Review: Ripples Along the Shore
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 26, 2013
Book description:  "Caroline Milburn's husband didn't return from the Civil War. She moved to St. Charles to live with her sister's family, but thinks it's time to come up for a change. She was a school teacher before she married and California is advertising for teachers. Buddy Cowlishaw worked as a scout on two wagon trains before the war. He hadn't planned to go west again but receives a generous request that he command a caravan of wagons going west from St. Charles. When Caroline decides to apply for a teaching job in California; she attends a meeting chaired by a wagon train master and is dismayed to discover he doesn't allow single women-widows included-to join the train. Can she convince him that God's plan is bigger than his fears?"My review:  This is the third novella in The Quilted Heart Novellas series by Mona Hodgson.  The reader does not need to have read the other two books in the series; however, it does make the book a little easier to read if you have.  There are a lot of characters to keep straight and a previous knowledge of those characters helps.  Once again, I think Ms. Hodgson did a disservice to this novella by not making it a full-length book.  She was not able to fully develop the characters or the story.  For such a short book there were too many characters to keep straight even if most of them had been introduced in previous books.  I was disappointed with the ending and like her previous book that I reviewed, I felt like I was left hanging.  The plot moved to quickly and ended too abruptly.  Ms. Hodgson had some great ideas and lessons. I just wish she would have taken the time to develop those ideas and lessons.  I received a complimentary e-copy of this book from Waterbrook/Multnomah Publishers in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.