Wind over Marshdale by Tracy Krauss

Krauss, Tracy. Wind over Marshdale. Astraea Press (http://www.astraeapress.com/).  June 11, 2012. ISBN: 978-1-62135-041-5 ASIN: B008ARYQPA 556KB List Price: $2.99 Christian Romance, Suspense. Jorja’s Rating: PG-occult theme, mild sex scenes.

Rachel Bosworth arrives to teach kindergarten in the small town of Marshdale, Saskatchewan. Thomas Lone Wolf and Con McKinley both begin to court her. Her landlady, Mrs. Beatry, the town gossip and quickly fills Rachel in on all she knows about the two and everyone else in town.

Thomas Lone Wolf came to Marshdale to pave the way for the cultural interpretation center. The center will house the archaeological finds from Old Man Lake nearby. Thomas is the great-grandson of the last powerful Cree medicine man who enters Thomas’s dreams of buffalo stampedes. He set aside his Cree spiritual legacy to live as a Christian. Even so, this widower and his children experience discrimination and resentment at every turn.

Con suddenly finds himself struggling with his own beliefs and values. He becomes Thomas’s advocate and only friend, not knowing that Rachel is dating them both. He falls deeper and deeper in love with Rachel, but part of him knows he cannot marry her until she embraces Christ as her Lord and Savior

Evil seems to be in the wind. The biggest opponent to the cultural center is the extreme fundamentalist zealot whose twin sister is a witch who, for her own reasons, is stirring up the demons in Thomas Lone Wolf’s history; and capitalizing on the darkness resident among the townspeople. It seems everyone in town, even the pastor at one of the churches, is fighting evil in one form or another.

Rachel finds herself “caught in the crossfire” and terribly confused. She is in love with two men. She does not understand Con’s beliefs or Thomas’s fears. Her landlady seems to know something unwholesome about everyone.

Krauss has written a twisted web of deceit and romantic suspense, a great beach-read or an avenue of escape during the upcoming holidays. The wind over Marshdale blows both hot and cold. This is Krauss’s fourth novel. She has also written several stage plays. Until she has the flexibility to write full-time, she is a high school teacher of art, drama and English.

I received a complimentary Kindle copy of this book from the author for my unbiased opinion.