Family of Her Dreams by Keli Gwyn

Tess Grimsby has arrived in Shingle Springs to be housekeeper to Spencer Abbott, a young widower with two children. Tess was raised in an orphanage and dreams of one day having her own family.

Spencer's wife recently passed away and left behind two children. Little Luke is full of rambunctious energy and into all kinds of trouble. Tess immediately sets out to win his hurting soul. Tess feels for the children, knowing that Luke is acting out in pain from losing his mother.

Spencer is still mourning his wife but knows that he needs help with his children. He is put off a bit by Tess's outspokenness, but soon realizes that she is quite capable of taking care of him and his children.

As Tess takes care of this grieving family she soon begins to fall in love with them, and the dreams of one day having a family of her own begin to resemble the faces of Spencer and his children. Meanwhile Spencer is torn between his attraction to Tess and a woman he only knows through a set of letters that someone lost at the railroad station he runs. Will he miss out on the love in front of him in order to pursue a woman he has never met but haunts him through her letters?

I think this is the first Love Inspired Historical that I have read. I really enjoyed it. I loved Tess and Spencer. Tess has spunk and isn't afraid to speak her mind even though she also has some insecurities. Spencer loves his children even though he is grieving the loss of their mother. I like how he was able to change his mind when Tess presented him all of the facts of a change she wanted to implement. He wasn't an unreasonable parent nor an unreasonable boss. One issue I have with these type of books is that they are shorter than the average novel and therefore can't develop the characters as well as I would have liked. I thought that the story was progressing along nicely, but then kind of galloped to the end a little too quickly. Still I enjoyed these characters very much. I also liked the setting. It is fun to read a story about places that I have been. I look forward to the next book that author Keli Gwyn writes!

Check out my review of Keli's other book:

A Bride Opens Shop in El Dorado California