Hannah G

What I loved most about Persuasion is that the heroine is on up in years. She's gotten past the age when most women marry, yet she doesn't sit around and groan about being a spinster. She's a pleasant, engaging lady and has gone about making her life worthwhile by being a friend to others.

And then, of course, I liked the romance. :)

4.5 stars
Delightful fast-paced story that kept me flipping pages easily. But now I have to wait for the rest of the story? Ugh! I want to know the rest now!

I've always had a bit of a morbid fascination for how easy it once was to shove an inconvenient relative into an insane asylum and basically give them a prison without any trial. This is an epic escape story as Eugenia and her daughter flee along the Oregon trail to the homestead a former servant has located for them.

The romance is understated, which I quite liked, with the thrill of the run being the main driver of the story. It's a well balanced narrative of some of the things encountered along the trail in its later days after the rail route went in, some of which are sad, but most of which are interesting/informative.

Quite the twist at the end with Yvette

I'm really enjoying these stories by Robin Lee Hatcher! I wish she'd written more than four. :)

In this one, a young girl sets out to get a better placement in her ball team and just might get a stepfather in the process. Delightful appearances from the characters in previous books, also..

This delightful book is not only a joy to read, but clean and edifying too. The children of the story all have a lesson to learn as they come together to look for Captie's lost money belt.

This book would be highly recommended for children and families and will be a delight to adults as well. It has the old-fashioned country flavor of a Kate Douglas Wiggin book with the endearing children of an Amy le Feuvre work. Be sure the characters will swiftly creep into your heart and remain.

4.5 stars

This story fully absorbed my attention and kept me flipping the pages all day long. It wasn’t hard to stay involved in the story even though it kept flipping back in each chapter to a section from Jessica’s great-grandfather in the Great Depression. The transitions were smooth and easy to follow, which is a big plus in a dual timeline story.

Ridley and Jessica are a fun couple, and it was a huge plus to me that they began as friends and neighbors before they got romantically interested in each other. This book also features one of the best treatments of infidelity that I’ve run across recently. Robin Lee Hatcher is quickly becoming a favorite contemporary-fiction author of mine because of her colorful characters, relevant spiritual truths, and solid storytelling. I can’t wait for the second book in this series, which will feature Jessica’s cousin and continue more of Andrew’s story from the 1930s.

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for a free ecopy. A favorable review was not required.