Beyond All Measure by Dorothy Love

What a wonderful book! Set in Hickory Ridge, Tennessee just after the Civil War, Ada moves from Boston to take a job caring for an elderly woman. She must deal with a difficult patient, her handsome son, and the prejudices of the townspeople against her for her Yankee heritage.

Beyond All Measure by Dorothy Love is a beautifully written story. The characters are lovable and I truly felt their emotions through the different circumstances they faced. The time period was interesting ... set in the defeated South, trying to rebuild, harboring bitterness and anger towards former slaves and northerners. Throw in romance and faith-building trials, and you have a fantastic book! I repeatedly found myself reading "just a few more pages," only to realize that I was still reading WAY past my "bedtime!" I highly recommend this book ... and the ones to come in the series.

I received a free copy of this book from Thomas Nelson in exchange for my fair and honest review.

About the Book
Unless she can trust God's love to cast out her fears, Ada may lose the heart of a good man.

Ada Wentworth, a young Bostonian, journeys to Hickory Ridge, Tennessee, in the years following the Civil War. Alone and nearly penniless following a broken engagement, Ada accepts a position as a lady’s companion to the elderly Lillian Willis, a pillar of the community and aunt to the local lumber mill owner, Wyatt Caldwell. Ada intends to use her millinery skills to establish a hat shop and secure her future.

Haunted by unanswered questions from her life in Boston, Ada is most drawn to two townsfolks: Wyatt, a Texan with big plans of his own, and Sophie, a mulatto girl who resides at the Hickory Ridge orphanage. Ada's friendship with Sophia attracts the attention of a group of locals seeking to displace the residents of Two Creeks, a "colored" settlement on the edge of town. As tensions rise, Ada is threatened but refuses to abandon her plan to help the girl.

When Lillian dies, Ada is left without employment or a place to call home. And since Wyatt’s primary purpose for staying in Hickory Ridge was to watch over his aunt, he can now pursue his dream of owning Longhorns in his home state of Texas.

With their feelings for each other growing, Ada must decide whether she can trust God with her future and Wyatt with her heart.

About the Author
Before returning to her writing roots in historical fiction, Dorothy Love published twelve novels for young adults. Her work has garnered numerous honors from the American Library Association, the Friends of American Writers, the International Reading Association, the New York Public Library, and many others. The Hickory Ridge Novels mark her Christian fiction debut.