Until Tomorrow

I would really like someone to to tell me how as avid a reader as I am that this is my first Jill Marie Landis book I've read. I'm waiting, please tell me. If I'd have know how much I would have enjoyed her writing I would have read her years ago. So glad I decided to give her a chance now. An attack kills all the members of a traveling wagon but a young woman who is grievously injured.Before slipping off to death she begs Dake Reed,a war rugged soldier traveling home from the Civil War to take her newborn babe and find him a mother. Cradling the baby in his jacket he travels on until he finds Cara James, the last survivor in her family who lives in a dug out alone. Being the typical man he thinks she has child care experience,but she doesn't. He is determined to return the baby to the baby's mother's family and has her bracelet to prove that this is her baby. Cara agrees to travel with Dake to take care of the baby after getting child care tips from a neighbor.There are many hardships along the way. Dake is also on his way home to his families plantation house after being summoned there by his sister in law,Minna. Her husband,who is his brother was maimed in the war and she needs Dake to come home and keep the creditors from taking the house. The beautiful thing is the baby,whom they name,Clay brings them together and creates a bond between them while they care for him. All this would be great and fine but then at about 80% in the action starts to happen and I just didn't see it coming! It really adds to the story. With one bad thing happening after another I really didn't have a clue who was responsible. I was holding my breath there for a bit when a certain character is missing and so much action is going on. This really captured my interest and I simply couldn't read it fast enough. I am on the look out for more books by this author!
Pub Date 15 Aug 2017
Thank you to NetGalley and BelleBooks for a review copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is the first novel I've read by Jill Marie Landis and I enjoyed it so very much. I loved the story and the characters. It was sweet how baby Clay brought the two main characters together, although neither had much experience with children. It was interesting to read how the characters travelled to their destination. I'll admit to thinking, hoping really, the story would turn out a certain way after Dake reconnected with Burke and was quite surprised by the turn of events. I was suspicious of a certain character immediately when things go a little sour, so I kind of wished there had been someone else to be genuinely suspicious of. However the suspense came in heavy near the end when a character was missing, so I was glad to have not spent so very long in anticipation. I really could not read fast enough to see how everything turned out! I'm so happy to have read this book and look forward to more from the author.

“Until Tomorrow” by Jill Marie Landis is a funny, poignant story of post-Civil War Kansas and Alabama. The story begins with ex-Yankee soldier Dake Reed travelling home from Kansas after leaving the army. He stumbles upon a wagon, which has been ambushed by bushwhackers, leaving two Negroes killed and a young woman in the throes of childbirth. She asks Dake to take her child home to her family in Gadsden, Alabama. Not sure how he is going to transport this child, no matter that he doesn’t know the first thing about babies, he is desperate to find help.

Cara James has lived on the Kansas prairie for most of her life and all she wants to do is go to California and live the dream of owning her own store. She has buried all of her family and is alone on the big prairie. She has bundled up her possessions and is ready to leave for California all by herself. When she sees a horseman coming to her dugout home, she gets her gun ready. Dake Reed asks for her help. He offers to pay her to travel with him and take care of the newborn as they try to reach the Clayton home in Alabama to turn the baby over to his grandparents.

This makes a good story in itself, but Ms. Landis has provided a most engrossing tale of the two as they travel across the country, neither of them knowing what to do with an infant, but also becoming attached to the little mite. Since Dake is an Alabaman who served with the Yankee army, he is not welcomed in his ancestral home by his brother and his fiancée. Those problems along with visits from the Klan make for a most appealing read.

I heartily endorse this book and hope that many of you choose to read it. If you do, I’m sure you will become great fans of Jill Marie Landis as I am.

I downloaded a free Kindle copy from NetGalley.com in return for my honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this visit into the past. The injustices of the past are heartbreaking, but the triumph of love and good over evil and hate.. This book was well researched and gives the reader a realistic view into the past. Like Dake and Cara, I look forward to the future and more stories like this one.

Beautifully written, Until Tomorrow is my first Jill Marie Landis book. As you read through Dake’s finding little Clay, riding up to Cara’s dirt cabin, you know immediately you are reading a book with wonderfully, descriptive scenes that will lead to wanting to finish it without putting it down.

Yankee Captain Dake Reed needs to return home to his family’s plantation after being summoned by his brother’s fiance. His father has passed, his brother is about to loose the family land and he was told to leave and never return. While traveling home to Alabama, he happens upon the scene left by raiders that include dead former slaves and a woman who has delivered a little boy, who fondly becomes named Clay after his momma, Anna Clayton. As she lay dying, Dake commits to taking the child to her family. Shortly there after, he finds himself at Cara James’s cabin. He can tell she is alone, poor and that she is packing up to leave. Dake convinces her to come with him to help care of Clay as his nanny. She agrees with the caveat she is going on to California once the child is delivered. She could use the money to help her travels.

