"Beloved" by Robin Lee Hatcher

  

Diana is ready to begin a new chapter in her life-until the husband she believed dead reappears at her engagement party.

Diana Brennan came west on the orphan train and was given a home with a loving couple who cherished and spoiled her. At 17, she fell hard for Tyson Applegate, the son of a wealthy mine owner. After a whirlwind courtship and marriage, Tyson took off for adventures around the world, including fighting with the Rough Riders in Cuba. Receiving no word from him in years, Diana's infatuation with her dashing husband died an ugly death, and she is ready to move past the old pain and marry again, just as soon as Tyson is declared legally dead.

But when Tyson returns, claiming to be a changed man, he wants to reunite with his wife and run for the senate. While Diana suspects the election is his real reason for wanting her by his side, she agrees to maintain his home and to campaign with him, but when it is over, win or lose, she wants her freedom.

He agrees with one condition---she must give him a chance to change her mind about him.

Beloved is the perfect conclusion to Hatcher's latest series.  Diana has the ultimate problem - she's prepared to marry again and secure her future when her thought-to-be-dead husband reappears and ruins her plans.  Figuring out what to do next takes both Diana and Tyson on a faith journey that involves a sick dog, demanding parents, a kidnapper, thief, a senatorial election, and a few mysteries, besides.  I like the way that each of these obstacles were used not only to advance the plot in action but to allow the characters to grow in their faith, as well.

For while you simultaneously want to cheer on Diana and Tyson's marriage while beating him up for being a selfish cad, ultimately you want them to grow.  To grow together and to grow up in maturity.  It becomes less about the love story and more about the faith, although the growing of the faith allows forgiveness to fall and love to bloom.

I was excited to read this third installment in the series as I've read the other two and enjoyed them.  I don't think the ending would have been as clear if I hadn't read them, however, for one very specific reason:  a character from one of the other books appears during the climax of this book, and as soon as a resolution is reached, the book jumps from the end of this book to a scene which closes out the series.  I think it suits the series well but is a bit abrupt for this book, so it might help smooth out that transition if you read the series in order.

All in all, Hatcher is a master of historical love stories.  This one is certainly no exception.

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Robin is the author of 65+ novels and novellas. Her home is in Idaho, where she spends her time writing stories of faith, courage, and love; pondering the things of God; and loving her family and friends.

Learn more at: http://www.robinleehatcher.com

I received a free copy of Beloved from LitFuse Publicity in exchange for an honest review.