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A review by meezcarrie
Across the Shores: Four Women, Bound by Generations, Find Love Where They Least Expect by Carolyn Miller, Angela K. Couch, Kelly J. Goshorn, Cara C. Putman
4.0
4.5 stars
On the pages of Across the Shores, four talented authors take us on a journey from a mining camp in 1851 Australia to a troubled 1877 Baltimore, the Canadian frontier at the turn of the century, and the Outer Banks of North Carolina during WW2. All without us having to leave our comfy reading spaces or find a time machine! Each of these stories is connected to the others by a gold cross necklace – the first three more strongly than the fourth but the connection is there nonetheless – and I found myself always eager at the onset of a new story to see how it had been passed through the generations. Each novella also features a brother-sister team in some capacity, and being part of one of those myself I enjoyed seeing the sibling interaction.
More Than Gold by Carolyn Miller kicks off the collection with a brother-sister team who’ve crossed the ocean in search of gold at a mining camp in New South Wales, Australia, and wins the designation of ‘most unique setting’ from the collection. This sweet story tugged at my heartstrings with moments of profound loss but also wit, friendship, and romance. We don’t see historical fiction set during a Australian gold rush very often, sadly, and the setting really became a tertiary character of its own. I really enjoyed being immersed in that era during this story, I loved Daniel and Josephine and their friendship turned romance, and I was touched by the message of faith.
The Veil by Kelly Goshorn gets the award for ‘most characters I fell in love with’ in this collection. I adored every single member of the Kohler family (and I want Franz’s brother’s story now please! and one for their sister, too.), but especially Franz and his Opa (grandfather). These two men completely captured my heart, particularly as it relates to their interactions with our heroine, Caroline. I swooned and grinned and brushed a few tears from my eyes, fully engrossed in this story from beginning to end. I could have happily spent several more hours with these characters as a full-length novel and would love to do so in the future! (ahem. I’m so demanding.) And I haven’t even talked about the clock (swoon!) or the Gugelhupf (yum!) or the exquisitely tender romance between Franz & Caroline.
Running From Love by Angela K. Couch is the story that filled me with all the nostalgia and gets the ‘most times I swooned over a Mountie since When Calls the Heart’ distinction. I loved this trip to the Canadian frontier, with another brother-sister duo chasing their dreams away from family. Again, as in More Than Gold, the sister (our heroine) is mainly along for the ride to keep an eye on her brother, and our intrepid hero steps in to watch out for the heroine when the brother is unable to do so. We get to watch him fix a roof, among other delightfully swoony handyman tasks, and I really loved watching Ben & Anna fall in love. I wanted to purse whomp Anna’s brother on more than one occasion, though, and I would very much like to read his story next, especially with the connections to him in Putman’s story to close out the book.
Lauren’s Song by Cara Putman may not have spent much time on the gold cross necklace that has tied all the stories together in this collection but it does earn the award for “connection I want to know most about”. I really really want to know what happened between the events of Running from Love in 1905 and those of this story set in 1942, and I would be ever so delighted if either Couch or Putman – or both! – wrote a full-length novel that filled in those blanks. This novella also had the history that intrigued me the most in Across the Shores. I didn’t learn much in school about the part of WW2 being fought along our own US coastlines, so the fact that John & Lauren’s romance is set on an island in North Carolina where U-boats were frequently seen and our own ships were being blown up by the enemy is fascinating to me as a history buff. Spies and lighthouses and having to house Civil Defense workers … all of it kept me turning the pages to see how it would all play out.
Bottom Line: Across the Shores teams up four exceedingly talented authors to give us four sweet historical romances with fascinating bits of history, dynamic settings, and compelling characters, tied together by a single gold cross. Each story allows that particular author to shine in her preferred setting & time period, with her own voice and style, while keeping the flow and theme cohesive from one novella to the next. The messages of faith across the collection are gently done and organic to the characters without feeling forced or preachy, and the romances are the perfect blend of tender & swoony. A definite must-read!
