Silas and Kate both have a history of hurts. Silas was abandoned to an orphanage by his mother then later his wife left him and he's been living alone ever since. Kate was abused as a child and tried to escape as a mail order bride, only to discover just in time that her intended was a drunk. As a school teacher, she's grown attached to one of her students, Anthony, and helps him and his mother however she can.
Soon after Anthony's mother dies, Silas shows up, having found his runaway wife too late. He's shocked to learn about Anthony but happy to have family and welcomes his son into his life. But before they can head back to his farm, the man Silas' wife ended up with announces he is Anthony's father. Kate is caught in the middle, wanting what is best for Anthony but not knowing which man is telling the truth.
That's all I can say without giving away spoilers but that's not even half the book. The rest revolves around Anthony accepting Silas, Silas and Kate falling in love, and the two of them realizing their pasts don't have to inflict their future with pain.
This was the first book by Jagears that I have read and maybe if I read her first two books it would have been easier, as some of the people overlap. There were a lot of names and connections to remember. Once they went to Salt Flatts I completely lost track of who all the people were and how they were related. It almost seemed like two books - with a whole list of characters and events in Missouri and another round in Kansas. Again, if I'd read the other books maybe it wouldn't have been as bad.
SPOILERS!!!
I also grew tired of Silas and Kate's obvious attraction to each other but stubbornness to move forward. It seemed their disagreements were merely to lengthen the book. After Silas told Kate he couldn't marry her, I didn't get the sense that anything really happened to change his mind; he just decided after thinking about it that he needed to have faith and trust her to change. And that took about 100 pages. I didn't really like him in the hotel scene and after. Kate has just admitted that she was willing to look past his former drinking problem and help him not fall back and he gets completely bent out of shape about her running out on a man she'd said she would marry but discovered to be a drunk. I think he has the bigger issues but he couldn't see past her faults.
Anthony seemed childish to me also. I understand the first time he ran away he was afraid of going back to Richard but the second time made no sense except to quickly advance the plot and bring conflict. If he wanted to earn money for Kate, he could have pretended to go to school and just work. And then when they find him they give him ice cream! Some consequence for all the worry and running around the did.
SPOILER END!!!
The jury's out of whether I'll grab another of Jagears' books again. I enjoyed her writing style and she has a way with words and descriptions. But the story itself had moments I was rolling my eyes and quickly scanning the page. If she writes believable stories with sympathetic characters, I would easily read another one. But until then I don't mind passing.
I was given a copy of this book by the publisher in return for an honest review. The thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by anyone or thing.
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