Abby's Crossing

by Darryl W. Harris Sr.

Fall 1862 Following her husband's tragic death, young widow Abby Butterfield Browett's first responsibility is to her son. Her desire to provide a secure future for her child has led her to accept a proposal of marriage from Isaac, a man twice her age. In her heart, she knows that Isaac lacks the fire and zest for life that defines Abby, but her son will be cared for. Can she be happy with only that? Despite her reservations, Abby joins her fiancé on the journey to the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, unprepared for the challenges that begin soon after they embark. When their trouble turns dangerous, it is a group of rough frontiersmen that come to their aid. The incident provides Abby the excuse she needs to turn back and postpone the wedding and in truth, she simply can't forget the connection she felt with Scooter, the leader of their rescuers. But as hostilities arise between the local Indians and the white frontiersmen, Abby's focus turns again to the safety of her son. When the young boy disappears following an attack, Abby disregards propriety and turns not to her fiancé for help, but to Scooter. In the face of unimaginable odds, the pair embarks on a quest to find Abby's son, a journey that will test their courage and faith as never before . . .

Genres: Historical Fiction, Lds Fiction, Fiction, Historical

279 pages, Paperback

Published January 7, 2016

About the author

Darryl W. Harris Sr., born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio officially began his working career shortly after high school by joining the United States Airforce as a dental assistant/dental x-ray tech. After completing his commitment he returned to the private sector pursing a career in the music industry and serving as a promoter and road manager for several national recording artists. For the past 26 years Mr. Harris has enjoyed a career in the hotel industry while serving as the National Diversity Sales Manager for the Peabody Little Rock Hotel and is presently the doorman for the Little Rock Marriott Hotel. A certified scuba diver, he also is the father of four boys with nine grandchildren to date.

Reviews

[Kemi]

A mom read-aloud.

She loved it. (4 stars)
I liked it significantly less. (2 stars)

[Sydney]

Author Darryl Harris has written a fascinating Mormon historical fiction novel. During a time of war and turmoil, Abby’s husband is killed by an Indian, and she is left a young widow. Through her pain and sorrow Abby takes care of her adopted Indian son and anticipates marrying another man twice her age, but will be able to take good care of her. An accident to her fiancé and a postponing of the wedding leaves Abby to wonder if this man is the one for her, especially when she meets another man that is a freight driver. This story is well-written with characters readers will easily relate to through each circumstance. Rich Mormon culture and heritage ring through the pages of this novel. I would recommend this story to readers that enjoy pioneer, historical, LDS novels and a little bit of romance.

Genre: historical, inspirational, romance LDS, Christian
Publisher: Covenant Communications
Publication date: January 1, 2016
Number of pages: 279

Content Rating: PG
Book Rating: 4 stars

A review copy of this book was provided by Covenant Communications.

[Nathalie]

Overall, I liked this book but there were times where Abby kind of drove me crazy! Leaving her home in the middle of the night knowing she lives in the early days of the Utah Territory with Indian wars, bad men roving just was never a good idea, though it works out eventually of course. Also some premises didn't seem likely like Shoshone Indians giving her one of their orphaned children to adopt because they felt bad for killing her husband. Also at the end, it is unlikely nasty drunken soldiers intent on revenge and the "excitement" of a hanging would listen to her "let's resolve this in a peaceful manner" words. Still, I rather enjoyed listening to her story and it was interesting to learn more about that early history of the LDS Church in the newly settled Utah.

[NaDell]

Abby is a widow with an Indian son given to her by the chief of an Indian tribe after some people from his tribe killed her husband.
She is on her way to be married in Salt Lake's Endowment House when they encounter a stream that's more than their wagon can handle. Luckily, another group helps them out of the water, but they can't continue their trip.
Now that Abby has time to think a little longer, she's not sure she still wants to marry Isaac (who is quite a bit older than she is).

[Leslie]

This story took place in Idaho in the early 1860's when the Civil War was raging to the East and the Soldiers and Indians fighting for land in the West. There was gold found and cities sprung up all over. This book had a little bit of all of this history in it, although much fiction. I hadn't read this author before. I enjoyed the book.

