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Evangeline's Miracle
Evangeline didn't know she was looking for a miracle, until one found her. A grieving ghost, an unsolved mystery, a lost child, a broken marriage, and an estranged mother and daughter. Can one young woman find the answer to the mystery before yet another tragedy strikes? In 1877 Lady Miracle Sobieski dies a sad, broken-hearted aristocrat. Yet her restless spirit reaches through time to a particular young woman to try and avert a mysterious legacy of tragedy. In 2007 Evangeline Lacroix loves her husband to distraction. But her unspoken fears strain their three-year marriage to the breaking point. As her life falls apart, Evie finds herself compelled to solve the 100 year-old mystery. Elusive and sometimes dangerous clues entangle her in an intricate web of deceit and (hopelessness?) disaster that threatens everything she's ever known. As time runs out, she discovers a connection between herself and the haunted ghost. Will Evie ignore her life-long fears and listen to the past? Will she save Miracle, and in so doing save herself, before tragedy strikes again?
- GenresHistorical Fiction
262 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
About the author
Lisa Buie-Collard
5 books24 followersI'm a mother, wife, sister, and daughter, have waited tables, been a dental assistant, teacher, journalist, gardener and architectural administrative assistant. I’ve traveled in Europe, New Zealand, and the US. I speak French and English fluently with a little Spanish on the side. I grew up in Florida, lived four years in Georgia before moving to Texas for eighteen years. The last year I've lived in Asheville North Carolina. Now I'm in Ohio, where the winters are colder... I have three published novels "Rain" award winning women's fiction, "The Seventh Man" a police procedural, and the award winning "Evangeline's Miracle," a mystery lost in time...
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 20, 2012
Evangeline’s Miracle
Lisa Buie-Collard
**** of *****
Evangeline LaCroix is a young writer wed to a handsome Frenchman, the man of her dreams. Despite her lovely life, she is haunted by self esteem issues and trust issues from her largely absentee father and emotionally repressed mother. She and her husband Christian have a pleasant, albeit predictable life except for his profound desire for a child and her insistence that the love they share should be enough. One of their shared passions is piano concerts and it is at one such concert that Evangeline’s life is thrown into a maelstrom of mystery and change.
Christian and Evangeline are attending a concert when she first encounters the ghost. So real and lovely is the ghost that Evangeline first believes her to be an interpretive performer. It is not until the end of the concert when she realizes that she was the only person to have seen the woman that she realizes that she has seen a ghost. Over the course of dreams and days the woman, Lady Miracle Sobieski and Evangeline are drawn through the curtain of time toward each other and into the normal lives of the other. Evangeline is intrigued with lady Miracle and her lovely and loving family and becomes more interested in that life than her own. When Christian discovers that Evangeline has been using birth control to prevent the conception of the child he so badly desires, he leaves her in anger. Yet, Evangeline is too caught up in the lives of the Sobieski family and the mysterious disappearance of Lady Miracle’s loving and beloved Lord Sobieski that she barely tries to recover her own husband.
Evangeline uses her computer and her wits to travel to England to uncover the mystery behind Lord Sobieski’s disappearance believing that if she can solve the mystery in time, she may be able to change the course of events for the family she has come to love. Will she have to overcome her fears to choose between her husband in the here and now or the mysterious woman beckoning her from the past? What will Evangeline’s Miracle be?
Lady Miracle carries the book more than Evangeline. If the book had been longer (it was rather short), perhaps the author would have been able to develop Evangeline and Christian in greater depth. As it is, Christian’s choice to abandon Evangeline over her contraception deception is a childish bit of anger inconsistent with the loving relationship they seem to have before that. Even after the real miracle unfolds, the reader is left with some questions about if Evangeline and Christian can deal with real life as well as Evangeline dealt with the mystery of the past.
Lisa Buie-Collard
**** of *****
Evangeline LaCroix is a young writer wed to a handsome Frenchman, the man of her dreams. Despite her lovely life, she is haunted by self esteem issues and trust issues from her largely absentee father and emotionally repressed mother. She and her husband Christian have a pleasant, albeit predictable life except for his profound desire for a child and her insistence that the love they share should be enough. One of their shared passions is piano concerts and it is at one such concert that Evangeline’s life is thrown into a maelstrom of mystery and change.
