This was another approved ARC from Bethany House publishing that they were so kind to send me for review. Refining Fire is a historical piece set in 1800s Seattle Washington that centers around a young lady named Militine. She is a strong willed character who goes to the beat of her own drummer while trying to adhere to the standards of her time, and to the standards that God has set down in His holy word. She is generally successful with the later, but not so much with the former. She was a feminist in the sense that she does not believe that she needs to get married at a young age. In fact, she wants to marry for love and not for the traditional role that women married for in those times.

The setting was a great one. I really enjoyed reading about the time period as well. I do not usually read about this time period, but it was actually fun. I found Militine and her family interesting to read about and I liked the growth that Militine demonstrated throughout the course of the book. There were times where I was shaking my head in agreement with her, and wanting to throttle many of the male characters for their decidedly irritating views. One has to remember the customs of the time of course, but it did not mean I had to like it. After all, Militine certainly did not.

I have to say my only complaint about this book was that it moved a bit slow for me. There were many times I had to put the book down and pick it back up but I wanted to finish it. I wish that not only the speed was a bit better, but also that there were more descriptions of the characters. This book relied heavily on dialogue which is fine, but it can take away from the setting which brings a book’s storyline down a bit. All in all, a good book 3/5 stars!