Unending Devotion | Jody Hedlund | Book Review

Unending Devotion

by Jody Hedlund

{ About This Book }

Lily Young longs to find her lost sister or will die trying. Heedless of any danger, she searches logging camps and towns, posing as a photographer’s assistant. And then she arrives in Harrison, Michigan–and the sights of Connell McCormick.

Connell is determined to increase the fortune of his lumber-baron father and figures as long as he’s living an upright life, that’s what matters. But when Lily arrives in town she upends his world, forcing him to confront the truth that dangerous men have gained too much power while good men turn a blind eye.

Vexing but persuasive, Lily soon secures Connell’s help, drawing them ever closer to each other. Will standing for what’s right cost them both everything?

{ My Thoughts On This Book }

Set in the logging camps of northern Michigan in 1833, Unending Devotion is a fast paced and exciting story of a young woman trying to find the little sister who ran away from an abusive foster home hoping to make a quick fortune as a saloon girl in a lumber camp brothel, only to become a captive of her poor choices. It is also the story of a man who must choose between standing against sin and slavery, and turning a profit in an industry that leaves barren wastelands in its wake for the sake of his father's will.

I enjoyed this story, and was impressed that Ms Hedlund exposed both the debauchery of prostitution and the horrors of white slavery (girls were often lured into captive lives as prostitutes on the promise of honest work as maids), as well as touching on both sides of the lumber industry issue - the devastation of clear cutting and the fact that lumber barons relied on prostitution, gambling and alcohol to keep their drastically underpaid and overworked men on the job, as well as the eventual push to reform labor laws and working conditions, and find a new way to harvest lumber while preserving our forests.

I recommend this story to anyone who enjoys historical romantic fiction with sound moral undertones.

{ About The Author }

Jody Hedlund is the bestselling author of "The Doctor's Lady" and "The Preacher's Bride". She won the 2011 Inspirational Reader's Choice Award, the 2011 Award of Excellence from the Colorado Romance Writers and was a finalist for Best Debut Novel in the 2011 ACFW Carol Awards. Currently she makes her home in central Michigan, with her husband and five busy children. She loves hearing from readers on Facebook and on her blog.

Visit her website: http://jodyhedlund.com/

{ Buy This Book }

You can purchase your own copy of Unending Devotion for $10.19 here.

{ Disclosure }

I received a copy of this book from the publisher with LitFuse Publicity Group in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own, and this post is in compliance with FTC regulations. To learn more, visit my PR and Disclosure pages.