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When Love Comes My Way
by Lori Copeland - I grabbed this book from the library shelf mostly because I recognized the author as one that I liked, and the description on the back cover was intriguing. The story is set in 1873 Michigan, at a logging camp. Tess Wakefield has inherited the logging operation from her grandfather, but knows little about it and has decided to sell. Unfortunately, the potential buyer has plans to clean-cut the whole area with no regard for replanting or the future of the business, and Wakefield Timber's foreman, Jake Lannigan, cannot convince Tess through the business letters they've exchanged to stop the sale. On her way to the camp, Tess is involved in a terrible wagon accident that takes the lives of the other passengers, and causes her to lose her memory. She is brought to the logging camp, but it's assumed that she is the teacher that was arriving on the same train. Jake begins to suspect that she may actually be the spoiled heiress he is so angry with, but decides to continue on as if she is the teacher, reasoning that if she is who he thinks, this is his chance to show her that she has a responsibility to the future of the logging industry. And then, of course, there is the growing attraction and affection between them, and the possibility that Jake's deception may ruin their future together.
Overall, I really did enjoy this unusual story, but I found the amnesia angle cliched and difficult to believe. At the beginning, Tess is as spoiled and frivolous and self-centered as the letters Jake has received would indicate. But when she regains consciousness after the accident, she has not only lost any memory of who she is or anything that happened before the accident, but she apparently has a different personality than the one displayed during the description of her train and wagon trip. All of a sudden she is compassionate and sweet, when the day before she had been haughty and judgmental. The driver and other passengers on the wagon are presumably killed and swept away by the river they tumble into, and with a young unidentified woman as the only survivor, the assumption by Jake and the others that she is the teacher is reasonable, because they had been expecting the teacher but didn't know for sure that Tess was on her way. Conveniently, the teacher (who was, in fact, on the same wagon - and her luggage was found, but not her body) has no family, so there is no one to write to for help. Also convenient to the set-up is the fact that the severe winter weather has effectively closed off transportation in and out of the area for quite some time after the accident, and the crew hasn't yet strung the telegraph wire that would allow communication outside the area. I really don't know much about how amnesia cases usually occur, but this set-up to the story seemed overly contrived.
All that said, the interactions between Jake and Tess are interesting, as are the inner conflicts they each face as they realize the developing bond between them. At first, Jake's decision to carry on as if she is the teacher until he's given reason to think otherwise makes sense, but as time goes on, he more or less paints himself into a corner by stubbornly sticking to that approach yet subjecting Tess to rather harsher living conditions than necessary because he thinks she could stand being taken down a peg. As time goes on and he grows more convinced that she must be Tess and not the teacher, he is also falling in love with her and it is growing harder for him to continue the deception, knowing that when she finds out it will destroy any trust between them. Although it's not a believable story, in my opinion, it was one that was interesting and humorous enough to keep my interest, and I decided to suspend my disbelief and enjoy the ride.
By the same author: Patience, Hope, Faith, June
by Lori Copeland - I grabbed this book from the library shelf mostly because I recognized the author as one that I liked, and the description on the back cover was intriguing. The story is set in 1873 Michigan, at a logging camp. Tess Wakefield has inherited the logging operation from her grandfather, but knows little about it and has decided to sell. Unfortunately, the potential buyer has plans to clean-cut the whole area with no regard for replanting or the future of the business, and Wakefield Timber's foreman, Jake Lannigan, cannot convince Tess through the business letters they've exchanged to stop the sale. On her way to the camp, Tess is involved in a terrible wagon accident that takes the lives of the other passengers, and causes her to lose her memory. She is brought to the logging camp, but it's assumed that she is the teacher that was arriving on the same train. Jake begins to suspect that she may actually be the spoiled heiress he is so angry with, but decides to continue on as if she is the teacher, reasoning that if she is who he thinks, this is his chance to show her that she has a responsibility to the future of the logging industry. And then, of course, there is the growing attraction and affection between them, and the possibility that Jake's deception may ruin their future together.Overall, I really did enjoy this unusual story, but I found the amnesia angle cliched and difficult to believe. At the beginning, Tess is as spoiled and frivolous and self-centered as the letters Jake has received would indicate. But when she regains consciousness after the accident, she has not only lost any memory of who she is or anything that happened before the accident, but she apparently has a different personality than the one displayed during the description of her train and wagon trip. All of a sudden she is compassionate and sweet, when the day before she had been haughty and judgmental. The driver and other passengers on the wagon are presumably killed and swept away by the river they tumble into, and with a young unidentified woman as the only survivor, the assumption by Jake and the others that she is the teacher is reasonable, because they had been expecting the teacher but didn't know for sure that Tess was on her way. Conveniently, the teacher (who was, in fact, on the same wagon - and her luggage was found, but not her body) has no family, so there is no one to write to for help. Also convenient to the set-up is the fact that the severe winter weather has effectively closed off transportation in and out of the area for quite some time after the accident, and the crew hasn't yet strung the telegraph wire that would allow communication outside the area. I really don't know much about how amnesia cases usually occur, but this set-up to the story seemed overly contrived.
All that said, the interactions between Jake and Tess are interesting, as are the inner conflicts they each face as they realize the developing bond between them. At first, Jake's decision to carry on as if she is the teacher until he's given reason to think otherwise makes sense, but as time goes on, he more or less paints himself into a corner by stubbornly sticking to that approach yet subjecting Tess to rather harsher living conditions than necessary because he thinks she could stand being taken down a peg. As time goes on and he grows more convinced that she must be Tess and not the teacher, he is also falling in love with her and it is growing harder for him to continue the deception, knowing that when she finds out it will destroy any trust between them. Although it's not a believable story, in my opinion, it was one that was interesting and humorous enough to keep my interest, and I decided to suspend my disbelief and enjoy the ride.
By the same author: Patience, Hope, Faith, June
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