I found Dake to be a bit OCD about his clothing and gear. That is not a bad thing as it was written in a way that made him quite endearing. He recognized the differences between himself and Cara and, although it took him a bit, he realized that her tardiness and slightly messy habits where what made her special. I love that not only did he come to accept her unusual habits, he loved her all the more for them. You could say this is an example of opposites attracting. Cara was from a pioneer family and, apparently, had never been in a town, finding all things new. Dake was from a wealthy, Southern family who traveled with the Union as a rising officer. They made a sweet couple as they grew to accept each other for their remarkably different ways.

What follows is a unique blend of difficulty with illness, death, loss and the tremendous changes that took place following the Civil War. Even the sensual scenes between Cara and Dake were appropriate and well-written. Ms. Landis keeps you wanting to continue reading to see what will happen next. There were several surprises for me as I read through not wanting to put it down. This is a great weekend read that, at times, will pull at your heart with Dake, Cara and Clay’s struggles. Well worth your time to read.

This story was set after the Civil War, a time period I have always found fascinating and heart-wrenchingly sad. This book was about a former Confederate Captain and a girl who had lived her life on the Kansas prairie. While an unusual pairing, the care of a newborn child brings them together, creating an initial bond. Over time the two found their own bond of trust and love, not only for each other, but for the child as well. I appreciated the descriptions of the towns ravished by war and the emotions of those affected by the devastation of that war. It brought in all the elements of the difficulties of a Southern son, having fought on the side of the Union, to try and return home. I felt the conclusion of this story reflected very realistically the time and temperament in which they lived and the only possible, livable decision for their future. I very much enjoyed this book. (A complimentary copy of this book was given to me in exchange for my honest review.)

This is my first Jill Marie Landis book and it will not be my last. The story is about Dake Reed traveling home from the Civil War. He stumbles upon a wagon that was attacked and found a young women who was barely alive. She asks him to help her baby. He cradles the baby under his coat to keep it from harm. He took the women's bracelet from her after she dies to help find the babies family. He finds Cara James, the last survivor in her family. She is packed up to go to California to make and sell her dolls. He asks her to go with him to care for the infant. He offers to pay her to do so. She agrees and they go to find little Clay's family. It is a beautiful story of Dake and Cara and how they both struggled to help the infant even if they never cared for a child before. I could not put this book down. It was well written and a lovely Historical Fiction .Thank You Net Galley for introducing a new Author to me.

I enjoyed this book immensely. The heroine was ready to take on the next challenge of her life, but was willing to adjust her plans to help our hero with a newfound baby. I liked the way the story developed. There were problems at every turn, but the gradual coming together of the hero and heroine to overcome the hurdles was one of the best parts of the book. It is set just after the Civil War, so the attitudes of Northerners and Southerners are described well and incorporated into the story in an excellent way.. We all know there will be a HEA, but this story was a lovely way to get there. Most enjoyable.

A fantastic read that takes you to post American Civil war and the deep south.
A tale of love hate and retribution with two wonderful central characters Dake and Cara and their love for the orphaned child Clay.
I loved the book it was gritty at times with a beautiful emerging love story that grew throughout the book
I just could not put it down.

"Always watch your step or you might land in something you can’t wipe off  - Nanny James"

Kansas at the end of the Civil War.  It's her twentieth birthday and Cara Calvinia James is alone after the death of her family.  Her wish is about to come through...to go to California and start a new life, but a stranger and a baby enter her life that day and change her life forever.  What is in store for Cara as she helps a man in need?

Dake Reed, former Union soldier, is going home to Alabama to face his family and friends who call him a traitor.  Little did he know that he would be responsible for taking a newborn baby home to Alabama after promising a dying mother he discovered lying on the road.  He hoped to find someone to help him care for Anna Clayton’s orphaned child on the way to Alabama, but can Cara, an independent, spirited woman from Kansas help him?

When Cara and Dake find the baby's relatives they don't want anything to do him because of his mother's past, but that's the least of their troubles.  Dake's older brother, confined to a wheelchair from the war, is murdered and Dake is the chief suspect.  Can Cara help him be cleared of the charges, and who is the real murderer?

This is a new digital reprint of Ms. Landis’ first edition print book which came out in 1994.  Again, Ms. Landis does not disappoint with another historical romance set during a volatile time in the south with the conflicts between the Ku Klux Klan and freed slaves and between men who fought against brothers and friends.  Cara's spirit and her Nanny James' quotes are refreshing and Dake's compassion and sense of duty are commendable after all he has gone through.  Another great story for those who like historical romance with a bit of mystery.

This was my first Jill Marie Landis book but it will not be my last. I enjoyed it very much. Great story line and characters. Held my interest from start to finish.

A beautifully written book by Jill Marie Landis....This novel captivated my attention from the cover art...however, the story line and characters held me...until the satisfying last chapter. Five Stars.