Christian and Evangeline are attending a concert when she first encounters the ghost. So real and lovely is the ghost that Evangeline first believes her to be an interpretive performer. It is not until the end of the concert when she realizes that she was the only person to have seen the woman that she realizes that she has seen a ghost. Over the course of dreams and days the woman, Lady Miracle Sobieski and Evangeline are drawn through the curtain of time toward each other and into the normal lives of the other. Evangeline is intrigued with lady Miracle and her lovely and loving family and becomes more interested in that life than her own. When Christian discovers that Evangeline has been using birth control to prevent the conception of the child he so badly desires, he leaves her in anger. Yet, Evangeline is too caught up in the lives of the Sobieski family and the mysterious disappearance of Lady Miracle’s loving and beloved Lord Sobieski that she barely tries to recover her own husband.
Evangeline uses her computer and her wits to travel to England to uncover the mystery behind Lord Sobieski’s disappearance believing that if she can solve the mystery in time, she may be able to change the course of events for the family she has come to love. Will she have to overcome her fears to choose between her husband in the here and now or the mysterious woman beckoning her from the past? What will Evangeline’s Miracle be?
Lady Miracle carries the book more than Evangeline. If the book had been longer (it was rather short), perhaps the author would have been able to develop Evangeline and Christian in greater depth. As it is, Christian’s choice to abandon Evangeline over her contraception deception is a childish bit of anger inconsistent with the loving relationship they seem to have before that. Even after the real miracle unfolds, the reader is left with some questions about if Evangeline and Christian can deal with real life as well as Evangeline dealt with the mystery of the past.
November 25, 2011
This was an enjoyable book with a very creative premise. I thought Ms. Buie-Collard did a nice job bringing to life a historical time/setting. The unfolding of the mystery in the first half of the book was action-packed and fast-paced, while the second-half of the book focused on the main character's own emotional journey. I would recommend this book to a friend!
September 24, 2012
Whatever you might think about ghosts, this story is unlike any ghost story that you might have read so far,for sure it was the case for me. I found great pleasure reading this kind of a story. In some ways it reminded me on Zynga's game Hidden Chronicles which I like to play sometimes.
Evangeline Lacroix is the main protagonist of the story. She is an author still unpublished with doubts on herself. She leads an estranged relationship to her mother, also her husband Christian is unhappy with the life they lead and leaves her behind. She is a lonely woman.
Evangeline will find herself to be tasked with a puzzle most unusual and must follow the given hints to solve a mysterious encounter where she herself doesn't know the reason why she has been chosen for it. A ghost like appearance or spirit in form of a woman calls for her. Evangeline is drawn into the world of this ghost who is Miracle Sobieski by night, while she sleeps, and is surrounded with the life of a family in England in the past. Also it becomes clear that also Miracle is drawn to the future and dreams of an unknown world to her,the present life of Evangeline Lacroix.
The story is very much intertwined together between the past and the present that everything becomes clearer throughout the story line. While on this mysterious path of solving a puzzle she will find herself travelling between USA, England and France. There she will find all the answers that she was looking for her entire lifetime, she will know who she is and to whom she belongs and gets to know, that she is not alone in this world. With a new found strength she will be able to fight back for the love of her life and save more than one life.
While reading this kind of a story i felt to be involved with the emotions of the protagonist. I shared the despair as well as the joy, the sadness and happiness. And like a puzzle which entertainment you can enjoy on several occasions so is this story to be read again after a while and unlock its hidden mystery.
Evangeline Lacroix is the main protagonist of the story. She is an author still unpublished with doubts on herself. She leads an estranged relationship to her mother, also her husband Christian is unhappy with the life they lead and leaves her behind. She is a lonely woman.
Evangeline will find herself to be tasked with a puzzle most unusual and must follow the given hints to solve a mysterious encounter where she herself doesn't know the reason why she has been chosen for it. A ghost like appearance or spirit in form of a woman calls for her. Evangeline is drawn into the world of this ghost who is Miracle Sobieski by night, while she sleeps, and is surrounded with the life of a family in England in the past. Also it becomes clear that also Miracle is drawn to the future and dreams of an unknown world to her,the present life of Evangeline Lacroix.
The story is very much intertwined together between the past and the present that everything becomes clearer throughout the story line. While on this mysterious path of solving a puzzle she will find herself travelling between USA, England and France. There she will find all the answers that she was looking for her entire lifetime, she will know who she is and to whom she belongs and gets to know, that she is not alone in this world. With a new found strength she will be able to fight back for the love of her life and save more than one life.
