I'm being a bit disingenuous marking this "read". Unless you're passionately interested in obscure Christian theological apologetics of the 1870s (I'm not), this volume is pretty much unreadable. However, as the product of a Canadian woman of some apparent intelligence, though little literary talent and less taste in subject matter, it still was worth scanning through for points of interest.

The broad subject of all of the lengthy sermonizing in the 5 "letters", and much of the undistinguished verse - I won't call it poetry - is ecumenicalism. In addition to desiring the "union in the Christian Church" referred to in the subtitle (her explanations of doctrinal differences reveal her as definitely Protestant), this author appears to hold out some desire for the reunification of all adherents of the Abrahamic religions, under the Christian umbrella of course.

The volume, which exists physically at the University of Toronto library and in e-form on both the Internet Archive and the CIHM free miccrofilm scans (http://eco.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.03865/3?r=0&s=1), was published by Montreal's Lovell publishing house in 1874. Unlike many items coming out of Canadian publishing houses at this period, this appears to be genuinely Canadian in origin, which means that I was somewhat perplexed at first to see that it is attributed in worldcat to "Jane Porter".  The 19th-century literary Jane Porter I know of, the authoress of "The Scottish Chiefs", died in 1850 and has nothing to do with Canada. However this, it appears, is another Jane Porter, and there is a little - a very little - further literary activity by her tracked in Watters' definitive bibliography of Canadian literature. However, we don't know much about her, though the small personal clues in the miscellaneous verse suggest that she was single, fairly active and interested in Canada and current events, a churchgoer in Montreal, and very likely was published by Lovell as a favour to help her financially. (There's one short poem where she asks readers to buy her books, and ruefully tells us her publisher would prefer her to write romances).

I scribbled down a few notes about two things - comments about religion that struck me as different from mere convention; and phrases or subjects of poems that reflected either Canada or current events or both.

On the religious front, her five letters certainly have an ecumenical set of addressees. The first is to Princess Victoria (Queen Victoria's daughter, Queen of Prussia, politically liberal). All the blithe internalized misogyny of her time comes out in this letter of a woman to a woman, even though at the same time Princess Victoria is urged to exert her considerable political influence. "Female education is not practical," and the calling of wives and daughters is home-making. Indeed, Miss Porter goes so far as to deride nuns for abandoning their home duties. The second letter is to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (whom she congratulates, by the way, on the opening of the Suez Canal in 1870).  The third letter is to "Dear Jewish friends", while the fourth is to Pope Pius IX (accompanied by a portrait of him that looks quite demonic). The last letter to so the "Archbishop of Syra and Tenos" (orthodox) who had taken part in ecumenical talks - unsuccessful, one presumes - with the Church of England at Ely in 1870.

Canada is not really present in the prose, but quite a lot of the verse is either explicitly on Canadian subjects, or contains references such as:
The rapids with majestic roar
Proud St. Lawrence at our shore.
On the subject of the Friday fish fast, she has this to say:
The Esquimaux on fish subsist.
Without it, how can they exist?
If eating fish is called a fast,
Their fasting days forever last.

(Apparently Miss Porter was not aware of Inuit seal-hunting).

Other Canadian subjects memorialized in verse include John Bethune, the very prominent Montreal Anglican clergyman who died in 1872; a church in Trois Rivieres, Niagara Falls, the April 1873 wreck of the "Atlantic" off Halifax, a boat race in St John NB in which a man died, and a Montreal incident in which nine people were poisoned with stolen wine. For reasons unknown, there are also some Boston poems, and poems about 1871 fires in both Chicago and Wisconsin, as well as an unexpected poem "On Philately". A few people will know what I mean if I say some of these poems are "McGonagall-esque" (no, not the Harry Potter one).

It's easy to be derisive about this kind of bad book that pops up (only because some of its contents have rhyme and metre, I'm sure) in the miscellaneous anonymous literature sections of very large research libraries. And, I suppose, it's also easy to be too imaginatively sympathetic with the Miss Jane Porters of the Victorian colonial world, trying to sell flat conventional poetry and tortuous, untutored theology as belles lettres. Perhaps Miss Porter had a very comfortable life and was merely a hobbyist. She is dust and we will never know; thanks to big libraries, microfilm, and the internet, her book has been saved from that same dust for other odd ducks like myself to ponder over.

Take a Chance on Me by Jane Porter
This book starts out with Ty James and he has Amanda Wright styling his hair at her salon.
She falls in love with his masculine looks (she and her sister Charity are romance novel addicts).
Later Bette stops in with lunch before her weekly visit and she learns now who Tyler really is-Bette's grandson.
She is able to track him down at The Graff Hotel and lets him know she doesn't like the deception of arriving early and not letting his grandmother know he's in town.
He's a game developer and he learns his grandmother wanted Amanda to show him around town to show how much she loved this area and she's busy in the community.
Love catching up with other characters in the town of Marietta, MT as I've read all the books and other author's works from this area.
Ty is really there because his grandmother wants to change her will to leave everything to Amanda and he just wants to check her out-make sure she's not being taken advantage of.
Ty has to leave due to the tech giant talks but his mind is still on Amanda and Marietta.
Love the idea of the birthday club and what's all involved-prescious!
Like how this book brings it all together full circle with other books and families in the series.
Other works and excerpts from the series are included.
Received this review copy from the author and this is my honest opinion.