[Stacy]

Listened to this on CD. Decent story, but a bit frustrating. Abby realized she didn't love the man she was engaged to, but couldn't seem to decide about calling off the wedding. I guess it bugs me when people don't speak up! But, this was set in a time, where that likely wouldn't have been proper. It does all turn out fine in the end.

[Anne]

Clean good book. Good love story. Some of it was predictable for me. I did not like the chapter porter Rockwell was portrayed in. In real life I don’t think he would have agreed to fighting the Indians. It does not say if that part was true or not. But I have read enough about him to know his character Other than that it was a good easy read

[Christi]

Not my favorite. I just skimmed through some of it and that was plenty for those parts. Did read the rest. The Battle made me sick, just like it did when I read about it in Saints. There were other parts I would also rather not read again. Just not for me.

[Heidi]

I enjoyed this book more than I thought that I would. I had to look up where the locations were as well as some of the information about military incursions in the time. Overall, I felt like it was a good look at pioneer history and a nice easy read for people who like historical romantic fiction.

[Judy]

I learned. about a massacre that I had never heard of before.

[Tiffany]

I struggled understanding/relating to the main character.

[Valerie]

This was an okay story, but a bit plodding. I skipped through a lot to get to the end.

[Pattisue]

Interesting historical details. Contains violent scenes.

[Kendall]

This book is very historically based and deals with many tragic events. Much more violent than I was prepared for, but the writing is good.

[Dorry Lou]

I liked and didnt like this book. It had a lot of challenge as they crossed the plains.

[Erin]

Good book good history at the end

[Cathy]

I was really excited to read this book when I realized that it was about Franklin, Idaho. It has special meaning to me because it was a place that some of my ancestors helped to settle.

I loved the way the story started with Abby and Isaac on their way to Salt Lake City to get married in the Endowment house. Isaac is way older than Abby, but she has a young adopted son to care for and her first husband was not a member of the LDS Church and he was killed before he was baptized. She has made the decision that it's more important to marry forever than it is for love. But that starts to change when on their way to Salt Lake City Isaac is hurt in an accident and the group is cared for by a kind teamster named Scooter. This man is not a member of her Church, but he gets her to start thinking more about her future.

Her son Yahnai is supposed to spend part of his winter in the Indian camp learning what it means to be an Indian. Abby's heart aches as she sends him. And things get even worse when a group of Army men come to their settlement bragging about taking care of the Indians. Abby knows she must get her son out of that camp before it's too late, but that doesn't work out and her son is lost to her. But she doesn't give up hope.

I loved Abby's courage. I loved the way she took her future and Yahnai's very seriously, knowing that she was about the only white person that would care what happened to the young boy and that she would have to save him mostly on her own. I was saddened by the way the soldiers treated the Indians and really that Abby had to come upon the scene and see it with her own eyes, knowing that her son had at one point been in the midst of it.

I liked that you see the events of this book through Abby's eyes, but also through Scooter's and Isaac's eyes. Sometimes it's nice to get a different perspective and I liked that both men were concerned for Abby's welfare enough to try to help her with whatever they could.

This is a cute, clean story of love, forgiveness, and courage. I didn't want to stop reading it until I had read every last word.

[Darla]

(Genre:LDS fiction/historical) The setting for this story takes place in the Cache Valley area of Utah/Idaho during the 1800's. Abby is young Mormon widow living in the settlement of Franklin. The Shoshoni Indians that live nearby have a tenuous peace agreement with the Mormon settlers--if the settlers give them food and grain, they will leave them alone. For the most part. Abby's husband Evan, is deceased, having been killed by some renegade Indian braves 2 years earlier. In payment for the killing, one of the local Shoshoni chief's named Sagwitch, brought Abby an orphaned Indian boy around 4 years old and she has been raising the little boy as her own ever since. Her son is the most important thing in Abby's life, so she has agreed to marry an older widower named Isaac in order to better provide for her son and to hopefully have more children. On their way to Salt Lake City for the marriage, an accident occurs that sends them back to Franklin and effectively delays the marriage. Meanwhile, a teamster nicknamed Scooter, catches Abby's eye on his way through Franklin. He and his men happened by at the right time to assist her and Isaac following their accident and he seems quite taken with Abby. While he is much younger and better looking than Isaac, he isn't a Mormon and Abby is determined to only remarry within her faith.
I really enjoyed the historical setting for this book. I didn't know much about the Indian-settler conflicts in Cache Valley despite having studied local history in school. The author brought some of the actual individuals involved in this conflict into his story and that made it interesting on several levels. The fictional characters and story line were alright--there were parts that I liked and others that detracted a little, but overall it was a pretty good read. 3 stars.
(Content note: This story does describe a battle fought between soldiers and Indians and some of the details were disturbing and distressing, but it didn't feel like the author was trying to be overly descriptive with the tragedy, but rather it felt like he just wanted the reader to understand how horrible it really was on many levels.)

