Against the Wind

“Against the Wind by author Amanda Cabot is a Christian historical romance novel and Book Two in her Secrets of Sweetwater Crossing series. This book weighs in at 368 pages. The cover is intriguing. Even though it is Book Two, I was able to follow the story without having read the first one.

Set in 1883 Texas, this is the story of Louisa Vaughn. She is the youngest of three sisters and being trained as a doctor, as well as a midwife. Louisa goes back to Sweetwater with the intention of returning as quickly as possible.

The writing is exquisite in this novel. Details all appear to be historically accurate. I found myself being transported back to the late 1880s Texas. Characters were thoughtfully crafted and realistic. The book opened strong and immediately captured my attention. 

I loved the Christian element and scriptures that were woven throughout the story. Filled with prayer, praise, worship, and God, this is an inspiring tale. It did bother me that when God was referenced using He or Him, the “h” was lower case and not upper.

The story has romance, mystery, and a few twists. There are many intense moments and issues throughout the book such as death, illness, verbal abuse, physical abuse, child birth, imprisonment, grief, but there are also a lot of light, happy ones. After the story’s conclusion, there is an author’s letter, sneak peek for the next book in the series, acknowledgments, the author’s biography, and advertisements.

I highly recommend this riveting novel. It is a page turner and diffuse to put down. I would not recommend it to anyone younger than older high school age. Mature readers will be fine. This would make a wonderful book club selection. It gets a 5 out of 5 star rating from me. A copy was provided by the publisher, but these are my honest words.