Review: Good historical American Romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 15, 2013
This book is set in the post civil war South in the reconstruction era. This was a well written story with highly developed characters and distinctive supporting characters that add a lot to the realism and richness of the tale. There was one persistent typo and that was printing "bum" for "burn", otherwise the editing problems were very minimal.A will to survive and make a good life for her children is the driving force for widowed Caddie, and while she maintains her pride, she does what needs to be done in order to keep her children safe, fed and happy. Manning shot and was present at the death of Caddie's husband, Del. While he was dying, Del and Manning noticed that they were very similar looking and with Manning being an adopted, illegitimate child, they  figured they were likely related. Del asked Manning to look after his wife and children after the war, even though Del was on the Southern side and Manning was a Union soldier.Manning has never really been loved. His issues revolve around acceptance of love and trusting in it to be real. Caddie's husband, Del, was cold and autocratic as well as unfaithful. She has real issues trusting men and certainly, after the war, Yankees are not on her list of top ten favorites. In order to protect her from her greedy brother-in-law who tried to evict her from her home,  her son's inheritance, Manning and Caddie get married. Her children adore him, and he them. The adult relationship is a lot rockier. Watching two people who are weary and war torn learn how to love again in the face of great difficulty is the beauty of this book. This book was a good read.Heat factor moderate.