What a wonderful ending to a wonderful book!One thing that I am really enjoying about the Love Comes Softly series is they're a lot more spiritual then the newer Christian fiction. I'm glad Janette is not afraid to write boldly about her faith. I miss that in a lot of books today. Faith-wise this is one of the best series I've read.The rest of the stuff in there is great too – the romance, the action, the community, the over-all plot, characters, and setting. Janette Oke is a very talented author.I believe I laughed and cried in this one.Well, gonna cross over into my spoiler zone. If you haven't read this series yet, you probably don't want to keep reading.(*SPOILER ALERT!!!*)I actually got a bit annoyed at Marty in this book. She acted so strange when she found out that she was pregnant again. She was all ashamed and embarrassed and thought her family wouldn't want the baby. I was like, “Marty! It's a baby! And just look at your family. They would never reject a baby, especially not yours! She'll be cuddled and spoiled not ignored.” Yeah, I thought that part was a little weird. Glad she returned to her senses.Other than that part, Marty was awesome, as usual. She was sweet, kind, and considerate. I can't believe she's getting... well, older. Time is going by way to fast! She was nineteen one minute and then celebrating her forty-second birthday the next! Oh, where does the time go?Clark was, of course, the same strong, wonderful, compassionate, sweet, drop-dead gorgeous, perfect guy that is too awesome to be realistic. Yeah, he's a sweetie. I so wish I could just step right into a book and enter the world of it. I would love to meet all the characters, and experience the life, and enjoy the family. If I was in there, I would love to marry any one of Marty and Clark's boys! They are all so sweet and loving!There was one other part that I thought was a little strange in there. Marty and Clark are pretty perceptive. They notice when something is bothering someone or if someone is keeping a secret. But they were totally lost with Lane and Ellie! They didn't notice a single spark!Ellie was a great girl. I thought that was so sweet how she refused to marry her love because of the heartache it would cause her Mama. So considerate! She was a great help to Marty and to all of them. She'll be a wonderful housewife. Though I am sad that she's moving away. I probably won't hear much about her anymore.Lane was wonderful. So sweet and shy and considerate and kind. It was so cute how he was so in love with Ellie. They're perfect together. His inheritance took me totally by surprise – him too from the sound of it! I'm glad he was in there. I was hoping I'd see more of him.Clare and Kate. Clare was so sweet and playful, and Kate completely compliments him with her bright and friendly personality. I was a bit surprised at how swiftly she latched onto Marty as her mother – that was sweet. But oh, how utterly tragic! They were so eagerly looking forward to their baby. (That's where I cried.) But I'm so glad they were able accept and move on. It's a hard thing to do.Nandry – I'm glad she was able to let go of her hurt and bitterness and turn back to God. She's such a kind and sensitive girl.I wish I was able to hear more about Clae and her romantic preacher husband. I do hope they come back to Marty and Clark soon.I wish it had more of Luke too. He was the youngest for a long time and he seems like a really sweet kid. Wonder if he's gonna get married.I'm also dying to know more about Missie and Willie's new baby. All I know is her name is Melissa Joy and all the ranch hands love her.Baby Belinda is such a sweet little thing. And she is going to be so spoiled. But I know that Clark and Marty will raise her to be a kind, God-fearing young woman. One that'll have the boys come calling.The new preacher sounds like a real cutie. So wise, and sincere, and kind. I'm glad he went to Clark for advice. I couldn't have picked a better person.Ma Graham – Oh, that was so sad about Ben! I was totally not expecting that! I hit me utterly by surprise. I had no idea he had heart problems. Poor Ma!I don't know if any of you readers have noticed, but I have no idea where they live! All I know is the Davises are west and the LaHayes are even more west. I wish it'd give me the name of a state or something.
Janette Oke does such a wonderful job with this series of books. (It's overall a tie with this series and the Abram's Daughter's series by Beverly Lewis.) If you enjoy Pioneer life and reading about other that struggle in life but have that Faith in God that things will be okay then you will fall in love with Marti and what started out as a marriage of convenience but soon turns into love as Love Comes Softly. For those of you who have watched the movies and enjoy them TRUST me you will FALL IN LOVE with the books! Movies are only very loosely based on the books which at first I couldn't watch 'cause I was so aggravated due to the movies being so off from the books. But I did watch them and they are very nice to watch but you have to not try and remember the books as you watch. The series is wonderfully written and the more you read the more you will want to read so make sure you have the next book handy when you get about half way through the one you are reading
What do You think about Love's Unending Legacy (2004)?
Fifth in the "Love Comes Softly" series about a family in the pioneer days in the USA. In this book, Marty and Clark return from their long visit out west to see Missie and family, after a terrible accident that left Clark with only one leg. Marty takes a long time to recover from the journey, prompting her family to worry about her. Meanwhile, their son Clare and his wife Kate anticipate the birth of their first baby, and their youngest son Luke prepares to leave for medical college. Only Ellie is left at home, and when Ellie falls in love she can't imagine how she could ever break her mother's heart by leaving too.It's very light Christian fiction, but the characters somehow get under my skin and I found myself with tears in my eyes two or three times as I read this book. Easy reading that's somehow difficult to put down.
—Sue
I read this book to my wife - it's one of the few things that we can do together. It is another Janette Oke book. It centers upon Clark and Marty after they return home from a visit with their oldest daughter, Missie and her husband Willie out "west". Marty discovers that she is pregnant and that, along with the romance of their youngest daughter, Ellie, becomes the underlying theme for the remainder of the book. This was book 5 of the series and because of the final chapter, It seemed that this was planned to be the final book of the series, but there are more. I have book 6 on hold at the library, so we will see what more there is in the life of Clark and Marty.
—Allan67
I'm going through and re-reading the whole series. In 2012 I only read 6/8 of the books. My goal is to read all 8 this year. I really like the pacing of this book. In many of the books I feel like you miss big chunks of time (especially #2 which covered more than a decade and would skip years at a time). This one covers a year and doesn't skip large chunks of time. SPOLIER: I really appreciate the honesty Marty had with regards to pregnancy. It's not always easy having a surprise baby. One thing that kind of surprised me though is I did the math and Luke would have been born when Marty was 27/28 years old. Marty is 43 in this book with her surprise child. How did she not have children for 17 or so years? Not saying it couldn't happen, but she had all her other kids in quick succession and there is no talk of pregnancy issues or child loss. I suppose the reader is to assume she had issues, but one thing I would have liked to see in this series is more talk of child loss/ infant mortality since it was at a high percentage. Yes, there are a few families mentioned who have had issues in this series but in order to reflect reality it should have been pretty much every family. Another thing that isn't talked about enough is disease (although it seems like books 6-8 will get into that more-we’ll see). Diseases like cholera, dysentery, smallpox, measles, mumps, TB, and so many others were super common and "normal" back then, yet I hear nothing of them in the first 5 books. Once again, in order to reflect reality better it should have been much more prevalent in the books. Going back to this book though, even though it is more romance-y than any of the books before it (I am not a big romance buff) I do like this book better than some of the other ones in the series. Unlike the movies the series is based off of, it is not cheesy and when discussing Ellie's relationship, although there is a lot of emotion, it comes from very practical problems which I can appreciate instead of scoff at. Also, this is the first book in the series that didn't have a big "plot hole" (see my other reviews to understand what I mean) so that's awesome.
—Kristal
