Undaunted Hope (Review)

Author: Jody Hedlund

Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance

My Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Bethany House Publishers 

Running from the mistakes of her past, Tessa Taylor heads to the uppermost reaches of Michigan, planning to serve as the new teacher to the children of the miners. She quickly learns the town had requested a male teacher, but Percival Updegraff, superintendent and chief mine clerk, says she can stay thought the winter since its to late to replace her. Tessa cant help but thank him and say she in his debt.

Determined to make herself irreplaceable once spring thaw arrives, Tessa throws herself  into her work and soon two students have decided Miss Taylor is the right match for their grieving father. At the same time, charming assistant light-housekeeper Alex Bjorkland makes his interest known, surprising Tessa, who has never had men fight for her hand before, But  not all is well as she feels someone is tracking her every move. and she may not be able to escape the trap that has been laid for her.

My thoughts:

As this is the first book by Jody Hedlund that I have read I had very high expectations as to what her writing would be, as I have heard many good things from her. So with a the bar set rather ridiculously high I opened up the pages and prepared to jump on to the Jody Heldund train.

Sadly I must say that the train passed by and I will not be jumping on it at this time. I tried to enjoy the book as I went along and see where the author was going but I was rather disappointed. The plot would have been good but I feel like it was just occasionally peeking out behind the romance. And trust me there was a lot of romance. Tessa's love interest ,Alex, seemed to be shirtless half of the book and there was constant reference to his looks. It is okay to mention it in the first chapter to establish the chapter of Alex and what Tessa thinks of him, but after awhile it got really repetitive and annoying. Tessa was a interesting character but nothing I haven't seen before. I also felt like the book was far to long, and could have been shortened a hundred pages.

On the bright side this book was easy to read and I found myself at the end before I knew it. And while I didn't quit enjoy it as much as I would have liked, I will be reading another of Jody Hedlunds Books soon.

Overall this was just not the outstanding unique book I was hoping for and I felt like I was reading a book that any other author could have written. But to those who are wising for a quick romance this is the book for you.

My rating: 6/5 out of 10

I received this book for free from Bethany House in exchange for my honest review 

Leah