Description: Aven Norgaard understands courage. Orphaned within an Irish workhouse, then widowed at just nineteen, she voyaged to America where she was wooed and wed by Thor Norgaard, a Deaf man in rural Appalachia. That the Lord saw her along the winding journey and that Aven now carries Thor’s child are blessings beyond measure. Yet while Thor holds her heart, it is his younger brother and rival who haunts her memories. Haakon—whose selfish choices shattered her trust in him.
Having fled the farm after trying to take Aven as his own, Haakon sails on the North Atlantic ice trade where his soul is plagued with regrets that distance cannot heal. Not even the beautiful Norwegian woman he’s pursued can ease the torment. When the winds bear him home after four years away, Haakon finds the family on the brink of tragedy. A decades-old feud with the neighboring farm has wrenched them into the fiercest confrontation on Blackbird Mountain since the Civil War. Haakon’s cunning and strength hold the power to seal many fates, including Thor’s which is already at stake through a grave illness brought to him as the first prick of warfare.
Now Haakon faces the hardest choice of his life. One that shapes a battlefield where pride must be broken enough to be restored, and where a prodigal son may finally know the healing peace of surrender and the boundless gift of forgiveness. And when it comes to the woman he left behind in Norway, he just might discover that while his heart belongs to a daughter of the north, she’s been awaiting him on shores more distant than the land he’s fighting for.
My Thoughts: This is a sequel I had waited anxiously for. The first book was probably my favorite read last year, with so much depth and strong character development. However, I felt as though this book rode the coat tails of the last, relying on all that happened before in order to make this story worth while.
The majority of the first quarter of this novel is dedicated to dredging up what happened in the last story, reminding the characters and perhaps informing new readers. As I had already read the first book, I found myself tempted to skip sections of this while also struggling with strong emotions over remembering what happened in the last book. A book that was SO GOOD. But my love of the last book could only carry my enjoyment of this one so far.
The first book dealt with a lot of things: overcoming addiction, finding love, the heartache of being deaf in a hearing world, the festering pain of childhood lose... and I could go on. However, this story focuses on the reconciliation of Haakon with his family and the long time simmering hatred that the Sorrell Klansmen hold for Thor. While these are worthy things to be covered in the story, after the beauty of the first book I was left feeling that this book could have been so much more. Especially since the danger of the Klansman only really affects the end of this book despite being brought up through out.
I won't lie and say that there was never a moment that I was choked up or heartbroken over a portion of this story. But those moments were directly tied to the first book, and in between I waited for more to be happening. For the Sorrell's to be a greater threat or for side characters to be engaged in some other struggle rather than going about their lives as usual, waiting for the main characters to take care of all their problems.
I have provided an honest review after receiving a copy of the book through the publisher.
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