I absolutely love this author’s ability to make the more obscure parts of history come alive on the page. Growing up as a Christian and a homeschooler historical fiction was my bread and butter and I recall a decent amount of stories surrounding the orphan trains. But I don’t recall ever reading about the women who were placed out west to work. So the history nerd in me was soaking up all the little historical tidbits. But the fascinating time when the story takes place wasn’t the only thing I loved, every other part of it was equally rich and I was completely lost in the story. After meeting Elise in the novella that preceded this book I had already begun to admire her. Life seemed to have dealt her blow after blow but through it all she stood strong and was determined to do whatever necessary to keep her family together and safe. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to travel so far from your family at the time, when letters were the only form of communication and that could take weeks. But Elise was willing to make the sacrifice for the hope that she could provide a better life for her siblings.
Thornton couldn’t have grown up more different than Elise. He was the son of a wealthy businessman and had never wanted for anything. Though thankfully he hadn’t let that turn him into a completely stuck-up snob. Sure he was oblivious to much of what the poor had to go through but when confronted with his misconceptions he was willing to change. To the outside observer there were a million reasons why Elise and Thornton shouldn’t even speak to each other let alone fall in love but despite their differences they were exactly what each other needed. I loved how Elise constantly challenged Thornton to see things differently and how listened and then went and did something about it, he wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty.
The challenge issued by Thornton’s father was certainly out of the ordinary and it provided quite the interesting twist to the story.
So yeah, this book was brilliant and wonderful and I hated to put it down! I’m looking forward to the rest of this series!

Jody Hedlund has always been one of my favorite authors in Christian Historical Romance along with Karen Witemeyer and Elizabeth Camden. She writes such moving stories that have faith, honesty and flawed characters that you would always relate to!