Adelaide's War
Vivian KeesHistorical romance
Available from Evernight Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-926950-556
June 2011
| Adelaide Warren is a widow, her husband having died in the Civil War. Josiah Hamilton, on the way back home during a vicious winter storm, is unable to get any farther than Adelaide's. She finds him lying in the snow, brings him into her little cabin and nurses him back to health. She recognizes the attraction but can't let herself forget her husband and the baby she lost, nor the vicious gossip the townspeople are spreading about her husband. Josiah, too, is troubled, having lost a wife and child in a fire, and believes he must honor her and stay alone. But he can't forget Adelaide, but she rejects him. When tragedy strikes in the form of a fire, he brings her to his home. Will they be able to put away their past and build a future together?
I loved this little novella. The author has created a cast of characters to warm the heart, along with secondary players to fill out the cast. Adelaide is warm and caring, but troubled because of her husband's less than honorable death. The writer clearly shows her emotions and fears as she brings her to the realization that she does have a life in front of her. The hero, Josiah, is well done, and the reader takes him to heart as he watches over the young widow. I loved the character of Trapper Mary, her barely hidden kindnesses, and loved to hate the meanness of the townspeople who spoke against Adelaide. Even the horse, Star, is given a personality as he waits in front of Adelaide's house, scared and cold. The author describes the settings in such a way the reader is right there with the hero and heroine. The ending, where Adelaide and Josiah come to grips with their past, and decide upon their future, is done well and plucks at the strings of the reader's heart. I would read another of this author's books.
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Reviewer: Jaye Leyel |
