Sisters of Mercy Flats (Volume 1)

Sisters of Mercy Flats by Lori Copeland was a great read and provided me with several good laughs and the author's descriptions of all the action taking place provided lots of good, clean entertainment.

The three beautiful McDougal sisters, Anne-Marie, Amelia, and Abigail, can unscrupulously separate a man from his money as quick as a wink and then have no regrets about their actions. Their justification is that they give half the money to the mission where they grew up as orphans. The sisters, dressed as nuns, pull one too many swindles and find themselves in an enclosed wagon on the way to jail. A band of Indians attack the wagon and in the ruckus, the wagon plunges down a ravine. Three men on horseback come from three different directions at the sound of the attack and when they climb to the bottom of the ravine they are surprised to see three nuns in the jail wagon. At the sound of more Indian warriors approaching, Anne-Marie is grabbed by a Crow Indian, Amelia is rescued by a man named Morgan Hale and poor Abigail is left at the mercy of Mr. Hershall Digman, an awkward and seemingly incompetent shoe salesman who seems to spend most of his time trying to keep his bowler hat from blowing away. When they stop for the night, Abigail steals his horse and rides to the nearest town where she finds secret papers in Digman's saddlebags and her first thought is that he is a Confederate spy. The man who comes riding after Abigail is definitely not a clumsy shoe salesman but a handsome Army Captain and he will do just about anything to get his papers back. Abigail just wants a ride home but she has to team up with the captain so that he can carry out his mission. They have absolutely no trust in each other and neither trusts God any longer, feeling that He has abandoned them.

Since historical western romance is one of my favorite genre of book, I thoroughly enjoyed every word of this book. There was quite a bit of suspense in the story and at many times the action going on was frightening. The romance in the story was partly one-sided and was on again off again but was a most enjoyable addition to the story. The dialogue, plot, characters, and scenes were so well developed that I was living the story right along with Abigail. I found the story to be most inspiring for even when everything seemed lost for Abigail and the captain, God's faithfulness was ever present.

I would recommend this book to everyone who likes historical fiction that takes place in the west and has the added interest of it being set during the Civil War and also contains a good romance story as well. The book was not written as a comedy but I had some great laughs at the antics of the three sisters and the bumbling shoe salesman. I hope that the author writes two or at least one more book to let us know what happened to the other two sisters, Anne-Marie and Amelia.

I received this book free from Harvest House Publishers through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Sisters of Mercy Flats didn't take the usual turn of events that I have come to expect. It was unique and completely fun. Lori Copeland is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

At the beginning of the book I thought I knew who was going to take the lead in the story. I, however, was mistaken. With three sisters though, I do expect that at some point we will get their stories as well. This one was about Miss Abigail who was picked up by the most unlikely hero.

Of all the crazy things that happened in the story on their journey, I love how God turned the whole mess into a happy ending. Some thoughts I took away from the tale: If we can do all that we can and then get ourselves out of the way, He can take care of what we cannot. That sometimes what we see as a little white lie or small bluff is still a lie just the same. We cannot justify them. We can choose, however, to speak truthfully, even if it means trouble for us. It is also hard to see the big picture God has in mind when life seems out of control. But this I know: things won't go perfectly, but in the midst of it all God is always good!

***Thank you Harvest House Publishers for the free book in exchange for my honest review.***

I rarely give a book one star but I have to say that this book was so boring that I could only get through chapter seven. The first chapter seems to be written well with a lot of wit and humor but then the book just stays at a stand still with no chemistry between the main characters. I found myself skipping page after page because it was redundant.

I've read a few books by this author and have enjoyed them, but this is one I wish I hadn't read. It's the first of three books (and, unfortunately, I had bought all three). All three are poorly written. Character development is weak. I gave this two stars instead of the one-star rating for the other two books because the story line was just a little interesting. My advice would be to skip these fluff books. There are other romance books out there that are actually good literature.

"I thought you weren't in the market for a husband." "Well, I didn't think I was either, . . . . . . but then you came along and . . . . ."

This clever, humorous, and most entertaining story begins with a laugh and ends with a bang! "Sisters of Mercy Flats" is so much more story than initially meets the eye. For instance, take one beguiling not-so-nun girl and match her up with one determined not-what-he-appears-to-be man and the sparks fly high and wide from the minute they meet.

Abigail McDougal is beautiful on the outside and conniving on the inside, and it appears that her life of trickery has caught up with her. While on the way to prison with her two sisters, an Indian raid causes their runaway wagon to dump all three into the hands of very unlikely heros; Abigail just happens to land with Mr. Hershall Digman; an odd sort of shoe salesman.

Hershall Digman, is in fact, Captain Barrett Drake, a Confederate spy. When Abigail literally runs off with his intelligence documents; the chase is on . . . . and on . . . . . and on . . . . landing these two strangers into endless situations that have them second-guessing everything that they once held dear.

