This book felt like I was reading more of a summary of a book than a whole story itself. I did enjoy the timeline, especially after reading a similar book by Kristin Hannah lately. I would've enjoyed this so much more if it was longer. The writing, however, was beautiful, and I will look for more by this author. Also, the cover art is amazing.

The Search by Tiffani Burnett-Velez
A Dust Bowl Romance

Dark, compelling, visceral descriptions of dust storms, hunger, loss, bigotry and more seem to fill the pages of this book. There is little hope for those in the dustbowl states whether they stay home or try to leave. This book does have a happy ending for the two main characters but they endure much to achieve it.

What I liked:
* Melinda: teacher that loves her students, abandoned by her husband, bright, strong willed, survivor
* Jake: photojournalist, works for the NRA, divorced, Jewish
* The descriptions of some situations (like the dust storms) that had me searching online for photos
* That it was, for the most part, believable
* That punches were not pulled when describing situations
* The glimpse into the past
* Thinking about my parents and grandparents who were alive in this time period
* Being glad that I did not live during the dust storms – sandstorms were bad enough in Saudi Arabia

What I didn’t like:
* The desperation with no solution
* The bigotry and meanness of some toward others
* Realizing that some of the issues in this book are the same today as then though the bigotry may be toward the same or different people.

Notes/Suggestions:
* I thoroughly enjoyed the first part of the book – rough to read but informative, real, and gripping
* After that the story seemed a bit hurried and, I felt, it would have been enhanced with more about how the two main characters lived during the years they were apart and searching for one another

Did I enjoy this book? Yes
Would I read more by this author? Yess

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the ARC – This is my honest review.

3-4 Stars

Tiffani Velez brings the dust bowl to life in this historical romance. From an historical perspective this is an interesting read; the poverty and desperation of the era, the antisemitism and anti-poor sentiments are compassionately explored. As a romance however, I found it less compelling. The novel has some jarring modern expressions that undermine the story's sense of place and time.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I love historical fiction and had high hopes for this book, but I was disapointed. I'm not even sure how to describe this. First of all, it was really short. I read it on my kindle so I'm not positive how many pages it would be, but I read it in no more than two hours. Honestly, it felt like reading a SUMMARY of a historical romance set during the Dust Bowl. It just didn't feel like a developed story at all. If you're looking for a truely developed story set during the Dust Bowl, I recently loved Kristin Hannah's The Four Winds.

Thank you netgalley for this e arc.

This novel is an enjoyable American historical fiction book and love story set during the dust bowl.
A quick read with both sad and happy parts like most historical fiction books.
I recommend to anyone who enjoys dust bowl or depression era historical fiction. They are much harder to find.

To the author, Tiffani Velez, thank you for the novel. I have been wanting to read another dust bowl era story.

A captivating book that holds your attention from beginning to end.
The heartbreaking scenes to survival and learning to what and how the dust bowl came about.
I was fascinated by how these people survived the these years!
And the sound of that wind! Must've been terrifying!
I couldn't imagine dealing with sand in everything much less in the food!
Not even breathing it in!
I liked everything this book had to offer and this is my first book by this author.
The plot had many twists and turns and the character development was well done.
The only thing that I didn't much care for was how the story was told by the two different main characters Jake and the school teacher. I wished it was from one person that would have been easier to keep up with.
But otherwise a wonderful story with a cool setting.
My thanks for a copy of this book. I was NOT required to write a positive review and all opinions are my own.

Though advertised as a love story, The Search: A Dust Bowl Love Story has so much more grit, emotion and tragedy than the average love story. The setting is one that I’d only recently become familiar with and I’m still shocked by the tragic events that occurred in Oklahoma and states surrounding. Reading the accounts of how people struggled to survive, journeying to California to find a new life, just to be mistreated by their fellow Americans was heartbreaking to read. With so much disease, poverty, fear, emotion and death, this book is definitely one to read for a real life look at what occurred in 1930’s Oklahoma.

Thank you to NetGalley and Xpresso Book Tours for the early release copy of this book in exchange for honest review.

If you're in the mood for a short romantic historical novel, this is the perfect one for you.
It's a lovely story that you can read in a couple of hours. I really enjoyed the two POVs in the story. I always prefer that, that way we have a wider perspective. I liked the characters but I did not connect that much with them. I think I connected more with Melinda, however.
Also, I think it was a well-written novel. I especially liked the way the author portrayed the social struggles and ethnic issues of that time. I think she delivered it perfectly. I personally didn't know this part of American history (as I'm not American), and it was very interesting to read it in a romance novel.

Nonetheless, I believe the story could have been more developed, especially in part II. That ending felt a little too rushed to me. We have the lovely characters, the piece of history, and the story.

Nevertheless, it a lovely book that I see many people enjoying!

In the midst of hopelessness

This is a story of two people meeting by chance during a disaster and falling in love. It is a story of the many families that became migrants traveling across the country to a better place for jobs only to find that they become slaves to their employers. These migrants suffer homelessness, sleeping in migrant camps from the plains to California and Oregon. Along the way they face stations, towns, motels and people with signs that say No Jews, No Okie's, No Mexicans. These migrants from Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and other states are all considered Okie's by the locals in the towns they travel through. Not wanted and always asked to leave.

Jake is a Jewish photographer working for the government documenting migrant's during the great depression. Faced with anti Semitism in the 1930's he travels from migrant camp to migrant camp documenting those that face much the same discrimination. During a huge life threatening dust storm he lands in a schoolhouse in rural Oklahoma.

Miranda is a schoolteacher with only 9 pupils left as most of the farmers around have lost their lands due to the depression, the drought and dust and loss of income. When the dust storm hits her schoolhouse it destroys the schoolhouse and her job. When the storm breaks she allows Jake who collapses into the schoolhouse to stay and wait out the storm.

They traveled together him toward his assignments and her to a promised job in a school in Albuquerque. Somewhere along the line they fell in love. Then a betrayal caused them to lose each other and they both searched for the other through migrant camps across the country.

This book taught me the sacrifices our ancestors made during the depression and those dust bowl years in the 1930's, the stock market collapse, the loss of property and the huge migration west. So many of these died from Tuberculosis, Cholera and other diseases in these migrant camps. What a challenging time to live, especially if you lived in the dust bowl states. I don't know much about this era, but I am going to learn because I want to know.

Thanks to Tiffani Burnett-Velez, Leibert Creek Press, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a copy of the book for an honest review.

A very sweet love story set during the Great Depression in the Dust Bowel area of the United States. Not many books nowadays are set during this period (except Kristin Hannah's newest - so if you liked that one, definitely check this one out), so it was a nice deviation from the normal trend of historical fiction right now. I liked all the characters and found myself rooting for this satisfying love story.