Helpful Score: 2
Good reading a different view of the Civil war and its aftermath.
Helpful Score: 1
An historical novel. highly recomend.
Helpful Score: 1
This is an unforgettable story of a beautiful young woman who loses her heart to a rugged soldier returning from the civil war.This was such a good romance story.I really enjoyed it.
Helpful Score: 1
A great story! Another Landis winner! Her characters always evoke intense emotion. You will cherish this book as I have - only the knowledge that someone else will enjoy it as much as I have allows me to part with it.
Very good book. Gives some insight into the thoughts of those who survived the Civil War and the northern aggression that followed.
Really nice story! Couldn't put down.
Dake Reed- born and raised in the south left to fight for the Union army. Now 2 years after the civil war he has been summoned home to try and save the family estate. Along the way he acquires a newborn baby and asks a Kansas farm girl -Cara- to come with him as a nanny for the baby. He is unprepared for the hostility he encounters when he returns home. Branded a traitor for fighting for the north he is soon swept up in a murder investigation. This is a romantic suspense as the love between Dake and Cara grows and develops but it also involves lies, secrets, murder and attempted murder.
I have never read anything by this writer before but I will now look for more of her books. A wonderful read especially if you are a fan of the civil war and the post war struggles that occurred in this country.
I have never read anything by this writer before but I will now look for more of her books. A wonderful read especially if you are a fan of the civil war and the post war struggles that occurred in this country.
Both Cara and Dake Reed were well-developed characters. It was interesting to see a Southerner, who had fought on the Union side, return to his former plantation. It was not surprising to see the rancor his former friends still felt towards Dake. Reeds return precipitated a string of tragic events that would lead to his being accused of murder.
We know he could not be guilty because Dake had proven himself to be a man of integrity; he accepted the responsibility for carrying a newborn to the dying mothers family in Alabama. He was willing to spend money for hotels, food and travel expenses to carry the baby plus he employed Cara to help him take care of the child.
The first pages after Dake brings the baby to Cara James house were almost comical; neither had a clue what to do to care for a just-born child. Neither was interested in being the one left with the baby while the other one took care of the business of getting ready to leave.
Things settled down quickly after Cara went to her neighbors home and got instructions and supplies. It didnt take long for Cara and Dake to see that they would have a difficult time giving up the child. Dake had a harder time adjusting to Cara. She avoided wearing shoes, was always late and rather messy. On the other hand, Dake was a model example of the discipline the Army engendered in soldiers: On time, neat in dress and careful in keeping his goods in top shape.
This is a story that takes hold of the reader without flash or fanfare. Theres a bit of a mystery along with the romance. The sheriff was an interesting character because he was given the position by the Union soldiers that controlled the area because he wasnt for the war (at all). He had a difficult time negotiating the troubled feelings of the inhabitants and the murder.
We know he could not be guilty because Dake had proven himself to be a man of integrity; he accepted the responsibility for carrying a newborn to the dying mothers family in Alabama. He was willing to spend money for hotels, food and travel expenses to carry the baby plus he employed Cara to help him take care of the child.
The first pages after Dake brings the baby to Cara James house were almost comical; neither had a clue what to do to care for a just-born child. Neither was interested in being the one left with the baby while the other one took care of the business of getting ready to leave.
Things settled down quickly after Cara went to her neighbors home and got instructions and supplies. It didnt take long for Cara and Dake to see that they would have a difficult time giving up the child. Dake had a harder time adjusting to Cara. She avoided wearing shoes, was always late and rather messy. On the other hand, Dake was a model example of the discipline the Army engendered in soldiers: On time, neat in dress and careful in keeping his goods in top shape.
This is a story that takes hold of the reader without flash or fanfare. Theres a bit of a mystery along with the romance. The sheriff was an interesting character because he was given the position by the Union soldiers that controlled the area because he wasnt for the war (at all). He had a difficult time negotiating the troubled feelings of the inhabitants and the murder.
a woman with a Kansas homestead...a man traveling home from the Civil War....a baby in an ambushed wagon....where will the three roads meet...
Great read!
Returning home after seven years with the Union army, Southern born Dake Reed comes upon an overturned wagon and a dying woman who has just given birth to a baby boy. Desperate to find care for the child, Dake enlists the aid of the first woman he comes across - Cara James. Cara is hard-pressed to deny him; she wants to start a doll-making business in California and the money Dake offers her to care for the child as he searches for its relatives will help Cara achieve her dream. The pair are an unlikely match - Dake's surroundings are neat and orderly while Cara's room "looked as if she'd stirred it with a stick," but their love for the baby Clay transcends all else. After arriving at Riverglen, his war-torn Southern plantation, Dake is branded a "turn-coat" and blamed for the murder of his crippled brother. Minna, his brother's fiance, provides an alibi, but readers soon learn that Minna has all the qualities of razor blades hidden in a cream puff. When a dark secret concerning little Clay's heritage is revealed, the baby's safety becomes a fearful concern. In her latest, Landis ("Past Promises") does what she does best by creating characters of great dimension, compassion, and strength.
this is a harback book
