series by Michael Phillips. This book takes place at Rosewood Plantation in North Carolina after the Civil War. The characters are realistic and natural. The plot is simple yet has several twists you don’t see coming.
Katie Clairborne and Mayme Junks had worked diligently with Emma and Aleta to get Rosewood back on its feet. They had the help of Jeremiah and Henry who were ex-slaves. Mayme and Emma were ex-slaves with Emma having a son, William, who was about one. Aletha was the daughter of a nearby plantation owner who when he came home from the War abused his wife and child. The wife ran away with Aleta but was killed when she fell from the horse. Not knowing who she was and with Aleta not telling her last name, they could only let her stay at Rosewood.
Henry gives the girls advice when they ask for it. However, his advice is always how to ask God for his directions instead of doing things their own way. His advice is always good and it is always just what they needed.
They have managed to fool the townspeople into believing Katie’s parents were still alive with Mother running the plantation while Papa went to the North to find work. Finally after two years, they are finally being uncovered. Uncle Burchard Clairborne had come to Rosewood to find out if his brother was alive or not and if he was dead, to take over Rosewood which he felt he was entitled to. The only problems were Katie and her “family” and not being able to find the deed or a will.
Will Uncle Burchard be able to legally take over Rosewood? What will happen if he does get control? Where will everyone go? Will Uncle Templeton Daniels (Katie’s Mother’s brother) come back in time to help them? Time is running out.
Katie Clairborne and Mayme Junks had worked diligently with Emma and Aleta to get Rosewood back on its feet. They had the help of Jeremiah and Henry who were ex-slaves. Mayme and Emma were ex-slaves with Emma having a son, William, who was about one. Aletha was the daughter of a nearby plantation owner who when he came home from the War abused his wife and child. The wife ran away with Aleta but was killed when she fell from the horse. Not knowing who she was and with Aleta not telling her last name, they could only let her stay at Rosewood.
Henry gives the girls advice when they ask for it. However, his advice is always how to ask God for his directions instead of doing things their own way. His advice is always good and it is always just what they needed.
They have managed to fool the townspeople into believing Katie’s parents were still alive with Mother running the plantation while Papa went to the North to find work. Finally after two years, they are finally being uncovered. Uncle Burchard Clairborne had come to Rosewood to find out if his brother was alive or not and if he was dead, to take over Rosewood which he felt he was entitled to. The only problems were Katie and her “family” and not being able to find the deed or a will.
Will Uncle Burchard be able to legally take over Rosewood? What will happen if he does get control? Where will everyone go? Will Uncle Templeton Daniels (Katie’s Mother’s brother) come back in time to help them? Time is running out.
August 12, 2016
4.5 stars
One year has passed since Katie's and Mayme's last adventures, and things are about to change at Rosewood as Katie's Uncle Buchard pays her a visit.
I really enjoyed the heartwarming story once again, and I thought this book was a great conclusion to the Shenandoah Sisters series. The new characters are beautifully developed, and we continue to see the old ones grow.
The only thing I didn't like in this book is that, although a year has passed since the third book of the series, the characters are not a year older. That annoyed me a little... Other than that, I found the book was perfect.
I'm looking forward to reading the sequel series: Carolina Cousins!
One year has passed since Katie's and Mayme's last adventures, and things are about to change at Rosewood as Katie's Uncle Buchard pays her a visit.
I really enjoyed the heartwarming story once again, and I thought this book was a great conclusion to the Shenandoah Sisters series. The new characters are beautifully developed, and we continue to see the old ones grow.
The only thing I didn't like in this book is that, although a year has passed since the third book of the series, the characters are not a year older. That annoyed me a little... Other than that, I found the book was perfect.
I'm looking forward to reading the sequel series: Carolina Cousins!
March 22, 2011
I enjoyed this series mostly because it was two young girls surviving (and farming!) on their own. I feel like a few ends were left untied, but I enjoyed the story-line.
November 5, 2013
I have given much consideration to rating this 4 part epic saga, and decided to write a review at the conclusion of book four. One review should suffice, just as one book could easily have covered the saga.
While I should have read all the tags and been cautioned by the tag "Teenage Girls", there were many tags including "Plantation life", "Race relations", "Reconstruction". So why did I read all four? We all need a fairy tale once in a while, although I am concerned about the misinformation that "Teenage girls" are getting, and that a young mind might think this true of the post-bellum south.
Although the 14th amendment guaranteed races equal protection under the law, former slave holding states enacted laws to undermine equal treatment for African Americans, thus ensuring segregation. And yet here are two orphaned teenaged girls, one black, one white, in North Carolina, partnering up to resurrect a plantation. I was surprised that they weren't holding hands while harvesting all that cotton.
So, why did I read all four books? To be fair, they were light hearted and endearing. However, there should have been some suggestion in the synopsis that the books are really "young adult fiction", which was not one of the tags. Being a frugal reader, Kindle special $3.99, encouraged me to purchase all four books at the beginning. There seems to be a trend to lengthen one book into three or four. At sixteen dollars, who got the deal, me or Michael Phillips?
The under development of the 2 suitors would seem to ensure the content of book five.
While I should have read all the tags and been cautioned by the tag "Teenage Girls", there were many tags including "Plantation life", "Race relations", "Reconstruction". So why did I read all four? We all need a fairy tale once in a while, although I am concerned about the misinformation that "Teenage girls" are getting, and that a young mind might think this true of the post-bellum south.
Although the 14th amendment guaranteed races equal protection under the law, former slave holding states enacted laws to undermine equal treatment for African Americans, thus ensuring segregation. And yet here are two orphaned teenaged girls, one black, one white, in North Carolina, partnering up to resurrect a plantation. I was surprised that they weren't holding hands while harvesting all that cotton.
So, why did I read all four books? To be fair, they were light hearted and endearing. However, there should have been some suggestion in the synopsis that the books are really "young adult fiction", which was not one of the tags. Being a frugal reader, Kindle special $3.99, encouraged me to purchase all four books at the beginning. There seems to be a trend to lengthen one book into three or four. At sixteen dollars, who got the deal, me or Michael Phillips?
The under development of the 2 suitors would seem to ensure the content of book five.
April 9, 2014
The setting is 1860s Shenandoah, North Carolina at the Rosewood Cotton Plantation. Sixteen year old Katie Burchard and her half black cousin Mayme, have been keeping a very serious secret. Both of their families had been killed by marauders after the Civil War. Katie and Mayme, along with former slave children, have been running Rosewood all by themselves. Fooling everyone in town to think their families were still alive and well. Soon, their charade is over when Katie's uncle showed up to find out for himself what was going on and eventually finds out the truth. But when he tried to make a claim on the plantation and send Katie and her friends away, another uncle showed up with the original deed that had been signed over to him years before. Apparantly, Katie's parents knew that other uncle would come and try to make a claim.
This is a story of great human kindness, hatred, and racism. A time when blacks were very recently freed from slavery, but not by any means free. A story of determination and dedication to accomplish a sisterhood of love. This book is part of a series titled: The Shenandoah Sisters. I have not read the previous books in the series but plan to soon.
Michael Phillips is a Christian novelist who has written more than four dozen novels with sales over five million copies. This book was published in 2004 by Bethany House Publishers. I believe it was written for young adults but I enjoyed it very much.
This is a story of great human kindness, hatred, and racism. A time when blacks were very recently freed from slavery, but not by any means free. A story of determination and dedication to accomplish a sisterhood of love. This book is part of a series titled: The Shenandoah Sisters. I have not read the previous books in the series but plan to soon.
Michael Phillips is a Christian novelist who has written more than four dozen novels with sales over five million copies. This book was published in 2004 by Bethany House Publishers. I believe it was written for young adults but I enjoyed it very much.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 9, 2014
The storyline was a great improvement on the first book in this series, Angels Watching Over Me.
Katie and Mayme have managed to fool the town of Greens Crossing for over two years. They've been running Rosewood, a Southern cotton plantation, without the help of adults for most of the time. Their parents were murdered at the close of the Civil War when marauders went on a killing spree through Shenandoah. They've paid off the loans Katie's parents took out and they're sheltering a group of coloured girls who, like Mayme, have nowhere to go.
