Book Review: Stealing The Preacher

Author: Karen Witemeyer

Publication Date: June 1, 2013
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Series: Archer Brothers # 2

On his way to interview for a position at a church in the Piney Woods of Texas, Crockett Archer can scarcely believe it when he's forced off the train by a retired outlaw and presented to the man's daughter as the minister she requested for her birthday. Worried this unfortunate detour will ruin his chances of finally serving a congregation of his own, Crockett is determined to escape. But when he finally gets away, he's haunted by the memory of the young woman he left behind--a woman whose dreams now hinge on him.

For months, Joanna Robbins prayed for a preacher. A man to breathe life back into the abandoned church at the heart of her community. A man to assist her in fulfilling a promise to her dying mother. A man to help her discover answers to the questions that have been on her heart for so long. But just when it seems God has answered her prayers, it turns out the person is there against his will and has dreams of his own calling him elsewhere. Is there any way she can convince Crockett to stay in her little backwoods community? And does the attraction between them have any chance of blossoming when Joanna's outlaw father is dead set against his daughter courting a preacher?

 

What in heaven’s name did the girl want with a preacher, anyhow? Did she have some potential husband tied up inside the house waiting to be hitched? Poor wretch had probably been kidnapped, too. Gagged and chained to the stove, no doubt.

 

Part of him wished she was indeed the Joe he’d imagined. At least then he could fight his way free. Her being a woman complicated matters. And this ridiculous situation was complicated enough already.

 

“He’s a good-hearted man.” She rushed to add, “Truly,” before he could dispute the point. “My father might not open himself up to many, but when he does, he gives his all. You should have seen the way he loved my mother. She softened him, he said. Made him laugh. Made him a better man. I tend to think he was always a good man; he just needed someone to believe in him. Losing her nearly broke him.”

 

Crockett drew even with her and gestured for her to continue on. “Don’t fret, Miss Robbins. My future is in God’s hands. All will be well.”

Crockett Archer is on a train headed to interview for a position as pastor at a local church in the Piney Woods of Texas, when bandits stop the train. His first reaction is, of course, that the passengers are about to be robbed, he does not expect the bandits to jump on board and say that what they want is the preacher! Of course, they don’t mean him. Or do they? Surely enough he is whisked away and only has the words of the bandits to go on. He overhears them talk about a “Jo”, or is it “Joe”? Crockett is scared to find out. After a long ride, he is finds out that “Jo” is actually Joanna Robbins, and she has wished for a preacher for her birthday. So her ex-outlaw father brought her just what she wanted, a preacher man!

 

Joanna Robbins made a promise to her mother before she died. She promised to carry on her mother’s faith, and to pray that her father, Silas, finds that faith as well. Joanna is a timeless character who puts the needs and wants of others before her own. I loved the way that she cared for her father after her mother’s passing. She and Crockett were an instant hit, and I loved their relationship almost as much as I loved Meredith and Travis’s relationship in the first book. There was an instant connection, and in other books I hate this, but Witemeyer definitely knows how to write love at first sight!

 

Crockett is my favorite Archer brother so far. I loved him in the first book in this series, and I love him even more now. I loved Travis, don’t get me wrong, but Travis was all work and no play because he had to be. Crockett is more expressive and his passionate for preaching and serving God definitely surface in this book. This same passion and love blooms in his relationship and encounters with Joanna, and I just love his spirit and attitude!

 

***A copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Bethany House in exchange for my honest review***