About the Book
Title: Mackinac Island Beacon
Series: Mackinac Island Romances, Bk 3
Author: Carrie Fancett Pagels
Publisher: Hearts Overcoming Press
Released: April 2024
Plans hatched in 1897 bring friends and family from far distances toward Mackinac Island’s new twin beacons—the Round Island Lighthouse and the Social Affirmation Society’s training/retreat center. A missing daughter, a missing godchild—two young women’s lives have intertwined in ways they could never have known. The solution to both of their mysteries is revealed when all hope has been lost by those seeking them.
Is romance out of the question for Val and Susan, when their hearts begin to heal? Will Paul and Lawrence, friends from their childhoods, brought to the island for work, be their beacons of hope? Can God bring all their paths together or will too many obstacles stand in their way?
About the Author
Carrie Fancett Pagels, Ph.D., writes stories about overcoming with God’s help (including a Romantic Times Top Pick inspirational novel). She has 25 published fiction books. Carrie is an ECPA-bestselling award-winning author. She won the Maggie Award for Excellence medallion. Twenty-five years as a psychologist didn’t “cure” her overactive imagination. She’s the mother of two and married to the love of her life.
My Impressions
“Point is—you don’t have to be blood kin to make a family.You just need love.And plenty of it.” He tapped the Bible. “And God’s blessing to cover you all.”
If you’ve ever been to Michigan, you might know that Mackinac Island is considered one of the state’s treasured gems. We love to visit “the Island” and St. Ignace, so I love to read Carrie Fancett Pagels’s books that never fail to allow me to visit again, at least in spirit. Mackinac Island Beacon is directly related to the novella, The Sugarplum Ladies. It’s been a while since I read that one, so I was happy to see a list of characters at the front of the book!
The main part of the novel takes place on Mackinac Island and the tiny lighthouse island near it, Round Island Lighthouse in 1897. One young woman without a family, Susan Johnson, works at a Catholic orphanage on the Island ( Mackinac Island). The other, Valerie Fillman, travels from her tiny lighthouse island home, which she’d never left without family ( she’s 20!) to get medicine for her critically ill family.
In God’s providential timing, a young widower friend of Susan’s and his three-year-old daughter Hetty come to man the lighthouse, while a link to the Island’s past, Lawrence Zumbrun, comes to coach a young, loose-lipped Olympic hopeful. There were an awful lot of moving pieces in this story-puzzle to piece together, and sometimes I wished there were a few less characters to keep track of. I did enjoy the mysteries(there was more than one), the gentle romances, and the joi de vivre that both Hetty and Jack added to the story. I wished I could picture which house on the Island is “the Butterfly House, ” along with a few other named “cottages.” I think I would have enjoyed a map.
Valerie is very courageous to return to the lighthouse, where tragedy and an ugly past exist, in order to help Paul with Hetty. Yet, Val feels all alone, until God speaks to her heart. “Mine. You are mine. Always mine, and I am here, too.”
All in all, a good story that shows God’s providence over and over, His setting the orphans in families, and taking care of his children. These ingredients, tossed with a bit of humor, make for an enjoyable armchair trip to Mackinac.
I received a copy of the book from the author and JustReads. I also bought my own ecopy. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.
Notable Quotables:
“But God was bigger than all his problems.”
“God was a loving god not one intent on inflicting maximum punishment, as Mum had insisted.”
“Pretty is as pretty does, but a woman with intelligence and good character can outshine them all.”
“God has gifted us all with something to bring glory to the kingdom. “
“Funny how perceptions change depending upon where you are situated.” “Or your life situation.”
“Yes, there were forces that worked against the Lord, but His will was never for evil.”
“I crept into a crack in the rocks that protected my heart, and I’ve hidden there. Was it time to come out? To be free?”
“The good book says God gives us double for our trouble sometimes.”
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Great! Enjoyable “trip” to Mackinac Island
Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions 