These Is My Words by Nancy Turner

This story was based on the real-life adventures of the author’s great-grandmother. It is written in diary format by the heroine Sarah Prine. It follows Sarah’s life as she struggles to adjust on the Arizona frontier. Sarah is intelligent and headstrong, but has had no formal education. Her father taught her some letters and she began to teach herself to read. Throughout her life she is always bettering herself and has a deep love of learning. It follows her life through many trials and also many happy days. The story is really about Sarah and her life, she has wonderful friends and family. There is a great love story but the focus is more on Sarah and her development.

This book at first reminded me a lot of “The Diary of Mattie Spenser,” luckily, this book was a lot better. I really enjoyed the story, even though diary format is not my favorite. I liked Sarah’s character a lot; she was feisty and knew how to take care of herself. At the same time she was girly, and playful. The combination made her more real to me. Her relationship with her husband reminded me a lot of my life married to a military man, I was able to relate with Sarah in missing her husband and not always able to understand why they have this desire to serve like they do. The book was slow at the beginning, probably took me about 60+ pages to really get into it. As the book progresses so does Sarah’s education and the writing becomes better. Once I got into it I had a hard time putting it down and kept thinking of friends that I know would love it also. If I were to re-read it I would probably enjoy the earlier chapters more, knowing what happens and what a big part they play in Sarah's life.

There were a few characters that I would have liked a little bit more resolution on, and a few story lines that I would have liked to see finished. I ended the book at peace with everything, it was a great chapter in Sarah’s life and I look forward to reading the other two books in the series.