Miracle on Chance Avenue - Jane Porter

Miracle on Chance Avenue by Jane Porter

#MiracleOnChanceAvenue #NetGalley

Book starts out with Rory Douglas and he's on the bull when he sees her as they open the gates.

He recalls seeing her at every rodeo stop along the circuit but she's never approached him. He knows she's there for him.

Sadie has followed her impossible dreams and she has followed him throughout the rides and even went in to see him at the hospital when he told her to get out. She just wants his baby but she can never tell him. Then her mom died and that crushed her.

She had worked at Big Sky but now works in town at her own business and she's saving for a family. She works at the real estate agency also and is waiting for a man to come to the house as he's rented it....

What I liked about this story was the theme-how do you tell someone that you've had a crush on that you want his baby. She's so determined and he remembers her at every stop. He feels she is his angel-looking out for him. He'd never settle down but he'd marry her in a heartbeat.

He'd done the renovation work himself in the house and had rented it out over the years. She has no clue.

She refinishes furniture that others throw out everything learned from her mother. Love hearing of one using their own hands to make a living and how they do it.

Loved hearing of the tree where you select a gift to get for a child and it strikes him as he's a caring man and the scholarships he set up for others in town over the years. The bad memories are leaving and good ones are taking their place.

Lots of heartache and fun and laughs also. When I started reading this series the Indian Paintbrush flower are the seeds I bought online to grow myself because the struck something in me and I knew my garden needed them also. Liked the praying for a chance, that's all he needed.

Loved hearing of the activities they do during the season and finding the perfect ornaments depicting the season.

I received this review book from Net Galley and this is my honest review.

I love the way Ms. Porter creates such intense and stunning stories. This is the third book of The Disgraced Copeland's series, and though I didn't liked the previous book, I love this one!!

Logan won Rowan at an auction/charity event. Since then, the chemistry between them explodes and they finished spending the night together. The morning after, Rowan found out that Logan was Daniel Copeland's daughter (who was kidnapped because he had a Ponzi scheme that stole millions from people) and he hated him and his family because his father took the fall for Daniel at one point. He treated Logan so cruelly she never wanted to see him again (he called her a slut also), but that night had consequences and she tried few months later to communicate with him. He rejected her for the second time, and Logan decided to raise their kid alone.

Three years later (and here's when the story starts), Logan's father was killed by his kidnappers and she's in danger. And who will protect her from that people? Rowan, of course!!

The story is strong, steamy and hot. The writing was intelligent and very alluring. The scene transitions were flawless. And the way the story is developed is excellent. Why I didn't gave it 5 stars? Because there were some questions without answer in this book. Why the siblings were so apart when they needed to be together after Daniel's fall? Why Bronson (Logan's only brother) had to deal with the mess Daniel left alone? Why Victoria and Morgan (Logan's other sisters, Morgan is her twin) didn't get along? This last question I hope to get answer for it in an eventual book, which bring me to my last question... Why the ending of this book got me the feeling that this was the last time we will hear from the Copelands?

In conclusion, this book is incredibly spectacular. Looking forward for Bronson (he REALLY deserves a happy ending!!) and Victoria's stories... If the author writes them —I'm praying for that!! Highly recommended.

Married in Montana by Jane Porter Like the time period of this book and the simple things that are treasured as they all done by machines today. Starts out with Johanna's shop and she's so busy sewing for the Easter holiday. Her best friend, Elle visits and she tells her of her ailing father's condition, he won't last much longer. Elle had met Thomas, the night of the engagement reception when Sinclair breaks the engagement to become engaged to another. Thomas was the fireman that watched it all happen. Thomas approaches her father and they have an agreement. Her father wants to see her married by the time his life is ended. He's raised her his whole life. She approaches Thomas and asks him if he will accept her proposal. She really just wants a male figure to do the work on the farm while she is the one managing it, along with protecting her inheritance, along with time to get to know one another, perhaps up to a year. That's not quite the way he hears her though... What I like about this is not only doing things by hand but all the things I learned along the way, detailed descriptions of the town architecture and other events that have occurred prior. They do get married, living in separate rooms in the house on the farm. Story also brings us up to date with Thomas and how and where he was raised. It's a wonder how things will work out as they are both bull headed, strong set in their own ways. He takes over the managing as she grieves. Love how he takes charge, love the things he does to wake her up.....her hair gets between them.... Steamy sex scenes. Great epilogue! Received this review copy from the author and this is my honest review.