Author: Sarah M. Eden
Enjoyment Rating: ***
Source: Digital Copy
Content Alert: A clean read
Longing for Home: Hope Springs is the sequel to Longing for Home: A Proper Romance. When this second installment opens, Katie Macauley has decided to stay in Hope Springs, Wyoming instead of returning to Ireland, despite the fact that the town is in turmoil, with the Irish pitted against the other townspeople. Katie is also in turmoil, unsure of whether she loves (Irish) Tavish, or (not Irish) Joseph. As the story progresses, the town seems even more divided, and as they face a devastating winter, it seems unlikely that they will ever come together. Then tragedy strikes Katie, and suddenly there is clarity, both in town relations and in Katie's relations of the heart.
Although I know many people loved this novel, I was not a fan of the first book, and therefore felt like I was destined not to like this one either. It feels like this is really one long story split into two books (the traditional arc of a romance isn't fulfilled at the end of the first novel), and I'm not sure that it serves a narrative purpose as much as it does a marketing purpose. Eden is a fine writer, but I don't feel moved by Katie or Tavish, and only feel reluctantly drawn to Joseph, so I found myself not caring as much as I felt I should have about what the eventual resolution to the novel would be.
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