Holiday Hope by Shanna Hatfield
The year is 1884; the location is Eastern Oregon.
Jace Coleman has loved trains since he rode on one as a boy. Now, he is an engineer driving a new engine named Hope. Cora Lee Schuster, now an orphan, arrives as a mail-order bride in the town of Holiday but the groom’s father picks her up–not the groom, Jace’s brother, Jude who takes off rather than meet Cora Lee. She is welcomed and the longer she stays at the ranch, the more she never wants to leave. Yet Jace has no intention of marrying anyone no matter how attracted he is to the intended bride.
I‘d give this book six stars if I could. Holiday Hope is not your typical mail-order-bride story. The story has several twists that keep you reading — even if you *should* be doing something else.
The characters are introduced so well that you never have a problem keeping straight who is who. The pacing of the book is spot on from beginning to end.I loved the way history appeared in the story as well as pieces of facts about trains, et al.
Be sure to read Author’s Note at the end of the story. Included is a recipe for ‘Apple Kuchen’ (Cora Lee bakes tasty sweets.) And an excerpt from book #2 of the Holiday Express series, “Holiday Heart” takes place in 1914.
This book is entertaining, even informative. I enjoyed it and highly recommend Holiday Hope by Shanna Hatfield.
I received a complimentary e-ARC* copy of Holiday Hope via NetGalley. The book was Independently Published. A positive review was not required; the opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
#HolidayHope #ShannaHatfield #NetGalley
e-ARC* — electronic Advanced Reader Copy.
Updated: 1/20/2022 – moved into review format.
Lovely review but you have an embarrassing gaffe. You have mis-spelled author Shanna Hatfield’s name!
Thank you, Jeffrey. You are right! Horrible and most embarrassing. My excuse: I was raised on a farm so “Hatfield” morphed to “Hayfield”. All corrected now.