An Untamed Heart - A Book Review

When I found out that Lauraine Snelling had written another book about Ingeborg Bjorkland (her last name isStrand in An Untamed Heart) I was super excited.   I have read all of the books about Blessing, North Dakota and have come to love the Bjorkland family.  An Untamed Heart is actually a prequel to the Red River of the North Series and tells how Ingeborg's journey to America begins and how her and Roald get together.

I was a little disappointed with the book.  It was rather slow and verging on boring at times.  After reading 16 (yes, 16,  that's not a typo) books about the Bjorkland family I have come to feel like I know the character of Ingeborg pretty well and in this book I felt as if I was reading about a stranger.  She did not seem true to character.  I also had a hard time with some of the names.  Many of the names were familiar from the previous books, but at times I was not sure if they were the same characters from earlier books or just common Norwegian names.

Had I read this book first I may have felt differently, but since that is not the case and probably isn't for a lot of the readers that are fans of Lauraine Snelling I cannot give a real good review.  I would however recommend The Red River of the North Series and all the series following about this family.  I would even recommend reading An Untamed Heart first.  If you are just starting out you won't already have an opinion of how the character of Ingeborg should be and you can read and watch her transform into the character that I love.

Here is a list of the books in the order they should be read:

An Untamed Heart

An Untamed Land  (Red River of the North series)
A New Day Rising  (Red River of the North series)
A Land to Call Home  (Red River of the North series)
The Reaper's Song  (Red River of the North series)
Tender Mercies  (Red River of the North series)
Blessing in Disguise  (Red River of the North series)

A Dream To Follow  (Return to Red River series)
Believing The Dream  (Return to Red River series)
More Than A Dream  (Return to Red River series)

A Promise for Ellie  (Daughters of Blessings series)
Sophies' Dilemma  (Daughters of Blessing series)
A Touch of Grace  (Daughter of Blessing series)
Rebecca's Reward  (Daughter of Blessing series)

A Measure of Mercy  (Home to Blessing series)
No Distance Too Far  (Home to Blessing series)
A Heart for Home  (Home to Blessing series)

***An Untamed Heart was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for my review.