But it's all about to come crashing down. Burchard Claiborne, Katie's uncle, feels he was disinherited by his father and that Rosewood is really his. It takes him a while but eventually he discovers that Katie's parents are dead - and that, as the legal heir, he wants to take possession of the property as soon as possible. Without a copy of a deed or will, he'll have to wait sixty days... in which time, he makes it clear Katie can stay but all the coloured girls, including Mayme, have to leave.
At the last minute... no, at the last second... help arrives when it is revealed that the deed to the property is in very surprising hands.
A well-crafted finely-paced story unfortunately loses its zip towards the end when a long episode about an errant calf goes on far too long.
Katie and Mayme have managed to fool the town of Greens Crossing for over two years. They've been running Rosewood, a Southern cotton plantation, without the help of adults for most of the time. Their parents were murdered at the close of the Civil War when marauders went on a killing spree through Shenandoah. They've paid off the loans Katie's parents took out and they're sheltering a group of coloured girls who, like Mayme, have nowhere to go.
But it's all about to come crashing down. Burchard Claiborne, Katie's uncle, feels he was disinherited by his father and that Rosewood is really his. It takes him a while but eventually he discovers that Katie's parents are dead - and that, as the legal heir, he wants to take possession of the property as soon as possible. Without a copy of a deed or will, he'll have to wait sixty days... in which time, he makes it clear Katie can stay but all the coloured girls, including Mayme, have to leave.
At the last minute... no, at the last second... help arrives when it is revealed that the deed to the property is in very surprising hands.
A well-crafted finely-paced story unfortunately loses its zip towards the end when a long episode about an errant calf goes on far too long.
August 20, 2012
I enjoyed this series very much. In this book, the girls had to tell people what happened to their families. Katies Uncle Templeton who is also Maymes (Mary Ann) father, decides he wants to learn how to be a plantation owner, so he goes away to fix some unfinished business and ends up in jail for a while for being a con man. In the mean time, another one of Katies Uncles (her fathers brother) comes to town and tries to take the plantation away from the girls and makes all the colored people leave. Just in the nick of time, one of Katies other uncles (Ward), the one she thought was dead and she had spent all his gold, shows up and has the deed to the plantation that shows HE's the rightful owner. All the colored people get to come back, Katie and Uncle Ward get Uncle Templeton out of jail and everyone lives happily ever after. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who would like fast easy reading with a lot of spiritual influence.
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July 31, 2016Following the Civil War, Kate, the daughter of a plantation owner, and Mayme, a young slave, formed an unlikely partnership. Despite the odds against them, they have managed to hang onto their friendship and the plantation, while hiding the fact that they were orphans. Kate's uncle Clairborne, her father's brother shows up claiming the plantation belongs to him now that his brother is dead. Kate and Mayme do not like this uncle and but know there is nothing they can do. But soon another uncle comes, Kate's mother's brother, Templeton Daniels and then another uncle Ward Daniels. They prove Clairborne is not the owner. But can they prove it?
March 20, 2017
I enjoyed reading about the two main characters in this book. They were very brave young girls who grew up to be very strong young women. This was a well written Christian novel series. I suggest that you read all four books in the order that they were written. I am very interested in reading about what happened during the Civil War and afterward. It is very hard to see what the people in the North and the South had to go through. The author did a good job portraying the devastation of war and what people had to do to survive. With God all things are possible. I will read more books by this author.
March 22, 2014
This is the fourth and last book in the series. Now I know why they have so many 5 stars! They are great! A review of all 4 books in this series. Wow! What a fantastic story. Quite different than any I've read so far. Set in the 1800's, during one of the most famous raids, children are left alone to fend for themselves. This shows exactly what it was like during these times. Clear characters & smoothly written. Each book just keeps on getting better. A huge thank you to the author for these great books.
November 5, 2014
This is the best of the books in the series. The determination of Katie and God's love shown towards Mayme and her father Templeton is something amazing. And the display of love among the family though not blood related shows us all we owe one another is love no matter who the person is. I enjoyed the storyline though to some it may seem meaningless but it has so many hidden lessons you just have to read between the lines to get it. Michael Philip has done real good with this and I'll defo be reading the second series.
November 25, 2009
I could tell that there was a prequel to this and perhaps if I had read that it would have been more involving. The plot was good but everything was "dumbed down". I almost quit multiple times.