[Tarah]

First, let me say that I think anyone who writes and can get a book published needs to be given kudos. That takes serious talent, and more hard work and effort than I can fathom. So, kudos to Darryl Harris for being a published author.

All that being said, I struggled through this book. I kept wondering why I was struggling, and here is what I came up with. First, it reads more like a history than a novel. Yes, there is a story line, but there is so much history that I feel like the story gets lost. Second, I found the story to be really pretentious. I was going to classify Abby as really judgmental, but on further reflection she isn't judgmental so much as thinking she's just better than everyone else. Granted she never says anything like that, but with the way her thoughts toward other people are geared it comes across as ... well ... pretentious. Scooter's reactions were somewhat baffling to me as well. Abby just sees a massacre and can't find her child, and he expects her to say goodbye with a hug or something? What?!? Not much about their relationship seemed real to me, and that made me sad.

While this wasn't a book for me, if you really like Utah Pioneer History, you may really enjoy this book. There were lots of stories from up in the Logan area that I wasn't familiar with.

* I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

[Crystal]

Listened to the book and maybe that tainted my opinion of the book, but this book is yet another perfect example of why I don't typically read LDS romances. A completely unbelievable, yet predictable story line. So many things annoyed me about this book.
the unrealistic dialogue
the insta love
the improbable plot
did I mention the unrealistic dialogue
This wasn't a book for me, but if you like Utah Pioneer History, you may enjoy this book.

Content:
Sex/Nudity: mild
Profanity/Language: none
Violence/Gore: moderate (graphic description of violence perpetrated by the Army in an Indian Massacre)
Drugs/Alcohol: none

[Shauna]

Abby lives in Cache Valley with her adopted son Yahni, from the Shoshoni Indian tribe. While Yahni was visiting the Shoshoni, The US militia came in and shot the Shoshoni Indians while camped along the Bear River, known as the Bear River Massacre. Yahni disappears. Abby goes to find Yahni and travels with some freighters and one very good looking freighter names Scooter.

[Lynette]

I'm torn about this book. I don't know much about the Indian wars and so that part was interesting, although the battle at Bear River was disturbing. The biggest problem for me was that sometimes I found Abby annoying. I like to like the heroine.

[Wendy Hall]

Well written. Exciting read of the experience of travels of Pioneer families. About Abby's family and her experiences on the trail

All ways have liked the historical fiction of any era especially the Mormons, makes me happy to be one. I too are of Latter-day Saint descent
.

[Kathryn]

Great book to read after finishing the "These is My Words" series as they both involve historical fiction of early settlers and the hardships that they encountered. This one is more LDS historical fiction.

[Lydia]

Wonderful historical fiction detailing the settlers of Franklin and the Shoshoni Indians tangled in the lives of Abby and her Indian son. I appreciated the balance of history and the storyline. The characters were great and the romance believable.

[Cheri]

I love historical fiction, this books was descriptive and I enjoyed the story line.

[Annalise]

I liked this book. Romance. Action. History. Set in southern Idaho and Utah. A fun read. It did have a little graphic violence description regarding an Indian Massacre.

[Louise Clark]

It was a pretty good read. It was very predictable but it turned out happy and the bad guys got theirs and the ending was sort of fairy taleish.

[Melinda]

Fairly predictable, but an enjoyable read. I was glad the author wove a little history into the story.

[Amron]

Mormon girls adventure eventually with a Mormon freighter just average