Ripples along the shore
by Mona Hodgson
Reviewed by Martha Artyomenko
Book description:
Can a War Widow Escape Her Grief—and Find God’s Promise—on a Wagon Train West?
When Caroline Milburn steps off the boat and back into her hometown of St. Charles, MO, part of her wishes she could step right back on board and sail away. St. Charles, though home to her beloved friends and quilting circle, hasn’t felt like home since the death of her husband. And living with her sister, Jewell’s family hasn’t provided much balm for her grieving heart. Caroline knows something needs to change—but for now she’s stuck sharing her sister’s home, and enduring the anger and bitterness of her brother-in-law.
But change is brewing in St. Charles. A group of brave souls are preparing to head west on the Boones Lick Wagon Train, led by the mysterious and handsome Garrett Cowlishaw. Despite her dislike for Mr. Cowlishaw, who served as a Confederate soldier in the war that killed her husband, Caroline is tempted to join the wagon train and start fresh somewhere new.
When the lovely young widow makes her intentions to travel west known, Garrett Cowlishaw forbids her—a single woman—to travel with them. Will one man’s prejudice destroy Caroline’s hope for a new future? Or will the ripples of God’s love bring the answer she needs?
My Review:
This short book felt like it was a good beginning, but ended abruptly without really a resolution. As far as I could find, this was the end of the series and there were not more after it. That was disappointing as I found I was just connecting with the characters when it ended. It felt like it had a lot of potential and it was well written!
It goes into a little bit of the hardship single women faced in this time for just being single or even widowed.
This book is very short, and as the third book in the series, I would have liked to see a bit more loose ends tied up. For a novella, it should have developed just a bit more on one person rather than jumping all over on several different main characters, I felt.
I liked the writing style of the author and will be reading more of her longer books. This was just a bit too short to get the whole story line at all. I liked the characters though and found Boney especially hilarious! Who embraces a nickname like that?