The Summary

Mail-order bride Juniper Cohen was greeted when she arrived in Kenworthy, California by the pounding of the gold mine, the raucousness of its prospectors, and her biggest surprise of all: the affection of the nice man who was waiting for her. However, when the mine turns out to be unprofitable and Juniper's husband disappears, doubt and disappointment are as common as the settlers escaping this shrinking boomtown.

Juniper writes a number of letters to her husband as winter approaches, but she worries that she might be waiting for a ghost or, worse yet, an outlaw. She and her little daughter must rely on the goodness of a few benevolent survivors to survive, including the one who can solve the riddle of her husband's absence.

A century later, Johnny Sutherland devotes himself to raising his child and renovating a century-old abandoned farmhouse in California's San Jacinto Mountains in an effort to escape the pain of his failed marriage. He discovers the letters Juniper penned to her Dearest John while probing into its mysteries and is moved by the scribbled accounts bearing his name. A modern-day romance takes place in the same mountains where a love tale that changed history previously took place after Johnny, having learned that truth and courage go hand in hand, dares to love once more.

My Review

A historical romance novel that alternates between the early 1900s and the present. Unlike earlier stories of the same genre, we don't have two people of the same gender living parallel lives.

The writing is beautiful and in-depth. I don't know what I was hoping for. However, both eras of this story are heartbreaking.

The narrative is vivid without being excessively sophisticated, making it easy to get lost in the world-building. I could see every detail so clearly in my head! Furthermore, the blending of the past and present is expertly done.

There are so many interesting people in this book. They were fantastic, just like all the other things they symbolized and added to the narrative.

I had thought there would be a greater focus on romance, but I was wrong. There were two married couples in the historical setting and one couple in the contemporary setting, and the connection was more open-ended than I had anticipated.

The setting for the plot didn't have a lot going on. Outlaws and explosives didn't show up. Instead, this book has a very laid-back attitude, with a strong emphasis on the protagonists and their exploits while still acknowledging the difficulties of life.

Even though it was a difficult and frequently painful journey to read about, the author skillfully brought everything to a close, and as I turned the last page, I felt hopeful.

Despite the fact that it was my first book by this author, I won't be stopping there. It is a wonderful tale that, while giving the reader a satisfactory resolution and addressing actual sorrow with compassion and sincerity, primarily gives them hope for their own life.

My ratings score:

★★★★★ Fantastic! Made me go through a lot of emotions & the entire book is incredibly beautifully done! 

★★★★ Memorable! Despite its shortcomings, this book was incredible and taught us a lot. 

★★★ Good work! Nothing particularly remarkable, but still nice.

★★ Meh... Mediocre with great room for improvement.

★ Extremely Poor.