Spring of My Love

Silver Hills Trilogy #3

by Ginny Aiken

Angel Rogers is alone in the world. With both her mother and father gone, the fiery young woman is left to run Rogers Ranch on her own. Not an easy taks for anyone in 1894, especially in the midst of a drought that has nearby ranchers desperate for the water on her land.

So it is that rancher Jeremy Johnson comes to call upon Angel, hoping to strike a bargain that will allow his cattle to graze on the fertile Rogers land and drink from its sparkling waters. Instead, he finds himself increasingly drawn to Angel, and finds he wants he love more than anything else.

But to what lengths are other ranchers willing to go in order to gain access to Rogers Creek? And what is Angel willing to sacrifice to keep her ranch from falling into the wrong hands?

Ginny Aiken's growing readership will enjoy Spring of My Love as much as they loved the first two installments of the Silver HIlls Trilogy.

Genres: Christian Fiction, Christian, Romance, Historical, Historical Fiction, Westerns

272 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2005

About the author

Ginny Aiken, a former newspaper reporter, lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and their three younger sons--the oldest is married, has flown the coop, and made her a doting grandmother. Born in Havana, Cuba, and raised in Valencia and Caracas Venezuela, Ginny discovered books at an early age. She wrote her first novel at age fifteen while she trained with the Ballets de Caracas, later to be known as the Venezuelan National Ballet. She burned that tome when she turned a "mature" sixteen. An ecletic list of jobs--including stints as reporter, paralegal, choreographer, language teacher, retail salesperson, wife, mother of four boys, and herder of their numerous and assorted friends, including the 135 members of first the Crossmen and then the Bluecoats Drum & Bugle Corps--brought her back to books in search of her sanity. She is now the author of twenty-seven published works, but she hasn't caught up with that elusive sanity yet.

http://ginnyaikenwrites.com/About_Me....

Reviews

[Connie]

This was my favorite book of the series.

[Beth]

This book opens with a young woman whose hands are blistered and bleeding from digging a grave in the winter ground, to bury her deceased father next to her deceased mother, who's been with the Lord 4 years of our earthly time. The ranch is now hers. Papa had warned her to learn to use the shotgun because people would come after her for the water rights, so she continues to work the ranch as before, and says nothing about her father.
Jeremy Johnstone owns the neighboring ranch. There has been a drought the past 2 years; this is the 3rd. The stream on Angel's place gets a bigger share of the underground water source than does his. He has a choice to make: spend the money to hire hands to take the cattle to the northern pastures, keep buying feed and hope for the best, or use the money to buy out Angel. He chooses the 3rd option.
He hasn't reckoned with Angel's love of the ranch, the land, the animals that live there, and believes her overwhelmed. Plus he is thinking she has relatives to take her in and the sale will be easy - and if he succeeds, he has a chance to get rid of her papa's sheep. Jeremy raises cattle, and no cattlemen like sheep - a rivalry we can chase through history to Joseph, Jacob's 2nd youngest son, who rose from slavery in Egypt to become Prime Minister. When his family came to buy food, Pharoah invited them to stay and settle if they'd like, on condition they stayed in Goshen, since they raised sheep and goats and most Egyptians raised cattle. The rivalry was observed even in the Bible.
And so fireworks start, all kinds of them, between the rejected buyer and the unwilling seller he'd hoped to make her, from people who believe a woman has no right to own land or work it, from those jealous of her water supply and pastureland, and angry because sheep crop grass so short it takes a long time to grow back. It comes from people who think she's unnatural because she wears jeans and a shirt, as though one could muck out stalls, clean chicken coops, and deal with a couple cows and a flock of sheep in a dress. But there is a reason the Commandments tell us envy, covetousness, bearing false witness against someone (perjury and ordinary lying), are all sins. The tiniest bit of envy has grown a root of bitterness in many hearts, leading to coveting, then to false witness, and then taking God's vengeance into their own hands...to laying false trails to cover up an evil plot, to a brutal attack, and more. Settling all this is in God's hands, and the hands of His unlikely witness to the truth of the matter. Will the right kind of sparks follow the wrong type of sparks between our beleaguered protagonists? Or will what has happened drive a wedge between them and their growing ease with one another?

[kelli Myers]

Determination

To see a Godly person trust so much in the Lord is an encouraging things for young ladies to realize that they can xxx too.

[Gwen Hopkins]

A very unusual story!

So many calamities. personalities, greed, love, and lawlessness to be contained in one book. Could not stop turning the pages.

[Deb]

Another great story by Ginny Aiken! Angel is alone on the sheep ranch after her father dies. She wears pants and takes over all the chores of the ranch. Another summer of heat and no rain in Colorado. Many ranchers are losing their cattle due to these conditions. Angel has a water source that has not dried up. Jeremy has a neighboring cattle ranch. If he can’t get water and grass for his cattle, he can kiss his place goodbye. Angel won’t sell, even if men believe a woman has no place acting like a man. Some people are desperate. They will do anything, including murder, to get their hands on Angel’s ranch. Can Jeremy protect her? Will she let him? Action packed, twist and turns. Wish there were a fourth book.

[Sarah]

This is my favorite in the series I think, or is as least tied with the first book. I liked this series; the books were fast reads, yet still kept my attention throughout the stories. Overall, I loved the characters, setting, and plots. They were very well written.

[Valerie Kyle]

Another winner yet....

Cumbersome at times. It just didn't move as quickly as I like. The story meandered a bit with no resolution to the base of the story....water, drought. Love will come.

[Jeff]

Captivating

I couldn't put it down. This book had the right amount of mystery to keep my interest peaked. The references to God and reminders to have complete faith in Him no matter the circumstances was inspiring!

[Cws]

JF-YAAik

[Cindi]

Nicely written. Lots of twists and turns which kept you guessing. This was my favorite book in the series..

[Diana Curran]

It was a good series.