Saturday, March 24, 2018

A Chance at Forever by Melissa Jagears






Mercy McClain is confronted by her childhood nemesis Aaron Firebrook when he applies for a teaching position at the school where she is a member of the school board.  Arron (then called George) had been a bully and had offended multiple people in his younger days.  While waiting for the school board’s decision, Aaron takes a job as groundskeeper at the mansion of a local couple who has orphans from the city’s red light district in residence.  As it turns out, Mercy is also employed there to take care of the orphans. As the summer progresses, Mercy starts to see Aaron in a different light.


The name of the town intrigued me because the book tells us that the setting is Southeast Kansas.  Since I grew up in Southeast Kansas, I know the layout pretty well.  The picture of the mansion on the cover has a striking resemblance to a mansion that is a tourist attraction in SE Kansas.  The fictional town name is Teaville and there is no town by that name.  But there is a town name Coffeyville and the book mentions a nearby town (Caney) a couple of times so I think that pretty well nails it down.  I will have to do some research into Coffeyville’s history out of sheer curiosity now.


I really enjoyed this book, although as a person who was a foster parent for many years and now a grandparent to adopted children, I think the author’s view of outcomes for adoption of older children is a bit more cut and dried than the reality but that’s what romantic fiction is for – a feel good ending.  That is what I want in a story when I read this type of fiction.


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