Unless she can trust God's love to cast out her fears, Ada may lose the heart of a good man.
Ada Wentworth, a young Bostonian, journeys to Hickory Ridge, Tennessee, in the years following the Civil War. Alone and nearly penniless following a broken engagement, Ada accepts a position as a lady's companion to the elderly Lillian Willis, a pillar of the community and aunt to the local lumber mill owner, Wyatt Caldwell. Ada intends to use her millinery skills to establish a hat shop and secure her future.
Haunted by unanswered questions from her life in Boston, Ada is most drawn to two townsfolks: Wyatt, a Texan with big plans of his own, and Sophie, a mulatto girl who resides at the Hickory Ridge orphanage. Ada's friendship with Sophia attracts the attention of a group of locals seeking to displace the residents of Two Creeks, a "colored" settlement on the edge of town. As tensions rise, Ada is threatened but refuses to abandon her plan to help the girl.
When Lillian dies, Ada is left without employment or a place to call home. And since Wyatt's primary purpose for staying in Hickory Ridge was to watch over his aunt, he can now pursue his dream of owning Longhorns in his home state of Texas.
With their feelings for each other growing, Ada must decide whether she can trust God with her future and Wyatt with her heart.
My Review
I’m not entirely sure how I felt about this book. Was the story enjoyable? Yes, but within means. Ada, our heroine, wasn’t an entirely likeable character in the beginning, but her personal growth added to the story. Wyatt on the other hand, was a charming southern gentleman from the beginning. But there was the problem, he was annoyingly so. It was unrealistic to think that he could be so good natured and unwaveringly kind, even in times that the pair clash. And can I just say, what man calls a woman he loves my dear friend? That term of endearment slipped under my skin from its first emergence and every time is reappear, more often than I would ever wish it to, it just annoyed me more. Dorothy Love is a wonderful writer, but really Ms. Love, that is not romance. I want to rate this higher because I think it was beautifully written and the flow kept my attention despite the issues I had with the actual plotline, but it was nothing special. It fits the same formula of so many other novels, destitute woman with a dream who falls for a man that is different from everything she’s wanted, but has everything she needs. And in the end, they work past their differences and make it work.
I was graciously given a copy of this book for free from BookSneeze® for this review, but was in no way compelled to write a positive review.
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