An Unhappy Surprise!
Prosperity’s world is crashing around her. She has just discovered her fiancée of two years, David, has married someone else! Not only is Prosperity heart-broken, David was her only hope for happiness and a secure life. After the recent death of her mother, Prosperity has no one, and is penniless. She decided to use what little resources she had to book passage from Nantucket Island, to Key West, Florida, in order to marry her fiancée. 
Shocked doesn’t begin to describe how Prosperity feels when she arrives at David’s army post, and discovers he has married someone else. Her quiet and devoutly religious fiancée has married a local barmaid. His new wife is course, rough talking and very pregnant!
A single woman without family or money in 1852, has very little prospects if she doesn’t marry. Broke and alone in an unknown area hundreds of miles from home, Prosperity can only turn to prayer for hope. Amazingly, rescue arrives when Prosperity has a chance encounter with a woman named Elizabeth. Her new friend, along with her husband, provide a room Prosperity can live in.
A chance to make money comes when Prosperity is hired to do back-breaking work in the local hospital’s laundry. Not only is the work hard, she must work under the cruel Miss Stern. She is a woman who is difficult to please. She seems to delight in firing anyone who breaks one of her many rules. Prosperity must keep her job at all costs, and is careful to do everything Miss Stern demands.
From time to time, Prosperity crosses paths with David. He acts like he hates his wife, and still wants to declare his love for Prosperity. Everything David has done confuses her, and he seems like a stranger instead of the man she though she knew so well. Her heart is shattered by his behavior.
Through Prosperity’s interest in the medicinal value of local herbs, she strikes up a friendship with a much older man, the local doctor, Clayton Goodenow. Without her realizing it, Dr. Goodenow has fallen in love with Prosperity. He states he knows she doesn’t love him, but he is sure, with time, she will. He wants to marry her.
What will happen after the shocking discovery that is made after David’s baby is born? Will Prosperity agree to marry the kind doctor, even though she doesn’t love him, and he doesn’t share her faith? Despite trying hard, will Prosperity break one of Miss Stern’s many rules, and lose her only way to support herself?
This book will keep you turning the pages. I really enjoyed Elizabeth and Prosperity’s faith, and the way they used it in their everyday life. The is the second installment in the Keys of Promise series, but this story stands on its own. I recommend this 5-star book to those who enjoy historical romances.
The publisher has provided bookreadingtic with a complimentary copy of Honor Redeemed, through Revell Publishing for the purpose of review. I have not been compensated in any other manner. All opinions expressed are my own, and I was not required, or influenced, to give anything but an honest appraisal. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
The Author’s Website: christineelizabethjohnson.com
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