The At Home with Beldon Cove Series

The Edge of Night

Mollie McGarvie had a good life. She had Samuel, her loving husband, three healthy children with another on the way. And then an unexpected tragedy happened to her. Her husband died of cholera. She thought she would be able to provide for herself and her children by working at her husband's business. What she did not know was that her husband's evil and deceitful brother had tricked Samuel out of his portion of the business. She had no way of providing for her children. Not wanting to back to her controlling father in Texas, Mollie decides to pack up everything and move to Indiana. She had a slave woman who was dear to her heart since childhood and was planning to free her once she arrived in Indiana, a free state; however her plans were twarted when the hateful brother-in-law out of spite decided to claim the slave. This was not the end of her troubles. An incident happened on the way to Indiana that left her bitter toward a young doctor.

All and all I enjoyed the book and admired how she handled her hardships. It was interesting to see how she managed to find a way to support herself. She took something that was a hobby and turned it into a way to support her family. I did get annoyed at her that she held a grudge against the doctor for about 60 percent of the book. She did finally find love again but I did not feel that the romance could have been developed more.

I am looking forward to reading the next two books in the series.

The Promise of Morning 

Ellie Craig had way too much tragedy in her own life. She lost her parents at a young age but she was raised by a loving aunt and uncle. She married young (age 14) to a man a few years older than her. She had several losses of children dying as infants. Her husband, Matthew, though loving most of the time was not as patient with her as he could be. He could not understand why she was overprotective of their infant baby. He had his own problems when a man with the Beldon name came into town and tried to take over the church where Matthew was a pastor. Matthew decided to take a job as a circuit preacher for a while leaving his wife to deal with harvesting the crops with just herself and her older surviving children. I love how the twists and turns in the story toward the end of the book at the end when we discover more family. I love how Ellie and Matthew were finally able to work through all their marital problems. It was also nice to re-visit and catch up on the characters from the first book in the series.

Dawn of a Dream

Dawn of a Dream is the last book in the At home in Beldon Grove series. I like how the author develops her characters in the first book and you get caught up with the characters in the subsequent books. I recommend that you read these books in order. If you read the last book in the series and then go on to read the first book in the series you are going to be spoiled. The first book will be ruined for you because you will know ahead of time what happens to one of the major characters.

The first two books had an edge of suspense in them. The last book not so much. The main character finds she is married to a bigamist just one month after she has been married. He good for nothing scoundrel of an ex-husband left her with something which she did not find out until she was enrolled in a teaching school.

One thing that bothered me about the book is why it was necessary for her to seek a divorce. I would think that a marriage like this would qualify for an annulment. Another thing that bothered me is how she was able to go almost up to the full term of her condition and still go to school. It is a difficult task for a woman to do in this day and time so I can fully imagine how difficult it would be in the horse and buggy days.

I loved the man who eventually won her heart although I think the love story could have been developed a little better. Loved all the supportive people in her life--family, teachers and best friend.