A Life Once Dreamed

by Rachel Fordham

So I’m a day late and a dollar short, but here is the post that was supposed to go live yesterday. A Life Once Dreamed was the August choice for our Online Christian Historical Romance Book Club. I’ve always enjoyed the sweet, simple romances of Rachel Fordham’s books. This one was a little bit more of a stretch for me. I really enjoyed the sweet rekindling of the romance between James and Aggie, as well as all the small-town life put on full display. However, I did struggle with a single conversation being the needed resolution for the conflict between the two. If you are like me, you may get really frustrated with it and want to set the book down. Even so, I urge you to read the story to its full conclusion. Aggie’s reason for keeping her secret does become believable and reasonable, even if I disagreed with her choice to continue to hold on to that secret even after James sought her out after six years. True to Miss Fordham’s style, the story is a sweet romance of the day-to-day life and struggles in a small town on the prairie.

I definitely recommend it to lovers of sweet, historical romance.

Genre: Historical Romance, Dakota Territory, 1880

Plot Overview:

Six years ago, a shocking secret sent Agnes Pratt running in search of a new start. She found it in Penance, a rugged town of miners and lumberjacks in the Dakota Territory, where she became Miss Aggie, respected schoolteacher and confirmed old maid. But the past has a way of catching up with people. When childhood friend and former sweetheart James Harris accepts a position as the town doctor, Aggie’s pleasantly predictable days suddenly become anything but. James wants to know why Agnes left behind the life they had dreamed of creating for themselves―but he is the one person who can never know.In the shadows of the Black Hills, can a healing light be shed on the past? Or will the secret Agnes can’t seem to outrun destroy her chance at happiness?

What I loved: Without any spoilers, I really loved the weaving in of foster care and adoption.

Favorite Character and Why:  The child who becomes adopted. 😉 Again trying not to give any spoilers, but who wouldn’t love a sweet baby left alone in the world. It made me just want to go out and find friends who have babies so I can cuddle them. 

Who would like this? Any reader who enjoys sweet romances and second chance love.

Rating and Why: Three and a half. The story was sweet, but I had several frustrations with the story and characters. Once I got to the end, I was mostly satisfied, but it wasn’t my favorite read from her.

PURCHASE LINKS

Amazon     Baker Book House     Barnes and Noble     Books-A-Million     Book Depository     Bookshop.org     Christianbook