Book Review: Ripples Along the Shore by Mona Hodgson (2013)

Ripples Along the Shore by Mona Hodgson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Caroline is slowly resigning herself to being a widow after receiving news that her husband, Phillip, died during the war between the states. Her options are limited, and she must live with her sister and family until she gets her feet under her again. Which had better be sooner rather than later since Jack, her sister's husband, makes certain she knows that she's not a welcome presence. Perhaps her only option of any value is to go west with the wagon train that will be heading out from St. Charles in a few months time. Add to her uncertain life situation, Caroline finds the tingling attraction to southerner Garrett Cowlishaw most disconcerting. Her husband and Garrett fought on opposite sides of the war and while a part of her fights against hatred, another part of her knows the hatred is unfounded and she feels something deeper for the man.

I'm not entirely certain what happened with this third installment to Ms. Hodgson's The Quilted Heart novella series. At least with the first two books she maintained continuity and resolved the romances in a positive manner. In this third and final installment, she leaves the story hanging. Caroline is going to travel in the wagon train, but that shouldn't be what this book is about because there is a full-length book to cover that story. Caroline and Garrett have no resolution at all, the story just ends. Which is quite a shame because I liked Caroline the best of the three heroines and would have liked to see a positive conclusion to the story, not having it be a lead-in for a full-length novel. I was just disappointed by the lack of a conclusion to the story. Perhaps the full-length novel about Anna resolves Garrett and Caroline's relationship too.

- I received this book for free from Blogging for Books and Netgalley for this review.

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