Ashes on the Moor
Sarah M. Eden
384 pages
ARC through Netgalley
From the publisher: The life of an impoverished schoolteacher is not one Evangeline Blake would have chosen for herself. Torn from her home and her beloved sister and sent to work in the gritty factory town of Smeatley, Evangeline must prove herself to her grandfather, a man who values self-reliance above all else, before he will grant her access to her inheritance. Raised to be a lady of refinement, she hasn’t any of the skills necessary to manage on her own nor does she have the first idea how to be a teacher. But failure means never being with her sister again.
Alone and overwhelmed, she turns to the one person in town who seems to know how she feels—Dermot McCormick, an Irish brick mason who is as far from home and as out of place as she is. Despite the difference in their classes and backgrounds, Evangeline and Dermot’s tentative friendship deepens and grows. Her determination and compassion slowly earn her the faith and confidence of the skeptical residents of Smeatley, who become like the family she has lost.
But when a secret from her past comes to light, Evangeline faces an impossible choice: seize the opportunity to reclaim her former life and rejoin her sister or fight for the new life she has struggled to build for herself—a life that includes Dermot.
Review:
I haven’t wrote a single book review in a while, but this was a book worth a review of it’s own! And, of course I already went into this book wanting to love it because it was Eden’s new book and I absolutely love her, but I was not disappointed.
After losing her family, Evangeline is sent off to Smeatley to pretty much prove herself. I was SO annoyed with her Aunt. And although I kinda felt the reason for her rude behavior was a little predictable, I still felt it really wasn’t that good enough of a reason. Sometimes you need to get over things and get on with life! Despite her Aunt’s rude actions, that doesn’t excuse her Uncle or Grandfather for their behavior too. Someone could have spoke up, but it just didn’t seem to happen. I was proud of her for pretty much picking herself up and doing what needs to be done! I loved her strong willed behavior! I am pretty sure I would have given up and cried SO many times if I were in Evangeline.
I felt this book had SO many deeper subjects it touched on without screaming them out. I the touch about autism in the book and thought Eden really did well portraying how that was probably handled. Ronan was one of my favorite characters, hands down.
Eden will always be one of my favorite authors, she has a magical way of writing, and this book is full of all the feels. I haven’t read a book by her that I haven’t liked. I’ll be honest, I’m just not a huge fan of the cover, HA! But Eden could publisher her books with brown paper bag covers and I would still read them.
If you are looking for some read-a-likes, I would suggestion A Heart Revealed by Josi Kilpack or Havencross by Julie Daines. All three books have courageous leading characters that really are able to pick themselves up and face hard things.
This book will be released next week and you can pre-order a copy of it today on Amazon, by clicking here. One of my favorite things about the pre-order feature is you always get the best price that way.
Five stars!
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