Searching for You

Despite years on the run, Sophie Neumann is determined to care for two young children. She won’t abandon them the way she thinks her older sisters abandoned her. But times are growing desperate, and when she falls in with the wrong crowd and witnesses a crime, she realizes fleeing 1850s New York is her only option.

Disappearing with her two young charges into a group of orphans heading west by train, Sophie hopes to find safety and a happy life. When the train stops in Illinois for the first placement of orphans, Sophie faces the most difficult choice of her life.

Reinhold Weiss has finally purchased his own small farm. With mounting debts, a harvest to bring in, and past scars that haunt him, he’s in no position to give his heart away . . . but can he say no when his long-lost friend shows up on a nearby train pleading for his help?

Published on December 4, 2018 by Bethany House

A wonderful ending to an amazing series…

I've been waiting for Reinhold's story since the very first book. A great guy deserves a happy ending and I hadn't imagined that it would be with Sophie. I thought the way the author used their pasts to create a future for them together was really well done. 

And I don't think I've loved a side character as much as I loved Euphemia! Her wisdom spoke volumes to me and that's what I love about Christian Fiction, and especially those by Jody Hedlund. I not only can enjoy a book guilt-free because I'm not filling my mind with empty things but I'm actually filling it with life lessons I can apply to my own life! 

My only downside to Searching for You was I had a hard time relating to Sophie… I just couldn't connect with her like I usually do to main characters. But that's just something that's different for every person and so if that's the only fault I could find with this book I'm pretty sure it's safe to say it's a winner! 

You won't regret the time you spend reading this book and especially the whole series!

★★★★

Thank you to Jody Hedlund for a copy of the book. All views expressed are my own.

Follow Jody Hedlund's board The Orphan Train Series.

Check out my reviews of the previous books in this series!

Marianne Neumann has one goal in life: to find her lost younger sister, Sophie. When Marianne takes a job as a placing agent with the Children’s Aid Society in 1858 New York, she not only hopes to give children a better life but seeks to discover whether Sophie ended up leaving the city on an orphan train.

Andrew Brady, her fellow agent on her first placing trip, is a former schoolteacher who has an easy way with the children–firm but tender and funny. Underneath his handsome charm, though, seems to linger a grief that won’t go away–and a secret from his past that he keeps hidden. As the two team up placing orphans amid small railroad towns in Illinois, they find themselves growing ever closer . . . until a shocking tragedy threatens to upend all their work and change one of their lives forever.

Published on May 1, 2018 by Bethany House

I know, I know I say this every time but it's completely true, Jody Hedlund seems to outdo her previous book with every new novel penned! There's no way I can pick a favorite from even this series alone because that's an impossible choice. When I pick up a new book by this author I know without a doubt that I'm going to love it. How so? With every chapter I am drawn further and further into the story. Once I start it takes an emergency, (pretty much house fire, broken bone type emergency) to pull me away. 

I wish I could explain why this book was so good! But the inability to express what I'm thinking into words is why I'm not a writer. All I know is that the chemistry between the two characters, the heart-compelling plot… it left me with a feeling of hope and inspiration for hours. I think that's when an author can know that they succeeded.

★★★★★

Thank you to Jody Hedlund and Bethany House for a copy of the book. All views expressed are my own.

Follow Jody Hedlund's board The Orphan Train.

Check out my reviews of the previous books in this series!

With You Always

An Awakened Heart