Sweet Spring

This book is from the Heartsong Presents historical series, sweet historical romances in various settings with an inspirational theme. This particular book is set in early nineteeth centry America. In a small Connecticut town in the early 1800s, seventeen-year-old Emily Goodman feels little happiness. Her mother is cruel to her, and soon her married older sister, Elizabeth, will move to the New York frontier with her husband David and his family. Not only does Emily feel sadness that her sister will leave, but also because David's younger brother Jonathan will be moving as well. Emily has feelings for Jonathan, but if he leaves she will never learn if he could love her. When Elizabeth becomes pregnant, she and David decide to stay behind another year, for the baby to be born and grow a bit before moving to the frontier. To help her sister with the baby, Emily comes along when Elizabeth and David finally move to New York the next year. Emily is very excited to see Jonathan again, and is thrilled when she finds he loves her. They make plans to marry, but Emily feels she must seek her father's approval, and when no word comes, she wonders if they will ever truly be together. I really enjoyed the details of life on the New York frontier of the early 1800s, and the romance between Emily and Jonathan was very sweet. The setting of this book and the hardships faced by the early pioneers really came to life. However, Emily's determination to seek her father's blessing for her marriage, and the delays that followed, seemed to be there less for the story and more to keep the book going, as Emily and Jonathan realized their feelings for each other early on. I would have preferred if the book had spent more time on Emily and Jonathan falling in love, and less on their long wait afterward. Still, I overall enjoyed this book. It was a nice sweet story of early American life.