What a great story! It's fortunate that there are two more to go with it!

We start the story off with the three sisters Abigail, Amelia, & Anne-Marie together, and we are briefly introduced to each of them, however after an accident happens, they are split up. I am so glad that this split happened, it would have been hard to keep up with all three stories at once. After a brief farewell to two sisters, our attention is brought to Abigail.

Abigail is a fun character! She is smart, but also sneaky, a bit of a liar, trickster, a blatant thief, and she has sharp whit about her that can easily be perceived as sarcasm. She is flawed. She isn't perfect and she knows it. She also knows that she just wants her sisters back. Getting back isn't as easy as she hoped though. Her rescuer Hershall Digman is just as much as a con artist as she is, but for political cause. He is not meek or mild and a good balance for Abigail's willful ways. Both of the star characters are flawed, they each have their own problems with faith and their weakness tends to guide them at times. And in its own way, it is refreshing to read about them, they feel real. The things Abigail says in her rants or in sarcasm remind me of something I would say.

The Sisters of Mercy Flats is set during the Civil War and even though this was a very hard time in history, Lori Copeland was able to give it a lightness to it, which can be hard considering a depressing time. She was also able to capture the openness and grandness of Texas in her descriptions of the landscape. You can also tell that Lori Copeland has done significant research on the political climate of Texas and The South during this time from conversations between characters and I was happy to read it.

The Sisters of Mercy Flats was a fun story for me read and it was hard to put down!

Thank you to Harvest House Publishers for this free book for my honest review.

Not the best story I've read from her.

It has been quite some time since I read a book by Lori Copeland. One thing I have always appreciated about her books is that they not only have romance but humor is always part of the mix. I wasn't disappointed with her newest release Sisters of Mercy Flats. I would like to say that this book is a revision of Ms. Copeland's Promise Me Today for Christian readers. Promise Me Today was originally published in October 1992. When I began reading Sisters of Mercy Flats I realized that I had started reading Promise Me Today back when it first came out but I don't recall ever reading it all the way through.

Sisters of Mercy Flats is the first book of a three book series which tells the story of each McDougal sister, Abilgail, Amelia and Anne-Marie. These young women were orphaned when they were young and raised in the orphanage in Mercy Flats, Texas. When the story begins the women are grown and we find them conniving but beautiful women that would swindle a man out of his last dollar just for the money to get buy and to send some back to the orphanage to help support the place they called home.

The story takes place in Texas in 1864, the three women, dressed as nuns, have been arrested and are being hauled into town to be dealt with when a warring party of young Comanche braves attacks the jail wagon. They simply want the horses but they kill the drivers in order to secure their desired prize. Three men see the event unfold before their eyes and they realize they need to act in haste to save the nuns before the warring party returns. In rides Hershall Digman, a dapper-Dan shoe salesman who rescues Abigail, Morgan Kane who rescues Amelia and a Crow Indian who rescues Anne-Marie. The three men decide it is best if they split up and so as they part ways, Amelia yells to her sisters to remember Church Rock. So begins the wonderful series of Sisters of Mercy Flats.

The first book is the story of Abigail and Hershall. But is Hershall his real name and is he really a shoe salesman? Just as Abigail is pretending to be a nun, Hershall has secrets of his own that could mean life or death for the Confederacy. As the story unfolds we observe these two living a lie. As the story moves forward, Abigail begins to realize she needs to stop her conniving ways and turn back to God. There isn't a real strong Christian theme beating the reader over the head, but it is strong enough that the story is relayed quite nicely that how we act reflects who we are in the Lord. There is also some humor salted between the pages that is just enough.

I would highly recommend Sisters of Mercy Flats to anyone who wants a good clean historical read set against the backdrop of the Civil War.

On a 5-Star scale - 5 Stars!!!!!

I would like to thank Harvest House for my copy of Sisters of Mercy Flats. I received my copy for free in order to read and give my honest review, which I have done.

My interest in this book: I liked the cover and description of the book. Right from the start the story takes off so I thought I'd give it a try.

Ideas expressed/message/plot: Three sisters (orphaned) deceive/swindle unsuspecting men out of money to support the mission they were raised in. This book leans toward hearing God in our circumstances, seeing who people really are. Civil war/South.

Favorite characters, quotes/lines: "Never met an atheist on the battle field."

When I finished this book I felt: glad that there is another one to read! This was a fun, light read; Hallmark quality story. Really, it felt like a Saturday night, cute Hallmark movie to watch just to unwind from the week.

Overall: I give this story 4 stars, good for anyone teen+.

Other books to read by this Author or theme: I have not yet read any of her other books but I do plan to continue with this series. Other books with the Civil War theme? I love MaryLu Tyndall's [[ASIN:1616265965 FORSAKEN DREAMS (Escape to Paradise)]], though that is post-civil war.

This book had me laughing from the beginning. It was so much fun to read!