THE PATH TAKEN

Author: D.K. Abbott ISBN: NA 3/2006 HISTORICAL Publisher: VINTAGE ROMANCE PUBLISHING
Time Period: 1899

A handsome young minister in town has captured the hearts of the young women of Trumble, including beautiful Emily Walsh, a shopkeepers daughter. Will she finally find the love she so desperately searches for or will she again, loose at love?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Let me just start off by saying that THE PATH TAKEN by D.K. Abbott was just about the sweetest romance story that I've read in a long time. It is a simple and elegant love story that left you "sighing" at the end.

I was totally taken with the heroine, 24 year-old Emily. Not only is she dealing with the death of her fiancé, but also with the death of her mother only six months earlier. Emily has now taken on the responsibility of taking care of the household and practically running the family store by herself. Aside from that, she is also an avid churchgoer and quite active with the activities at church. But, she can't help but feel sad and lonely and even a little envious at the younger ladies in town. What she doesn't expect is that an unexpected meeting with a stranger is going to turn her life upside down.

Little did she know that the stranger happened to be Noah Barton, a visiting Pastor on the lookout for his own parish. Although she is overcome with emotion on finding out who he is, she can't help but be instantly attracted to him. Noah is soon attracting all the young ladies from the town, but there is only one lady who Noah wants—Emily. However, getting Emily to notice his attentions is harder than he expects, and with gossip that she is soon to be betrothed to someone else, Noah's not quite sure where he stands with her.

After a very sweet endearing kiss between Noah and Emily, Emily knows that she's in love with Noah (but she thinks, due to gossip, that he is in love with another lady from town). Now, with neither of them knowing the truth—and really they should know NEVER to trust gossip—they go about their lives without even knowing the other is in love with them. (Insert "sigh" here)

D.K. Abbott wrote a wonderfully romantic story involving two people who desperately needed to find each other. Her characters were well written and you really got to know them while reading her book. THE PATH TAKEN gave me those "feel good goose bumps"! I would definitely recommend reading it.

Julie Kornhausl