The Journey Home

I loved this book! I couldn't put it down! If you like tales of adventure and romance don't miss this one!

I'll begin this review by saying I didn't expect to enjoy the book. I agreed to read it because I joined the Tell Harlequin group and I was given two books to read, this being one of them. I expected it to be dry and boring but I was unexpectedly pleased to find out just how wrong I was. From the first chapter when Charlotte Porter meets Kody Douglas, I liked them. Both are outcasts but for different reasons. Charlotte's brother and his wife abandoned her to seek a better life during the Great Depression, and they promised to send for her but it looks like they won't. All of her life, she's felt like she has to work hard and be compliant in order to win other people's approval, and her relationship with her brother and his wife only reinforces that. Kody is half-Indian, half-white, so he receives tauting by some people (not all), and he feels like he doesn't belong with the Indians on the reservation or in the white man's world. So he's on his way to Canada to find land where he can spend the rest of his life alone. These two meet and he feels like he can't leave her waiting for a brother who may not send for her, so he takes her to Favor, South Dakota to his adopted white parents' home where they welcome both of them with open arms. This really was a beautiful and touching love story. Their love developed naturally as they spent time together. Still, he hesitated to believe that she could look beyond his half-breed status to see the man he truly is. I especially enjoyed the playfulness between them and how he snuck in kisses and how she continued to make him feel welcome and loved. Meanwhile, she tries to connect him with his daughter whom he gave to an Indian couple in hopes she wouldn't face the same prejudices he has had to deal with his entire life. So the moral of this book is that you can't judge a person by the color of their skin but by the quality of their heart.

This is a great book! I really enjoyed reading it. Now, the first thing someone might say is that the heroine wasn't strong--that she sat and waited instead of taking charge of her life--but I loved watching her blossom...to come to the realization that she could step out...that she could be assertive...that she could be and deserved to be happy in her own right. You see, for her entire life, Charlotte Porter had been told to be quiet, unobtrusive, never complain and she'd have a nice, warm house to live in. The reason behind this reasoning was because when her mother died, she had to live with her older brother who really didn't want her. So, if she did what she was told and kept her mouth shut, at least she'd have sanctuary. But one day, her brother and his family just up and left her in an unfurnished house, on dry land (not even water in the well), in the middle of the dust bowl prairies. They said they'd send for her... Kody Douglas is on his way to the wide-open spaces of Canada so he can be alone. He's a half-breed who doesn't feel comfortable in either the white or red man's world. Yes, he has white adopted parents who love him, but they're biased because he's their son. It's the rest of his hometown he doesn't want to contend with. He's done with the name-calling and being treated like a `second-class citizen'. He's leaving it all behind for the sake of anonymity. He isn't more than 2 days from home however, when a dust storm blows up and he finds shelter in an abandoned house. Surprise! It's not abandoned. Charlotte's living in the derelict house where even the broken front door doesn't stop the dust from streaming into the living room. She has no food. No water. Why doesn't she just leave? Kody's never met someone as passive as her. But, his mama would never forgive him if she found out he'd left a woman in that condition. I loved watching Charlotte and Kody fall in love. Their hesitant baby steps. Waiting for a negative reaction. Trying not to attract attention in case someone told them they didn't belong. They came from 2 totally different worlds and yet they weren't that dissimilar after all. They both felt unlovable - castoffs in a perfect world. There's only one thing I didn't like about this book - the cover. I don't' understand why the art team at Harlequin couldn't portray Kody and his daughter more accurately. The little girl is supposed to have black hair. And the man...well, I guess he could pass for a half-breed but I doubt it. But, that's certainly not the author's fault. Her vivid descriptions almost had me tasting the dust. Linda Ford's Depression Series: Book 1 - The Road to Love Book 2 - The Journey Home

Kody Douglas is a "half breed" cowboy who finds Charlotte Porter living in an abandoned farm house in South Dakota durring an especially bad drought season. Although alone when Kody tries to take shelter in the house durring a storm, she is gutsy enough to confront him at gun point eventhough she knows there are no bullets in her gun. Linda Ford weaves a fun and deep story of these two outcasts. I enjoy her tight dialogue, and fully enjoyed the story. This story also keeps a good pace without getting too bogged down in minute historical details. Worth the read and a very inspiring theme too!