"Sometimes the most valuable things are hidden away like that. I think sometimes God just wants us to have to work for them because then we'll really know just how valuable they are."
In the latest of the Sapphire Brides Series from best-selling author Tracie Peterson, A Love Transformed is the third and final novel to make its debut.Set in New York City in 1917, Clara Vesper wasn't anticipating the news that came to her that her husband Adolf had been shot and is dead. Not only that, she learns from his twin brother Otto, that he has mismanaged his financial affairs and has left her penniless despite the lucrative jewelry business the three of them have partnered in. Even the very home and furnishings now belong to Otto and he has agreed to let her live there as a ways of helping her deal with this shocking blow.
It should come as no surprise that Clara feels very little about Adolf since their marriage was more of a business arrangement and not one of love even though it lasted over 14 years and produced two wonderful children, twins themselves Maddy and Hunter. What does surprise her is the freedom she now feels that she is no longer bound by marriage and can make amends for what happened 14 years ago to the only man she loved, Curtis Billingham. They parted ways in Montana after her mother forcefully removed her and ended their love affair before it could go any further. Now she has a chance to make it right and since she has no claims over anything in New York any longer, she is free to journey back to the only place she has known as home and love in Montana.
Now if she can manage to pack a few things before her mother arrives to upset her plans and find other suitable arrangements for Clara to find a wealthy and prosperous husband after a suitable mourning period. Clara knows if she is to find love and freedom again, she must leave while no one suspects where she might go and take the children with her. She only hopes that when she arrives at the bank later there will be enough money in her account to buy them train tickets to Montana. She'll have to figure out the rest when she gets there. She doesn't expect to find quite a bit of money and her husband's journals tucked away in a safe deposit box but she will deal with those later.
After a mine cave in, Curtis is lucky to be alive. But now he is under the care of Madeline and Paul Sersland, Clara's aunt and uncle, he has no choice but to spend his countless hours praying for the strength not only to get better physically, but spiritually with God as well. His past is something he can't quite come to terms with, even though Paul has reminded him that when you confess your sins to God, and trust in Him, you are a new creation and all that has happened in the past in God's eyes is wiped clean. If only he could believe it in his heart, and the last thing he expects is Clara to walk into his life again. If only God could transform his life and make it new again.
I received A Love Transformed by Tracie Peterson compliments of Baker Publishing Group and Net Galley. I have had the wonderful pleasure of following this series all the way through and while it does make the entire novel better by understanding the back story of the sapphire mine's success, you can read this one and enjoy it as a stand alone as well. For me, it was such a wonderful conclusion and to see the outcome of Clara's future truly was worth waiting for. Even though I could sense where this story was going, I still loved the journey along the way of watching Curtis fall in love with a new Clara and her delightful children. For me this was worth 4.5 out of 5 stars.
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