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Return to Harmony
Jodie and Bethan had little in common until a homeless dog brought them together. But from that day on, the two became inseparable. As different as night and day, their friendship thrives through shared trials, joys and finally devastating loss.
Then the day comes when it seems that faith itself drives a tragic wedge between them, seeming to finalize when Jodie goes off to college. Now, with the United States joining the war effort in Europe, Bethan wonders if there will ever again be a return to harmony . . .
Then the day comes when it seems that faith itself drives a tragic wedge between them, seeming to finalize when Jodie goes off to college. Now, with the United States joining the war effort in Europe, Bethan wonders if there will ever again be a return to harmony . . .
222 pages, Paperback
First published May 31, 1996
About the author
Janette Oke
285 books3,154 followersJanette Oke writes with a profound simplicity of what she knows best—real life, honest love, and lasting values. With over 23 million in sales, her historical novels portray the lives of early North American settlers from many walks of life and geographical settings. She also writes engaging children's stories and inspiring gift books that warm the heart.
Janette was born during the depression years to a Canadian prairie farmer and his wife, and she remembers her childhood as full of love and laughter and family love. After graduating from Mountain View Bible College in Canada where she met her husband, Edward, they pastored churches in Canada and the U.S., and they raised their family of four children, including twin boys, in both countries. Edward eventually became president of Mountain View Bible College and recently established a coalition of colleges that became Rocky Mountain Bible College.
During her earliest years, Janette sensed the desire to write. Though she yearned to be a published novelist, she devoted herself to being a wife and mother because, she says, "there is no higher honor—that is my number-one priority." She began serious writing when her children were entering their teens.
Her first novel, a prairie love story titled Love Comes Softly, was published by Bethany House in 1979. This book was followed by more than 75 others. She reaches both religious and general markets, telling stories that transcend time and place. Her readers of all ages and walks of life can identify with the everyday events and emotions of her characters. Janette believes everyone goes through tough times—the key is to be prepared with a strong faith as the foundation from which decisions are made and difficult experiences are faced. That perspective is subtly woven throughout her novels.
After Love Comes Softly was published, Oke found her readers asking for more. That book led to a series of eight others in her Love Comes Softly series. She has written multiple fiction series, including The Canadian West, Seasons of the Heart and Women of the West. Her most recent releases include a beautiful children's picture book, I Wonder...Did Jesus Have a Pet Lamb and The Song of Acadia series, co-written with T. Davis Bunn.
Janette Oke's warm writing style has won the hearts of millions of readers. She has received numerous awards, including the Gold Medallion Award, The Christy Award of Excellence, the 1992 President's Award for her significant contribution to the category of Christian fiction from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, and in 1999 the Life Impact Award from the Christian Booksellers Association International. Beloved worldwide, her books have been translated into fourteen languages.
In recent years, Janette and her siblings lovingly restored their parents' prairie farm home, and it now serves as a gift shop and museum of prairie life. Please see below for a special invitation to the Oke Writing Museum and The Steeves' Historical House. She and her husband live nearby in Alberta, Canada, where they are active in their local church. Visits from their families, including their grandchildren, are their delight.
—[http://www.janetteoke.com/ME2/Sites/d...]
Janette was born during the depression years to a Canadian prairie farmer and his wife, and she remembers her childhood as full of love and laughter and family love. After graduating from Mountain View Bible College in Canada where she met her husband, Edward, they pastored churches in Canada and the U.S., and they raised their family of four children, including twin boys, in both countries. Edward eventually became president of Mountain View Bible College and recently established a coalition of colleges that became Rocky Mountain Bible College.
During her earliest years, Janette sensed the desire to write. Though she yearned to be a published novelist, she devoted herself to being a wife and mother because, she says, "there is no higher honor—that is my number-one priority." She began serious writing when her children were entering their teens.
Her first novel, a prairie love story titled Love Comes Softly, was published by Bethany House in 1979. This book was followed by more than 75 others. She reaches both religious and general markets, telling stories that transcend time and place. Her readers of all ages and walks of life can identify with the everyday events and emotions of her characters. Janette believes everyone goes through tough times—the key is to be prepared with a strong faith as the foundation from which decisions are made and difficult experiences are faced. That perspective is subtly woven throughout her novels.