(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book)
first reviewed at Reading Is My SuperPower
On the pages of Across the Shores, four talented authors take us on a journey from a mining camp in 1851 Australia to a troubled 1877 Baltimore, the Canadian frontier at the turn of the century, and the Outer Banks of North Carolina during WW2. All without us having to leave our comfy reading spaces or find a time machine! Each of these stories is connected to the others by a gold cross necklace – the first three more strongly than the fourth but the connection is there nonetheless – and I found myself always eager at the onset of a new story to see how it had been passed through the generations. Each novella also features a brother-sister team in some capacity, and being part of one of those myself I enjoyed seeing the sibling interaction.
More Than Gold by Carolyn Miller kicks off the collection with a brother-sister team who’ve crossed the ocean in search of gold at a mining camp in New South Wales, Australia, and wins the designation of ‘most unique setting’ from the collection. This sweet story tugged at my heartstrings with moments of profound loss but also wit, friendship, and romance. We don’t see historical fiction set during a Australian gold rush very often, sadly, and the setting really became a tertiary character of its own. I really enjoyed being immersed in that era during this story, I loved Daniel and Josephine and their friendship turned romance, and I was touched by the message of faith.
The Veil by Kelly Goshorn gets the award for ‘most characters I fell in love with’ in this collection. I adored every single member of the Kohler family (and I want Franz’s brother’s story now please! and one for their sister, too.), but especially Franz and his Opa (grandfather). These two men completely captured my heart, particularly as it relates to their interactions with our heroine, Caroline. I swooned and grinned and brushed a few tears from my eyes, fully engrossed in this story from beginning to end. I could have happily spent several more hours with these characters as a full-length novel and would love to do so in the future! (ahem. I’m so demanding.) And I haven’t even talked about the clock (swoon!) or the Gugelhupf (yum!) or the exquisitely tender romance between Franz & Caroline.
Running From Love by Angela K. Couch is the story that filled me with all the nostalgia and gets the ‘most times I swooned over a Mountie since When Calls the Heart’ distinction. I loved this trip to the Canadian frontier, with another brother-sister duo chasing their dreams away from family. Again, as in More Than Gold, the sister (our heroine) is mainly along for the ride to keep an eye on her brother, and our intrepid hero steps in to watch out for the heroine when the brother is unable to do so. We get to watch him fix a roof, among other delightfully swoony handyman tasks, and I really loved watching Ben & Anna fall in love. I wanted to purse whomp Anna’s brother on more than one occasion, though, and I would very much like to read his story next, especially with the connections to him in Putman’s story to close out the book.
Lauren’s Song by Cara Putman may not have spent much time on the gold cross necklace that has tied all the stories together in this collection but it does earn the award for “connection I want to know most about”. I really really want to know what happened between the events of Running from Love in 1905 and those of this story set in 1942, and I would be ever so delighted if either Couch or Putman – or both! – wrote a full-length novel that filled in those blanks. This novella also had the history that intrigued me the most in Across the Shores. I didn’t learn much in school about the part of WW2 being fought along our own US coastlines, so the fact that John & Lauren’s romance is set on an island in North Carolina where U-boats were frequently seen and our own ships were being blown up by the enemy is fascinating to me as a history buff. Spies and lighthouses and having to house Civil Defense workers … all of it kept me turning the pages to see how it would all play out.
Bottom Line: Across the Shores teams up four exceedingly talented authors to give us four sweet historical romances with fascinating bits of history, dynamic settings, and compelling characters, tied together by a single gold cross. Each story allows that particular author to shine in her preferred setting & time period, with her own voice and style, while keeping the flow and theme cohesive from one novella to the next. The messages of faith across the collection are gently done and organic to the characters without feeling forced or preachy, and the romances are the perfect blend of tender & swoony. A definite must-read!
(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book)
first reviewed at Reading Is My SuperPower