When Love Blooms

Review by Jill Williamson Emily Harris is looking for a life change. She loves her sister's family, but she needs to get out on her own. She wants to be more than just a society wife. She interviews as a governess for a ranching family far away from city life. She is determined to prove that there is more to her than a pretty face. Gavin Blake doesn't think his wife made the right choice in hiring Emily Harris. The work is hard in the rugged high country, and this refined lady has no business teaching two young girls on a ranch miles from nowhere. But Dru Blake knows what she's doing. Emily Harris is the perfect person to love her daughters and her husband. For Dru has a plan she hopes the Good Lord will help her out with. A plan that will not only take care of her daughters once she's gone, but will take care of Gavin, too. What a hard, yet heartwarming, story! I started this at about 10:30 one night and stayed up until 2:30 am because I couldn't stop reading it. I was enthralled by the characters and their conflict that Robin Lee Hatcher created. She transported me into 1883. Her characters tugged at my heart and wouldn't let me rest until I knew how everything worked out. This was the first book of Robin's that I've read. Now I know why she is so successful. What a storyteller!

I really enjoyed this book. I could see myself in each of the 3 main characters and loved the real and raw emotion in each of them. I loved the ending as well!

I have always enjoyed historical novels. My mom got me started on Janette Oke and Gilbert Morris. While I enjoy contemporary romances, my heart remains with the historical fiction. When Love Blooms reminded me a lot of Janette Oke's Love Comes Softly series. The story line is clear, the Gospel message is presented in a natural way, and the characters are realistic. The plot is believable and inspiring. The descriptions of the countryside are so vivid, it felt like I was there!

I loved this story! It is set in the late 1800's in a remote area of Idaho. Robin makes you care about the characters and live vicariously through them. Dru's main objective is not only to find a suitable governess for her two children but someone her husband, Gavin would fall in love with. Why? Because Dru is dying and their marriage was one of convenience. Dru's previous husband passed away in a tragic accident and Gavin took on the role to take care of Dru and her children. Due to past experiences, Gavin is none too happy about his wife's decision to hire a governess. After all, he can take care of the two girls on his own. He doesn't need a high and mighty woman who doesn't like to get her hands dirty to take over. Gavin doesn't leave Emily any doubt that she is not wanted at the ranch. Emily and Gavin fight against their attraction toward one another. Emily loves the Lord with all her heart but Gavin keeps his distance with God. Patrick, a rich landowner falls for Emily. He can give her anything her heart's desire. He lavishes Emily with compliments and makes her feel worthwhile and special. Emily does fall in love with the children but the question remains, "Does Dru get her wish fulfilled?" This is a wonderful story of hope of love in the midst of sorrow and pain.

Historical novels have a way of transporting you into the world of a bygone generation, and sometimes the setting remains with you after you've set the book down. WHEN LOVE BLOOMS takes its readers to the Idaho Territory in 1883. Young Emily Harris travels from Washington, D.C., to Boise to care for her older sister and nephew, suffering from pneumonia. Once there, with the domestic scene under control, Emily answers an ad placed by a family with two young girls seeking a governess, not in town but on a distant "mountain ranch." The ailing Mrs. Blake --- Drucilla --- hires Emily, disregarding the disapproval of her husband Gavin. Gavin thinks Emily is too urbane, too refined, not hearty enough for life on the other side of the mountain pass, in the Sawtooth Valley. Emily hasn't always been a city girl and thinks she knows what she's getting into. She quickly accepts the offer and accompanies the Blakes out of town, assuring the family that she will stay with them through the winter, until the next summer. Life of course is more complicated than Emily had imagined. The winter weather is unbelievably harsh. Drucilla's illness is not just a passing weakness but a terminal cancer. Emily hits it off with the daughters but can't quite figure Gavin's negative vibes. Why does he so dislike her? ("She would make him admit that she was well suited for the work he'd hired her to do. So help her she would, even if it killed her.") If Drucilla dies, how will she fit into this family? The reader asks even more questions. Who is this Charlie whom Drucilla mentions in conversation with Gavin? What kind of marriage do Drucilla and Gavin really have? Eventually Emily meets Patrick, the oldest son of a wealthy Irish family that lives in a castle-line home, Killarney Hall, near the Blakes' Star Dust Ranch. Despite Gavin's warning that Patrick is full of blarney, Emily entertains his attention. Maybe he is God's provision for her own family life. Emily ultimately has to make decisions about her future. Where and with whom will she be? When she left Boise she "felt destined to make a difference." What was God wanting her to do? There is nothing subtle about the writing in WHEN LOVE BLOOMS. This is a light read for women who --- if they had been born a generation earlier --- would have enjoyed the historical romances of Grace Livingston Hill. --- Reviewed by Evelyn Bence