After Love Comes Softly was published, Oke found her readers asking for more. That book led to a series of eight others in her Love Comes Softly series. She has written multiple fiction series, including The Canadian West, Seasons of the Heart and Women of the West. Her most recent releases include a beautiful children's picture book, I Wonder...Did Jesus Have a Pet Lamb and The Song of Acadia series, co-written with T. Davis Bunn.
Janette Oke's warm writing style has won the hearts of millions of readers. She has received numerous awards, including the Gold Medallion Award, The Christy Award of Excellence, the 1992 President's Award for her significant contribution to the category of Christian fiction from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, and in 1999 the Life Impact Award from the Christian Booksellers Association International. Beloved worldwide, her books have been translated into fourteen languages.
In recent years, Janette and her siblings lovingly restored their parents' prairie farm home, and it now serves as a gift shop and museum of prairie life. Please see below for a special invitation to the Oke Writing Museum and The Steeves' Historical House. She and her husband live nearby in Alberta, Canada, where they are active in their local church. Visits from their families, including their grandchildren, are their delight.
—[http://www.janetteoke.com/ME2/Sites/d...]
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
January 20, 2016
I absolutely LOVED this book!! Definitely a new one on my list of favorites. The characters were all so sweet and even though the ending totally crushed me, (I was hoping something different would happen!) it wrapped everything up really well and it was just amazing!
June 11, 2017
3.5-4 stars.
What kind of ending was that?!
What kind of ending was that?!
April 23, 2020
It's been a long while since I've read this and I only remembered really vague details. I was expecting a cheesy romance but actually it wasn't! This one focused more on the friendship of two girls and how they grew up and dealt with some really hard issues. I really enjoyed this one! I wish it wouldn't have ended where it did... I wanted more resolution with a certain relationship. 😂
January 23, 2024
I don't know why I left this unread on my shelf for so long. It was very good. I was drawn right into the story from chapter one. The characters were well-developed and there was growth in them despite all the hurdles the authors threw their way.
I highly recommend this one.
4.5 Stars
Content: death of a parent
I highly recommend this one.
4.5 Stars
Content: death of a parent
January 12, 2021
As girls in the Southern town of Harmony, Jodie and Bethan form an unlikely friendship. Jodie dreams of going off to college in a big city someday while Bethan wants nothing more than to stay in her hometown and become a wife and mother. As the two best friends begin to transition from girlhood to womanhood, they run into a disagreement that forms a terrible rift in their relationship in Return to Harmony by authors Janette Oke and Davis Bunn.
I've read this historical fiction novel at least three times over the past twenty years or so, this first collaboration between two of my favorite ChristFic authors.
As I enjoyed this easily digestible novel when I was younger, I returned to it out of curiosity. But I didn't quite enjoy it this time. Some aspects of it are oversweet, including Bethan, who's too timid, gentle, and near-perfect for me to find her compelling. While the story paints her as the innocent "good guy" in her rift with Jodie, I now feel that Bethan's actions are somewhat out of pocket, and the faith conflict at the crux of it is oversimplified.
That's partly due to the rushed nature of the story as it flies through the years once the characters reach new adulthood. Several events that should be important lack sufficient development and originality, and the conclusion is mostly open-ended for Jodie, with no sequel to follow. Honestly, I think this novel bears some of the mark of this genre's earlier years, where it seemed that oftentimes, the most important thing wasn't necessarily to tell a solid story but to share a "come to Jesus" message.
Even so, the revisit here was good for me and my own development, and I'm happy to say the co-writing of these two authors gets better with later books.
I've read this historical fiction novel at least three times over the past twenty years or so, this first collaboration between two of my favorite ChristFic authors.
As I enjoyed this easily digestible novel when I was younger, I returned to it out of curiosity. But I didn't quite enjoy it this time. Some aspects of it are oversweet, including Bethan, who's too timid, gentle, and near-perfect for me to find her compelling. While the story paints her as the innocent "good guy" in her rift with Jodie, I now feel that Bethan's actions are somewhat out of pocket, and the faith conflict at the crux of it is oversimplified.
That's partly due to the rushed nature of the story as it flies through the years once the characters reach new adulthood. Several events that should be important lack sufficient development and originality, and the conclusion is mostly open-ended for Jodie, with no sequel to follow. Honestly, I think this novel bears some of the mark of this genre's earlier years, where it seemed that oftentimes, the most important thing wasn't necessarily to tell a solid story but to share a "come to Jesus" message.
Even so, the revisit here was good for me and my own development, and I'm happy to say the co-writing of these two authors gets better with later books.
