A moving story about a broken marriage, broken dreams, hurting people, and bad choices. God works giving second chances and healing broken relationships as only God can do.

Harvest House Publishing, 2008
ISBN: 0736920803
Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for [.........], 10/08
4 Stars

Christian romance...

This is number three in the Big Sky Dreams series. I like this series and eagerly await book four. Jessie teaches us about our faith and about people that are not sure about theirs. When bad things happen in our lives, God is always there with us and ready to have good come out of it. God does not make the bad things happen, but he is always with us to help us through it. Sometimes we have to look beyond what is happening now and look towards the future.

The setting is Token Creek in1884. Jessie Wheeler is working in her mercantile when a stranger walks in looking for a job. She takes a chance on Seth and discovers he is a good worker he is. Eventually, they fall in love, get married, and have a little girl.
Theirs was not a happy-ever-after marriage. Problems seemed to multiply and Seth leaves. He is gone for eight years before he comes back. He has a lot of explaining to do. He didn't know he had another daughter. He wants to be part of their life. He has changed a lot in the last eight years. He has found faith in God. He wants to share that faith with Jessie.

I like Lori Wick books but usually read them as a quick read, not usually expecting alot of depth. I enjoyed the first 2 books of this series but could barely finish this book. I ended up speed reading through alot of the last part of the book. I thought that the romance of Heather detracted from the main story. The book was called 'Jessie' not 'Heather'. I did not like the way Jessie treated Seth in the beginning of their marriage and after he came back, that issue was never discussed. Overall, it could have been such a better story...

All I could think when I read Jessie was I had read this story before. If you have read Lori Wick earlier work you will have relaized that she used this excat same story line in the Rocky Moutain Memories series, in Whispers of Moonlight, except that one was better done. Lori Wick needs to stop trying to publish a book every 6 months because they are not well done, and take more time and give us a new and original story, not a recycled story in a new setting.

I am a huge Lori Wick fan, so pretty much if she writes it, I love it! She admits herself that this book kind of trickled for her and was rather difficult to write. I think in a way you can see that toward the end. I found myself a little frustrated with the main character's stubbornness and felt like the plot moved somewhat slower. However, I loved that she brought in a character from a previous series, and redeemed him so completely! I confess that I liked Seth Redding in the Yellow Rose trilogy, but I wished then that he'd come to Christ. So to have him appear in Jessie as that man made the book for me. A definite must-read for Lori Wick fans!

I, as well, have read all of Lori Wick's books. This one ranks up there with White Chocolate Moments as being not her best. I made myself finish this book because I had read the other two in the series. Another reviewer referenced the use of the word "that" in Wick's writings and it is a common theme in many of her books, but perhaps is more pronounced in this one. I was more interested in the Heather storyline than Jessie, but the book was not called "Heather." :)

At about half way through I can tell you that the story is good and fun and intriguing. But the writing is irritating. Much as I said when I reviewed Sabrina by Lori Wick, the word usage is just awkward and causes a break in concentration and overall is ruining the book. I just do not understand it either, because I have read dozens of her books and never have found this in the before Sabrina and now Jessie. It is just weird, it is the same usage of "that" in all of the weirdest places. You might have to see it, to understand what I'm talking about but it is just weird.



After being completely finished, my overall opinion is that I'm disappointed. The story has so much potential and is really pretty good, but then it just ends completely abruptly. Then most of the loose ends are wrapped up in a whirl wind in the epilogue. The usage of "that" is just odd through out, but even beyond that, I do not know it just was not the best of Lori Wick that I have read. I am not saying do not read it, because it has tons of wonderful gospel lessons and heart warming plots, there is just a strangeness to the wording and then just ending. It could have been better, but it is still an okay read.

this is a conclusion to a on going saga and it is very good book and has a very interesting ending

I have read all of Lori Wick. The first two books in this series were great. I really enjoyed them and I was looking forward to reading this one. I was very disappointed in this book. It was lousy. Jessie and her husband Seth were not charactors that I liked. How she handled what he told her about his past did not come off as real. He did not seem to care that much about what happen to her while he was gone. I did not like how the story played out. It came off as fake. I would not recommend this book to anyone.

Jessie is the 3rd book in the Big Sky Dreams series by Lori Wick. The storyline is intriguing to me as it hits close to home. My
ex-husband left me before my third child was born, so I can relate to the pain Jessie went through and the trust issues she had to deal with. The author did a great job of detailing the daily struggles...and triumphs of Jessie as she raised her girls alone.

The book is an easy read and holds your attention throughout. I really enjoyed it.