Seven years ago, orphaned and alone, Em finally arrived at a new home in Iowa after riding the orphan train. But secrets from her past haunt her, and her new life in the Western wilderness is a rough one. When her guardian is shot and killed, Em, now nineteen, finally has the chance to search for her long-lost sister, but she won’t be able to do it alone.

For Azure Springs Sheriff Caleb Reynolds, securing justice for the waifish and injured Em is just part of his job. He’s determined to solve every case put before him in order to impress his parents and make a name for himself. Caleb expects to succeed. What he doesn’t expect is the hold this strange young woman will have on his heart.

Debut author Rachel Fordham invites historical romance readers to the charming town of Azure Springs, Iowa, where the people care deeply for one another and, sometimes, even fall in love.

This is such a touching and moving story about loss, grief, beauty, and love. The romance is a slow burn, which I enjoyed. There is also a tiny bit of a love triangle, which was a nice touch. I loved the overall message about beauty and love – beauty is defined by each person, not by others or society. When you open your heart to someone, you see their individual beauty, and it doesn’t matter what others think. What matters is how they make you feel when you are with them. This book had a lot of great quotes (I’d love to reread it and annotate it). It was also a wholesome, clean romance story without any foul language or spicy scenes, which I enjoyed and appreciated. 

I really, really enjoyed getting to know Em and Caleb. They both are haunted by their pasts and continue to deal with the death of loved ones, the trauma they faced, and the inner limiting beliefs that they have about themselves. This is a friends-to-lovers romance trope, and I loved seeing them get to know each other and connect on a very real and raw level. They begin to open up around each other and bring out the best in one another. Em feels like Caleb has saved her. And Caleb feels like Em has helped him to heal. They both impact the other in ways they didn’t expect, which gives more depth to their blooming relationship. It was beautiful to watch. I also appreciated how mature and emotionally intelligent they were. They had enough courage to speak their minds and communicate with each other. In many modern romance novels that I’ve recently read, the characters just have no clue how to talk to each other. They don’t know how to express their feelings and emotions. But in this story, we see both of these main characters doing just that, which was really refreshing to read. 

I also loved this western town of Azure Springs. It felt inviting and cozy. I really loved the side characters and getting to know them. The family that takes Em in is so sweet and kind. They treat her like a daughter. Then, when Em finds work at a boarding house, the owner is this sassy, outspoken, lovable lady who brings some humor and touching moments to the story. 

I enjoyed the 19th-century Western historical setting, but I wished we had more atmosphere and descriptions to let us know that this story was taking place in the 1880s. You can definitely tell this story takes place in the past, but I wanted to be immersed a bit more than we were. Also, the pacing was pretty good for the most part. There were a few slow sequences in the middle that dragged on a little, but then the plot picked back up. However, I wish there were a bit more action or more conflict. We got a little, but I wanted a tad more.  

This is considered a Christian historical romance book, but there was very, very little talk of faith in it. I would not even have guessed this was supposed to be a Christian book if I didn’t know it was labeled that way. I actually was hoping for more faith elements in it. It was a little lacking for me. But overall, I really enjoyed this story. I will definitely be reading more from this author and highly recommend reading this one.