A Breath of Hope by Lauraine Snelling, 2018

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With her younger brother Ivar in tow, Nilda Carlson is on her way to America to join her older brother Rune and his family in the northern forests of Minnesota. While she sees this as a golden opportunity, she has enough experience in life to know it won't be easy. The transatlantic voyage itself proves to be an adventure, and she hopes she will feel safe in her new home.

Rune and Signe Carlson are thrilled that Nilda and Ivar are coming to Minnesota, but life on the Strand farm remains a struggle. Rune is trying to build a house for his wife and children, but Uncle Einar Strand, obsessed with his own ambitions, refuses to help. What's more, he forbids anyone from the community to step foot on his land, leaving Rune to toil on his own. When a tragedy lays bare the truth behind Einar's anger and isolation, the Carlsons and Strands will have to come together like never before to become a true family.

(336 pages)

I really, really enjoyed the first book in the "Under Northern Skies" series, The Promise of Dawn. I was excited to see the story continue with A Breath of Hope.

And, on the whole, I'm satisfied with this second instalment in the series. Nilda is an interesting new character, though I almost found her a little bland in comparison to the rest of the family. It's hard for a young, single woman who mostly just helps with the cooking and takes some English classes to compete for the spotlight with Signe, Rune, the boys, the baby, Gerd, and Einar. I didn't care much about her potential romances. I think my favorite parts with Nilda have to be her reaction to an attempted assault back in Norway (and her attempts to see justice done), and she and Ivar's stop at a wealthy woman's mansion during their journey to Minnesota. Both are compelling storylines that I thought were done well.

I also really appreciated seeing the continuation of the story started in the first book, following the characters we grew to love in The Promise of Dawn. I didn't enjoy them quite as much as in the first one, because Einar's surliness got a little old after a while and most of the drama of living on the farm and growing accustomed to everything was already hashed out in the previous book, but it was still nice to see the continuation of their transition to their own place in Minnesota.

I've really enjoyed this series so far. While The Breath of Hope wasn't quite as good as The Promise of Dawn in my opinion, I still loved it and I am excited to read any more books in the series that might be coming out.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.