Review: A Breath of Hope by Lauraine Snelling

With her younger  brother Ivar in tow, Nilda Carlson is on her way to America to join her older brother Rune and his family in the northern forests of Minnesota. While she sees this as a golden opportunity, she has enough experience in life to know it won't be easy. The transatlantic voyage itself proves to be an adventure, and she hopes she will feel safe in her new home. Rune and Signe Carlson are thrilled that Nilda and Ivar are coming to Minnesota, but Uncle Einar Strand, obsessed with his own ambitions, refuses to help. What's more, he forbids anyone from the community to step foot on his land, leaving Rune to toil on his own. When a tragedy lays bare the truth behind Einar's anger and isolation, the Carlsons and Strands will have to come together like never before to become a true family.

I'm giving this book 5 stars. One of my absolute favorite parts of this series is that the conflict for the story doesn't come from a romantic storyline. Instead, the conflict comes from Einar. I just find it really refreshing not to have me romantic notions crushed for 300 pages. Of course, there's still some romance, Rune and Signe are married. Nilda seems to be attracting her share of honeybees. But really, the main love in this story is familial love. It's precious. I can't believe the change in Gerd from the beginning of book one to this book. It's astounding. And Knute and Leif are super cute. And Kirstin is too sweet for words. Basically, yes, you will want to punch Einar at least a dozen and half times while reading this, but it's a really great change in pace to read a family oriented story instead of the typical romance. Not that I'm knocking romance. You guys know me. I'm all about those, but this is a great story and series. I love Lauraine's books and I love that this is (distantly) related to her Blessing series. I hope to one day see these two series cross in an even bigger way. I'm thinking that's up to Ivar. I hope I get to read more books about Ingeborg. Long story short... read the book. {With a cup of tea. It's much better with tea.}

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. All these opinions are {pretty obviously ;) } mine.