While reading this kind of a story i felt to be involved with the emotions of the protagonist. I shared the despair as well as the joy, the sadness and happiness. And like a puzzle which entertainment you can enjoy on several occasions so is this story to be read again after a while and unlock its hidden mystery.
November 29, 2011
I think Mrs. Buie-Collard fell in love with a story and chose to write it down before it faded away. The best part of a story is its characters, and Lisa obviously spent a lot of time and effort discovering and falling in love with the characters in this book. It is a very personal story that not only offers an insight into the lives of her characters but into her own life and experiences. It is an easy book to read, though not all of the content is light-hearted. This book deals with the fears that every person harbors, and her characters, though some of them flawed, have the inner strength to overcome the trails presented not only by life but by their own choices. As a lover of books and a lover of any and every good story, I highly recommend this book!!
February 28, 2012
In Evangeline's Miracle, Evangeline Lacroix becomes consumed by the plight of a mysterious apparition. As she crusades to change the unfortunate circumstances that marked this spirit's life, Evangeline's own life spirals out of control. She has a tragedy to fix, a slew of Mommy issues to get over, and a marriage to save. Yeah, she's got a lot going on.
As a World Literary Cafe reviewer, I chose Evangeline's Miracle for two reasons: it sounded unusual and I'm a sucker for anything historical. I'm happy to report that it succeeded in both areas. The plot was much more original than I had anticipated; in fact, I've never read anything quite like it before. Anyone who reads books with a historical edge knows that they are sometimes ill-researched to the point where you feel completely removed from the story. Lisa Buie-Collard seems to have done a fairly good job researching the time period in which the Sobieski family lived. Consequently, I thoroughly enjoyed getting lost in their lives, often wondering what their daily routines were like, which societal codes they followed, etc.
I also liked Lisa Buie-Collard's writing style, so I'm looking forward to reading more from her in the future. While she's got one Hell of an imagination, she needs to reign it in at times; this book could have easily become a series. When I finished it, I felt like I had just read two books in one. The first (and arguably most important) climax should probably have been dragged out a little longer in order to make the plot a tad more fluid.
Final word: This book is that classic "easy read" that you can knock out in a couple of days while being happily engrossed in a life that's not your own.
As a World Literary Cafe reviewer, I chose Evangeline's Miracle for two reasons: it sounded unusual and I'm a sucker for anything historical. I'm happy to report that it succeeded in both areas. The plot was much more original than I had anticipated; in fact, I've never read anything quite like it before. Anyone who reads books with a historical edge knows that they are sometimes ill-researched to the point where you feel completely removed from the story. Lisa Buie-Collard seems to have done a fairly good job researching the time period in which the Sobieski family lived. Consequently, I thoroughly enjoyed getting lost in their lives, often wondering what their daily routines were like, which societal codes they followed, etc.
I also liked Lisa Buie-Collard's writing style, so I'm looking forward to reading more from her in the future. While she's got one Hell of an imagination, she needs to reign it in at times; this book could have easily become a series. When I finished it, I felt like I had just read two books in one. The first (and arguably most important) climax should probably have been dragged out a little longer in order to make the plot a tad more fluid.
Final word: This book is that classic "easy read" that you can knock out in a couple of days while being happily engrossed in a life that's not your own.
July 21, 2016
This story has a strong, unique premise. Lisa Buie-Collard ties together several interesting elements: two very different love stories happening a hundred years apart from each other yet connected in an unexpected way, the suspense and tragedy of a loved one suddenly gone missing, and lush historical detail. I thought the time travel aspect particularly well-handled. I've never seen anyone write about it in the subtle yet powerful way Buie-Collard does, as an altered psychological state like a trance. As someone who has worked in a few history museums over the years and catalogued artifacts, I've felt like Evie (the MC of Evangeline's Miracle) about the physical manifestations of the past all around us: spooked yet intrigued at the mysterious nature of time. All in all, a good read with a satisfying conclusion.
May 7, 2012
I give this book 3.5 stars. The plot is very interesting, but it seemed to drag on. All of the family members had the same name, which I thought was weird. Why not be original? Keeping family names are fine, but each generation seemed to have the same names. This story had a good premise, but it was not exquisite writing for me.
July 28, 2011
I loved this book. Could not put it down & did not want it to end!!
May 26, 2012
What a story! Past and present, all mingled together in the name of love. True love, that's all it matters.
