Long Journey Home Author: Sarah M. Eden
Series: Longing for Home #5
Genres: Historical Romance
Format: Audio, eBook, Print
Pages: 370
Date: September 4, 2018
Publisher: Mirror Press
Widowed by war, Maura O’Connor has raised her son alone under the weight of poverty in the unforgiving slums of New York City. That harsh and difficult life has taken a toll on them both. Desperate to save her son from the misery around them, she moves them both to the tiny western town of Hope Springs, where her late husband’s family lives, hoping that the decade of silence between them does not mean she and Aidan will be rejected outright. Her son needs family, and she would endure anything to see him happy.
Ryan Callaghan has worked the land belonging to the late Granny Claire for years, dreaming of one day claiming it as his own. Living in his brother’s home affords him no freedom, no stability, no joy. The arrangement is even harder on his mother, whose health is quickly deteriorating. A risky investment in the land has finally begun to pay off, and he is at last in a position to secure a better future for them both. When use of the home is, without warning, offered to a newly arrived widow and her son, that future is entirely uncertain.
Both Maura and Ryan desperately need the Claire farm, for their own futures as well as those of the loved ones who depend on them. Neither can remain in Hope Springs without the house and land, but only one can claim it in the end.
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About Sarah M. Eden
Sarah M. Eden read her first Jane Austen novel in elementary school and has been addicted to historical romance ever since. With a degree in research and a fascination with history, Eden loves delving deep into history. She is the author of multiple historical romances.
Would love to read and review this book. Sarah M. Eden is a very favorite author of mine!
I have loved all of Eden’s books but struggled with the first in this series. The first two actually. But because I have loved all the other Eden books I decided to continue on with the series and I’m so glad I did. Each of the next have been so good. I don’t often give 5 stars but I did for this one because it just had to be more than a 4 star. I loved it. We still see all the people of Hope Springs struggling to survive in a difficult environment but we also see how they work together to overcome challenges despite being a proud group of people. If there is a moral to the story it would have to be that one should always leave life a little better than they found it. And even those who are struggling to do it still have the desire to do so.
I loved both Maura and Ryan but kept wanting to smack them to realize the answer to the dilemma was obviously to get married. Ha. I also loved Aiden and his desire to learn and help others too.
I began to get worried about halfway through the book that it was going to have an ending that I wouldn’t like. I finally had to skip to the end just to see which possible ending it was going to have so I could prepare myself if I didn’t like it.
This book sets up possibilities for a number of future books. There was one curve ball that made me wonder if I had missed clues that it was going to happen because I was totally shocked. I could see multiple potential story lines in this book which makes me wonder which ones will be written. I was relieved to see a little progress in Finbarr’s situation but still worry for him. I look forward to that book.
This book is well written, clean, swoony in places, made me teary eyed in others. Well done Ms. Eden.
No sex, language or violence though there is a moment of potential peril with a pitchfork 🙂