Reviewed by Martha Artyomenko
About the book:
When her mother suffers a stroke, medical student Deirdre O’Leary makes the difficult choice to put her career on hold to care for her. Dr. Matthew Clayborne is renowned for his amazing results with patients, but when Deirdre approaches him about helping her mother, she finds him challenging and surly. Deirdre has had enough of complicated men in her life. After her fiancé left her, she vowed never to give a man that kind of power again.
Widower Dr. Matthew Clayborne is devoted to two things: his work with wounded soldiers and his four-year-old daughter, Phoebe. He won’t abandon either of these priorities to care for one older woman. However, when Phoebe suffers a health scare, they’re offered respite at the Irish Meadows farm, where his daughter’s weakened lungs can recover–but only if he cares for Mrs. O’Leary.
My Review:
I enjoyed this story, even though I had only partially read the previous books. You will enjoy it more if you have read the first two in the series.
This book discusses a lot of the issues that soldiers, medical personnel and women faced in the time period where they were encouraged to “pick themselves up by their bootstraps”, more than seek help.
The story was intriguing, although the father in the story was tough for me to figure out. Over all, great character development, but it bothered me a bit, some of the references to her figure and beauty, more than Deidre’s brains. It was in keeping with the time period, for sure, but it felt unenjoyable for me.
The horse training and secondary story in the book was one that really pulled me in! I loved Conner and Jo.
You can find this book for purchase here as well as the rest of the series.