A Refuge Assured

Jocelyn Green inspires faith and courage as the award-winning author of numerous fiction and nonfiction books, including The Mark of the King and Wedded to War, both Christy Award finalists, and The 5 Love Languages Military Edition, which she coauthored with best-selling author Dr. Gary Chapman.
Jocelyn lives with her husband and two children in Iowa.
You can connect with Jocelyn through her website, Facebook, and Twitter.

Fleeing one revolution to the aftermath of another, she seeks and dreams of peace.

Lacemaker Vivienne Rivard imagined her craft could threaten her life.  Yet in revolutionary France, it is a death sentence when the nobility, and those associated with them, are forced to the guillotine.  Vivienne flees to Philadelphia, but danger lurks in the French Quarter, as revolutionary sympathizers begin to suspect a young boy left in her care might be the Dauphin.  Can the French settlement Asylum offer a permanent refuge?
Militiaman Liam Delaney proudly served in the American Revolution, but now that the new government has imposed an oppressive tax that impacts his family, he barely recognizes the democracy he fought for.  He wants only to cultivate his hard-won farm near Asylum, but he soon finds himself drawn into the escalating tension of the Whiskey Rebellion.  When he meets a beautiful young Frenchwoman recently arrived from Paris, they are drawn together in surprising ways to fight for the peace and safety for which they long.

My Thoughts:
With rich historical detail and well-developed characters, Green's A Refuge Assured is absolutely stunning.  Vivienne and Liam's story captures the readers' hearts in the first line of the prologue and holds it close to the final sentence.  
I particularly was drawn to Green's ability to make me feel the story with lines like...

"She should be numb to this by now, the way skin exposed to cold eventually lost feeling.  Instead, the repetition did not dull the pain but increased it, like the lashing of flesh already filleted."

or...

"In that gentle way of hers, Tante Rose served her a cup of sipping chocolate aong with the reminder that creating was a form of worship.  'God is the Creator, is He not?' she had said with a smile.  'So when we create, evenif it is a mere length of lace and not the stars in the heavens, we honor Him.  We bear His likeness when we work.'"

and...

"The dark grew less frightening as he learned to look for the light.

Green capture's the tumultuous time period with cultural expressiveness in the dialogue between the characters.  I felt like I was there.  And the history lesson is superb!

A Refuge Assured is a story of promise and purpose, a story of finding asylum...refuge...in The One Who is our refuge, and a story of living into the purpose set before you and not allowing that purpose to be thwarted by circumstances.

*I received a complimentary copy of the book.  All opinions stated here are my own.

Blessings,
Jennifer