Cabot has set her novel in 1882 Texas in the small fictional town of Sweetwater Crossing. Emily, a recent widow, is returning to her home. Her disastrous marriage to George had ended with his death. Now Emily was looking forward to seeing her family again, whom she hadn’t seen in a year.

As she returned to Sweetwater, she eagerly watched for a sight of her two sisters, Joanna and Louise, and her parents. Her beloved father was the town pastor.

But when she reached Finlay House (named for the previous owners) unforeseen tragedy and change awaited her: Her father had committed suicide and her mother had died earlier, her sister Joanna was in Europe pursuing her music and Louise, left to deal with the horrible family situation, was harboring deep anger because she had never gotten any replies to her letters.  Emily’s abusive husband not only got rid of her family’s correspondence, he also never mailed Emily’s letters in return.  George was a piece of nasty work.

As Emily tries to find her balance amidst all the change, a newly-widowed schoolmaster arrives with his adorable two-year-old son Noah. The two end up at Finlay House to rent rooms because their original housing was destroyed in a fire, and the widow who owned the home also finds herself a place at Finlay House and is able to watch Noah while the schoolmaster teaches.

Conveniently.

This is the plot device that wore out its welcome: so many people become widowers ( or in the case of Emily and her sisters, orphans). And the deaths are sudden and unexpected. Literally, in the course of the story we discovered eight people are dead…not all in the current timeline, but as part of the plot. And Sweetwater is a small town.

There is a reason for this but again, it’s sort of convenient that no one really connects the dots about so many of the deaths, not even the sheriff.

It just happened too often.

The story is a sweet romance and I liked the characters well enough.

If only not so many people had died to push the story along. ~~ Sue Martin