Two young women, 16 & 17?, for the last two years, since their whole families were killed after the Civil War, have taken over the plantation and raised a crop and paid off debts, etc (First Book?). Now their Uncle has found out and is taking over the plantation.
Two young women, 16 & 17?, for the last two years, since their whole families were killed after the Civil War, have taken over the plantation and raised a crop and paid off debts, etc (First Book?). Now their Uncle has found out and is taking over the plantation.
May 27, 2014
To bad that even today for some people the color of your skin is the first thing that is noticed. If more people took the courage that God can give them and looked at a person for what is said and done, we could change the world, on neighborhood at a time.
At church those of us who sit in the same pew each week, became our own little family that now gets together all the time.
I really enjoyed reading this series.
At church those of us who sit in the same pew each week, became our own little family that now gets together all the time.
I really enjoyed reading this series.
February 9, 2014
I enjoyed yet another book in this series. More of the family is brought together on the plantation, which becomes more successful, and the family bonds and friendship grow stronger. Most of the community frowns on the white families friendliness to the colored members of their close knit group. The family bands together to get uncle Templeton out of jail. The cotton crop pays well, and the family starts paying the colored members whom they have included in their family group.
May 13, 2014
In this 4th installation of the series, Mayme and Katie are still holding their own. Unbeknownst to them, a chance meeting between their local banker and a long lost relative will endanger the precarious balance they have found in caring for each other, those who are staying with them, and the plantation they call home. A unique blend of faith, family, and hard work, and told from the perspective of Mayme's character, I have enjoyed these very much!
August 25, 2014
The 4th and final book in the Shenandoah Sisters series. The lives of Mayme and Katie continue on the Rosewood plantation. More family members are introduced, and the girls work hard to hold on to the land, even when the towns people find out they've been running it alone for 2 years. It was worth reading all the books in the series, although I don't think any one of them could stand alone without the context of the others.
May 7, 2015
i loved this book or i should say series. it was like i knew all the characters and was right there with them. i loved the two young girls and how they took care of everyone and worked hard to keep the house going and their secret. i loved how the girls came to be cousins, and katies uncles finally came to them. God is good. i will be reading the continuation of katie in another series. thanks.
March 18, 2011
A sequel to the historical fiction, The Color of Your Skin, by the same author. Very well written. It's fascinating to see how people used to live and what they had to do to survive. I really liked the love that developed between the characters and how they became a real family, when their families were all taken from them.
April 2, 2014
After nearly two years of avoiding detection, Mayme and Katie face the serious possibly of losing the plantation they have fought to keep and love as their home. More obstacles face them in this fourth book of the Shenandoah Sisters, but in the end their unique family is together again. This insightful, page-turner continues with the Carolina Cousins Series.
September 17, 2013
First book series I've ever finished. I couldn't wait to read what happens next. Very simple, relaxing reading. Not hard to follow and good story. It was a good change from the other books I've read recently.
March 24, 2014
Loved the writing, the historical background, and the story. This Young Adult book is a page turner that I recommend to teens and adults alike. Shatters the prejudice of that time era and culminates with love and respect as being paramount to all human relationships.
May 17, 2014
One of Kathleen's uncles tries to take ownership of Rosewood. Another uncle saves the day. Will Kathleen's uncles accept the colored people at Rosewood as part of the "family"? All of the people at the plantation learn to work together and love each other no matter what color they are.
January 12, 2015
A great book
With this being the last of the series, I felt I got to know the families very well. I love the way it ended. This series is wonderful. It is heart warming and exciting.
With this being the last of the series, I felt I got to know the families very well. I love the way it ended. This series is wonderful. It is heart warming and exciting.
August 25, 2016
I love that good things finally happened for these two girls, that they discovered family. This book has a happily-ever-after ending that put a huge smile on my face. Well written; thoroughly enjoyed!
June 13, 2009
This was the final book in this series. It was good too but still left a few things hanging. I think another series follows this one. I'll have to find out!
June 19, 2012
A trifle irritating as it is written in the first person but about her friend (cousin). And could have been written more effectively in fewer pages I believe. A nice Hallmark sort of story.
October 10, 2012
This is the last book in a Michael Phillips series. It was nice to have a happy ending. It was a good book, but not as good as the first two.
May 10, 2013
The story continues, must read
February 24, 2013
excellent series!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 99 reviews