Ashes of Dreams

There's something about this book that keeps making me pick it up and rereading it. I've never done that before in my life! I don't know if it's Amanda's cooking that's written about so well you can taste it. Or if it's the romance you know is bound to happen...and the way it happened...oh my goodness! If you want a feel good book with grit and a realistic story line, this is it. You'll fall in love with Cole...guaranteed! The man can fix anything.

A devil horse, a horse farm that's falling down around her ears, debts, a neighbor who keeps pressuring her to sell the devil horse that's her only stallion, a bitter, injured father-in-law, and three young boys of her own--widow Amanda Jeffrey has a lot to deal with. And like so many women, she does. She just starts every day doing the best she can, taking care of everyone and everything without complaint or expectation of help or even gratitude. Then one day, a drifter shows up with a young boy in tow, looking for work. The two have secrets, and her father-in-law is suspicious, but Amanda knows she needs help repairing the barn roof, and though she can't pay them, she offers Cole Donnelly and his son work in exchange for meals and a bed in the stables. The good: The characters. They're realistic and gritty--definitely not idealized. The setting. 1890s America is not a very common setting for historical romances, and it's written in a very vivid way. The mysteries. Why the horse turned on his master, and what it is that Cole is hiding. They kept me turning the pages. The bad: Amanda is a little too saintly for my tastes. It fits with her character, but I'd have told the father-in-law to take a hike. I am not particularly fond of horses, so the emphasis on horses got a little old. The unusual: Widow Amanda actually loved her first husband. I was very impressed with that, as it's something you rarely see. The verdict: Ashes of Dreams is a lush, warm story of, as the title suggests, finding new dreams in the ashes of the old. The characters are all real and sympathetic, and I hated saying goodbye to them when I closed the book.