July 6, 2016
T. Davis Bunn and Janette Oke are 2 of my favorite authors, so when I found this book I had to get it. Having read some of their other collaborations, I had high hopes for this one and it didn't disappoint. The storyline flowed smoothly, the transitions were well-placed, and the characters are engaging. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys either of these authors.
December 26, 2023
This is probably weird to say coming from a nineteen year old male, but I'm a big fan of Janette Oke. From the Canadian West to The Women of the West to When Hope Calls, I love her books.
This is the third collaboration with T. Davis Bunn that I've read from her and the first of the collaborations written.
It's a lovely book about two best friends and their experiences with the troubles of life, but it's too short. Almost every chapter is set weeks to months or even years after the previous one. The trials the characters go through come and go fairly quickly, and, in certain instances, importance is given to things that hold no bearings on the rest of the story. For example, the young soldier in chapter seven. Although that scene is a highlight of the book for me, it has no significance on the plot. Another problem I have is the story doesn't really kick into gear until halfway through. And since this book is only 223 pages, it always feels like there's something missing.
I honestly think that this story needed to be longer with more fleshed out character arcs and longer time spent in both stages of the story. (The teen years and the adult years.) Whether that means it needed to be told in multiple books or a much longer, thicker novel, I can't say. But the story does end too quickly. There are a few character threads that are left hanging at the end, which really bothers me. I wanted a specific interaction between two of the characters that was heavily implied to happen, but the book ended before it could.
Overall, it's still a good book with interesting characters, plot surprises, and emotional scenes, but it suffers from being too short.
This is the third collaboration with T. Davis Bunn that I've read from her and the first of the collaborations written.
It's a lovely book about two best friends and their experiences with the troubles of life, but it's too short. Almost every chapter is set weeks to months or even years after the previous one. The trials the characters go through come and go fairly quickly, and, in certain instances, importance is given to things that hold no bearings on the rest of the story. For example, the young soldier in chapter seven. Although that scene is a highlight of the book for me, it has no significance on the plot. Another problem I have is the story doesn't really kick into gear until halfway through. And since this book is only 223 pages, it always feels like there's something missing.
I honestly think that this story needed to be longer with more fleshed out character arcs and longer time spent in both stages of the story. (The teen years and the adult years.) Whether that means it needed to be told in multiple books or a much longer, thicker novel, I can't say. But the story does end too quickly. There are a few character threads that are left hanging at the end, which really bothers me. I wanted a specific interaction between two of the characters that was heavily implied to happen, but the book ended before it could.
Overall, it's still a good book with interesting characters, plot surprises, and emotional scenes, but it suffers from being too short.
September 21, 2021
I must say I do really like this book. The story is engaging, sometimes funny sometimes not. Some points in the story, however, seem off based for the Christian basis of the title. Not in a worldly or secular way but more in the nuances of Christian behavior and moral balances. It works out but it did and does bug me how some situations unfolded. The could also be attributed to the age in which the story is set, so my opinion on that is subjective.
Elsewise, its well worth reading and you won't regret it in my opinion. It has that classic Janette Oke flair with a bit more light-heartedness from T. Davis Bunn. I enjoyed it and I think you will too.
Elsewise, its well worth reading and you won't regret it in my opinion. It has that classic Janette Oke flair with a bit more light-heartedness from T. Davis Bunn. I enjoyed it and I think you will too.
April 10, 2020
The first collaborative effort for T Davis Bunn and Janette Oke after the met several times at book fairs, the book combines their styles and effects seamlessly to produce a beautiful story of two little girls growing up in the early 1900s. The book indicates a strong spiritual life in family and community but sees the girls through struggles temporal and spiritual. A wonderful coming of age story for young Christians.
January 9, 2024
I absolutely adored the friendship within this book and the importance of it that was so clearly displayed throughout. This book is only receiving three stars because 1) the ending felt too quickly wrapped up, almost haphazardly so, & 2) I feel that I won’t remember this story for more than a week after having finished it. I definitely understand why one would love this book, but it simply didn’t work for me.
January 11, 2020
Return to Harmony by Janette Oke and Davis Bunn
Series: No
Format: Large Print
Stars: 2
Recommend: No
Would Reread: No
The story and charterers were ok but at time it almost felt like a Little House on the Prairie episode.
I give honest reviews and all my opinions are my own.
For more of my reviews go to Heavenly High Seas Books
https://heavenlyhighseasbooks.blogspo...
