Together Forever

GIVEAWAY

HEDLUND, JODY
TOGETHER FOREVER

Will the mistakes of their past cost them a chance at love?

Determined to find her lost younger sister, Marianne Neumann takes a job as a placing agent with the Children's Aid Society in 1858 New York. She not only hopes to offer the children a better life, but prays she'll be able to discover whether Sophie ended up leaving the city on an orphan train so they can finally be reunited.

Andrew Brady, her fellow agent on her first placing-out trip, is a former schoolteacher who has an easy way with the children, firm but tender and friendly. Underneath his charm and handsome looks, though, seems to linger a grief that won't go away -- and a secret from his past that he keeps hidden.

As the two team up, placing orphans in the small railroad towns of Illinois, they find themselves growing ever closer...until a shocking tragedy threatens to upsend all their work and chance one of their lives forever.

My Review:

The second book in Jody Hedlund's Orphan Train series is just as captivating as the first one. You can totally read Together Forever as a standalone novel but I do feel like you'll get some of the emotional undercurrents better if you've read With You Always. And this is such an amazing series you'll be more than happy to lose yourself in both stories.

Once again, Hedlund dazzles with fascinating historical facts that boggle the mind and then she weaves an exceptional story around them. The whole concept of the Orphan Trains -- the haphazard paperwork, the almost casual way children are placed in homes...I can't even. In some ways it reminded me of a slave auction though no money exchanged hands. And they didn't seem to be too worried about ensuring that all the children were actually orphans. That's not to say that the intent wasn't honorable...it was just so...casual. But the New York City slums were death traps so desperation drove this innovative solution to saving children's lives.

Against that intriguing backdrop, Marianne and Drew are paired as placing agents heading west with 30 orphans to place along the way. She's hired on in a desperate attempt to track her missing sister. He's running from a painful past. The air crackles at their first meet and rises to a sizzle as they get to know each other on the journey. Simply put, Drew is a heartthrob. A man who loves women and knows how to flirt and tease and curl toes. Marianne is smitten in spite of herself and you'll definitely want to plump up the cushions on your fainting couch so swooning accidents can be kept at a minimum.

But this story isn't all sizzle and spice -- the plot twists and turns in unexpected ways and both hero and heroine wrestle with an inability to forgive themselves for issues that belong in the past. Together Forever is an emotionally charged, page-turning-frenzy of delight!

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

If you would like a chance to win a copy of Together Forever, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. If you add your email to a comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please at the title to the subject line so it's easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Sunday August 12 2018. Offer open to International Readers. Good luck!