August 19, 2012
(This review contains spoilers).
Like with Johnny Doesn't Drink Champagne, I finished this book a while back, but only just thought to add it to Goodreads.
I did enjoy this book a lot. It was engaging enough to keep me interested in it and the idea was a unique one. I really like books where things happen in dreams, so this book was fairly good in that respect. One thing that did kind of strike me as strange was how little time it took to solve the mystery... I'm a huge fan of happy endings, so how it ended was nothing like a problem for me... but it wasn't exactly realistic.
The above sentence probably doesn't read right, so I'll try to explain. Fantasy and the like isn't normally an issue, because it makes a logical kind of sense that means I can suspend my disbelief easily. This book was fine... up until history changed and, therefore, the present changed. Mainly because I could see no logical way for that to happen - I had the same problem with the film The Lake House.
I think it was that alone that makes this book four stars instead of five. And I really would have liked to accept the ending, but I couldn't completely. My mind was still working after I finished the book - and not in a good way.
Still, I think I'd be interested to read more books by this author.
Like with Johnny Doesn't Drink Champagne, I finished this book a while back, but only just thought to add it to Goodreads.
I did enjoy this book a lot. It was engaging enough to keep me interested in it and the idea was a unique one. I really like books where things happen in dreams, so this book was fairly good in that respect. One thing that did kind of strike me as strange was how little time it took to solve the mystery... I'm a huge fan of happy endings, so how it ended was nothing like a problem for me... but it wasn't exactly realistic.
The above sentence probably doesn't read right, so I'll try to explain. Fantasy and the like isn't normally an issue, because it makes a logical kind of sense that means I can suspend my disbelief easily. This book was fine... up until history changed and, therefore, the present changed. Mainly because I could see no logical way for that to happen - I had the same problem with the film The Lake House.
I think it was that alone that makes this book four stars instead of five. And I really would have liked to accept the ending, but I couldn't completely. My mind was still working after I finished the book - and not in a good way.
Still, I think I'd be interested to read more books by this author.
February 12, 2012
This story is a genealogical and relationship journey for struggling writer, Evangeline Lacroix. The catalyst to begin this adventure is through the concert where Evie meets the ghost of her distant relative Miracle. They begin to communicate through dreams, and Evie helps change the course of history. Meanwhile, Evie’s husband leaves her because she refuses to bear his children. Evie continues to string together her past in desperate hope to secure her place in the world and reconcile with her husband.
I thought this book was okay. The climax happened way too early in the book, the climax that mattered, in my opinion. I wish Miracle’s ghost communicated throughout the entirety of the book. As soon as her voice was silenced the book lost its hold on me.
If you enjoy genealogy, history, drama and a touch of the paranormal, this is the book for you.
I thought this book was okay. The climax happened way too early in the book, the climax that mattered, in my opinion. I wish Miracle’s ghost communicated throughout the entirety of the book. As soon as her voice was silenced the book lost its hold on me.
If you enjoy genealogy, history, drama and a touch of the paranormal, this is the book for you.
May 13, 2016
Very intriguing story. The heroine Evangeline Lecroix not only saves, but she is saved in return.
Not many stories have two climaxes, but Lisa Buie-Collard did an excellent job in building both in her story craft.
I cared very deeply for Evangeline Lecroix. She used research and perseverance to solve a perplexing mystery, but she turned to her heart for the final resolution.
Definitely material for many sequels for Lady Miracle Sobieski and her family through many generations.
Not many stories have two climaxes, but Lisa Buie-Collard did an excellent job in building both in her story craft.
I cared very deeply for Evangeline Lecroix. She used research and perseverance to solve a perplexing mystery, but she turned to her heart for the final resolution.
Definitely material for many sequels for Lady Miracle Sobieski and her family through many generations.
August 16, 2013
I enjoyed this story immensely. The beginning dragged very slightly, but then it really took off and I couldn't put it down. I had to find out the mystery that the author so cleverly revealed through a lovely ghost. Lots of interesting detail enrich this book and the emotion is powerful. A very worthwhile read.
May 15, 2015
Amazing
This story was so absolutely entrancing that I couldn't put it down! Mystery, ghosts, history, drama, love...this book has all of this. I very highly recommend this!
This story was so absolutely entrancing that I couldn't put it down! Mystery, ghosts, history, drama, love...this book has all of this. I very highly recommend this!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews