This post may contain affiliate links that allow me to make a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Genre: Historical | Age: Adult (17+) | Buy: Amazon or BookShop | ⭐ See star rating

---

Dinah feels forced to make a terrible decision in order to escape her life as the daughter of a prostitute. She flees to Florence, Kansas, where she makes a new life as chambermaid and meets a local chicken farmer named Amos.

Personal Review:

I was slightly unimpressed by this book. I read a Kim Vogel Sawyer book last year and really loved it, so I was hoping for some more good feels. But, alas, it was not to be.

I am not sure if there are content warnings anywhere, but the beginning is absolutely awful to read (partly because it was well-written) and could be triggering for someone with a past of sexual abuse. After the opening chapters, I just felt like the characters lost depth and purpose.

Dinah, our young girl recovering from abuse, is predictably unsettled for most of the book. I did appreciate that the romance she finds does not end up being what makes her problems go away – that God was the one who saved her. But I felt her change could have been a little more nuanced and subtle. Her pre- and post-conversion selves were so drastically different that it was almost hard to believe.

Amos, the young man who captures Dinah’s attention and who is enraptured by her, just felt so flat on the page. I kind of got the feeling he was a country bumpkin type. Sometimes he seemed older than his age and sometimes he seemed too young. And I was getting tired of the references made to his injured leg – like that was the most important thing about him.

Ruthie, Dinah’s roommate who was a preacher’s daughter, is a little more believable. I liked her upbeat attitude and the way she had to deal with envy. But she would just have random thoughts every once in a while that didn’t seem in line with her character.

The romance was cute. I especially liked when they started writing letters to each other and would have liked a lot more of that.

Overall, I just could have used more nuance in the characters, maybe a little less focus on physical shortcomings, and a more realistic conversion story.

Happy reading!

📚 Follow on Goodreads.
📌 Follow on Pinterest.
📷 Follow on Instagram.
✒ Follow on Substack Notes.
💜 Share this post with a friend. 💜
🤖 Always written and edited without the use of AI.

Get the extra paid perks in The Cottage Membership. Find out how to join by subscribing: