Sunday, January 27, 2019

Searching for You...Conclusion to the Orphan Train series


First book review of 2019!
I was thrilled when Jody Hedlund's 3rd and final book in the Orphan Train series
Searching for You
was published! 

In her first two books the author started dropping breadcrumbs about
the youngest Neumann sister, Sophie.
I was eager to read her story.  

Terrified of being separated from younger 'siblings' Olivia and Nicholas,
Sophie's been on the run for the past two years. Although not related to them (Olivia and Nicholas) by blood she is the only mother figure they've known in their short lives.

Heartbroken and desperate when the children are placed in a separate home,
she turns to family friend Reinhold Weiss for aid. 

Due to his lifelong friendship with the Neumann family,
and because he's always been an honorable man, he agrees to help her. 

Sophie is a very sympathetic character; kind, hard-working and willing to do whatever it takes
to keep her small make-shift family together.
She'd been hurt by what she initially perceived as her older sisters abandonment.
However, she comes to see that they were doing what they thought was best for their family.

When the author made Reinhold the hero of Searching for You,  I was so excited because I felt like I'd gotten to know him well in With You Always (book 1) and Together Forever (book 2)
and he deserves his own happy ending. 

I loved the theme of Searching for You; God can take the broken pieces and make them whole and He doesn't treat us as our sins deserve. The way in which Sophie comes to this realization is beautifully written and probably my favorite part of the story.
"She'd never expected to end up here at this moment.
But God has worked out the details more perfectly then she ever could have imaged."
(Hedlund, 338)   

Looking for emotionally gripping historical stories?
Look no further than the Orphan Train series.  


Reading is adventure,
Emilee