I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by Bethany House, NetGalley. I was not compensated for this review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.
Together Forever by Jody Hedlund Series: Orphan Train #2
Published by Baker Publishing Group on May 1st 2018
Genres: Christian, Fiction, General, Historical, Romance
Pages: 352
Source: Bethany House, NetGalley
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Marianne Neumann has one goal in life: to find her lost younger sister, Sophie. When Marianne takes a job as a placing agent with the Children's Aid Society in 1858 New York, she not only hopes to give children a better life but seeks to discover whether Sophie ended up leaving the city on an orphan train.
Andrew Brady, her fellow agent on her first placing trip, is a former schoolteacher who has an easy way with the children--firm but tender and funny. Underneath his handsome charm, though, seems to linger a grief that won't go away--and a secret from his past that he keeps hidden. As the two team up placing orphans amid small railroad towns in Illinois, they find themselves growing ever closer . . . until a shocking tragedy threatens to upend all their work and change one of their lives forever.
Jody Hedlund has yet to write a book (that I’ve read) that I haven’t loved. Her Orphan Train series has captured my heart and my mind. Waiting between releases is torture. Having the book sitting on my stack waiting it’s turn to read? Inhumane. I mean, I have a schedule for a reason but sometimes I just want to toss it to the wind and just indulge. I usually don’t, but I desperately want to. I picked this book off my pile, my 60th of the year, during the work week. Work always gets in the way of reading 😀 It took me a bit to read it and I was just as enthralled with the first chapter as I was the last. Though since it has been more than a minute since I read the first book the obvious first step was to go back to my review of the second. You can find that here ‘With You Always‘.
Marianne has a lot to figure out. She takes personal responsibility for Olivia and Nicholas (orphans her and her sisters had taken in) being sent away from the home they were staying at to placed out on the orphan train but also her sister Sophie taking off to find her young charges. None had been find-able, even with investigators. So what is a girl to do? Finagle a job at the Children’s Aid Society and go out on the train of course! Never mind the desperately annoy yet handsome man that is accompanying you on the journey. Never mind the adorable little boy that still needs a family. Those are just gravy ya know? I have to say it, yes there was insta-loveish. But it was hilarious and endearing and I didn’t even care to acknowledge it. There was also a love triangle. That I desperately struggled with not flipping ahead to the end to figure out who she ended up with. I didn’t. I wanted to but I didn’t. That kept me on the edge and I didn’t even care that it was a love triangle. I mean hello, those two things alone should tell you just how amazing this book is.
Though I gotta feel bad for Reinhold. He will never have the one woman he loved yet he has been loved by two women he didn’t want. It was nice to see Marianne grow up in this book. Embrace who she is, who she was, who she can be. It was nice to see her come to terms what what she saw as her failings. Though I can say the same for Drew. I don’t have history with him but I came to care for him. I also was drawn into his story and awakening to who he is, was, and can be. Self-forgiveness is sometimes the hardest forgiveness to give. That was a huge theme in this book for me. Sophie still isn’t found but Marianne, Reinhold, and Drew all found themselves. And hopefully in the next book we find Sophie, Olivia, and Nicholas.
About Jody Hedlund
Winner of the 2016 Christian Book Award for fiction and Christy Award for historical romance, best-selling author Jody Hedlund writes inspirational historical romances for both youth and adults.
Jody lives in central Michigan with her husband, five busy children, and five spoiled cats. Although Jody prefers to experience daring and dangerous adventures through her characters rather than in real life, she’s learned that a calm existence is simply not meant to be (at least in this phase of her life!).
When she’s not penning another of her page-turning stories, she loves to spend her time reading, especially when it also involves consuming coffee and chocolate.
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