Series: No
Format: Large Print
Stars: 2
Recommend: No
Would Reread: No
The story and charterers were ok but at time it almost felt like a Little House on the Prairie episode.
I give honest reviews and all my opinions are my own.
For more of my reviews go to Heavenly High Seas Books
https://heavenlyhighseasbooks.blogspo...
November 22, 2020
What a Blessing!
A wonderful story filled with the challenges that we all experience here on earth that are buffered by having a very best friend to encourage and hold us up. This friendship is undergirded by faith and loyalty that explores the phenomenon that no matter what trials and pain we go through we will not be crushed because of our regeneration through Christ.
A wonderful story filled with the challenges that we all experience here on earth that are buffered by having a very best friend to encourage and hold us up. This friendship is undergirded by faith and loyalty that explores the phenomenon that no matter what trials and pain we go through we will not be crushed because of our regeneration through Christ.
January 22, 2024
This one was hard to give a rating to since the storyline was good and the characters really were brought to life by Oke, but it could have been better. I did feel like it was a bit slow in getting started (to me the first 1/3 of the book could have been made into a prologue) and then rushed at the end and some things were just under-developed.
November 6, 2018
Anytime I come across this in thrift stores, I buy it and pass it on to young ladies. A good book about childhood friendship, praying for friends that have gone astray, and keeping a sweet spirit about it.
August 12, 2020
Great Story!
It is a romance and everything works fine in the end, but there was enough tragedy to keep it from being sappy. Love Davis Bunn. He hasn’t yet written a book I don’t like.
It is a romance and everything works fine in the end, but there was enough tragedy to keep it from being sappy. Love Davis Bunn. He hasn’t yet written a book I don’t like.
February 7, 2021
Learning Forgiveness
It was a lifetime story of two girl friends growing up, learning about life and love! Both had separate paths to take but still managed to find each other when it mattered the most! One taught the other one how to forgive and get on with her life and reach for her life’s goals!
It was a lifetime story of two girl friends growing up, learning about life and love! Both had separate paths to take but still managed to find each other when it mattered the most! One taught the other one how to forgive and get on with her life and reach for her life’s goals!
July 2, 2022
Oh how I love these authors together!
This is a lovely, wonderful, inspiring and impossible-to-put-down book! I absolutely loved the characters and the story line. The main characters are beautifully drawn. The ending was perfect though I do wish for a sequel!
Read this book!!
This is a lovely, wonderful, inspiring and impossible-to-put-down book! I absolutely loved the characters and the story line. The main characters are beautifully drawn. The ending was perfect though I do wish for a sequel!
Read this book!!
June 13, 2023
Jodie and Bethan are two unlikely friends who form a bond over a lifetime. This coming of age book follows them on their journey of friendship, heartache, struggles and even their belief in God. Great book and well narrated.
January 29, 2018
Great read
I enjoyed this book a lot. It was very interesting since I'm not far from harmony pa. Wish it was a series.
I enjoyed this book a lot. It was very interesting since I'm not far from harmony pa. Wish it was a series.
July 2, 2018
A nice inspiring story, but not much depth to it. It was what I expected and what I needed at the time. A sweet, easy read.
November 25, 2019
The lives of two girls as they grow and change and experience life. I enjoyed this book.
April 2, 2020
It's just really mellow and nothing really happens.
Shelved as 'mountain-loop'
April 28, 20202 hardcover, 1 trade
September 20, 2020
Return to Harmony
A very good inspirational story about a young woman that has been hurt and blamed God until she returned home for her friends wedding and returned to God
A very good inspirational story about a young woman that has been hurt and blamed God until she returned home for her friends wedding and returned to God
October 2, 2020
Good Christian story
Very good story. Anything written by Janet oke is fantastic! I have read her books for many years. Thank you!
Very good story. Anything written by Janet oke is fantastic! I have read her books for many years. Thank you!
November 30, 2020
Enjoyable
Great story of friendship, faith and enduring hardship and loss and joyful new beginnings. Story flows nicely and the characters feel like someone I'd like to know.
Great story of friendship, faith and enduring hardship and loss and joyful new beginnings. Story flows nicely and the characters feel like someone I'd like to know.
December 16, 2020
Jodie is a complex character. Loved how she questioned her faith throughout the book.
January 19, 2021
Great book! I would love to read what happens next for the characters.
February 1, 2021
Loved Return To Harmony. Loved the special friendship and love between the two girls. From childhood to adults.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews