Against the Wind by Amanda Cabot ~ A Review

by Susan Roberts

Louisa wants to be a doctor. The problem is that it's 1883 in Texas and women are supposed to stay home and have babies and there is no way they are smart enough or strong enough to be a doctor.  Maybe a midwife but never a doctor.  Louisa won’t accept the negative comments by the people (both men and women) in Sweetwater Crossing and she stubbornly sticks to her plans for the future and hopefully change the negative minds in town. 

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

October 2023; Revell; 978-0800745035
audio, ebook, print (352 pages); historical fiction

Louisa is returning to town when she finds a man who has been thrown from his horse and has a badly broken leg.  Josh is from New York City and has been traveling through the West to find recipes and create a new department in his grandfather's store in NY.  His grandfather has decreed that the store will be left to him or his cousin depending on who has the best idea for the future of the store.  Breaking his leg and the inability to travel is a definite roadblock for Josh and his plans for the future but the time he spends in Sweetwater and the more he gets to know Louisa his original plans for the future begin to change.

Someone in Sweetwater is totally opposed to Louisa's plan to be the town doctor and is creating situations that make her look bad so that the townspeople will turn against her.  Will she, with Josh's help, be able to find out who is working against her so that she can become well-regarded in town?  If she is unsuccessful, she plans to leave town and move to somewhere that she will be accepted.  Josh's plans are to move back to NY City.  Is there any future for them when both of them have plans to move even further away from each other?

I really enjoyed this book.  Amanda was a strong well-written character who knew what she wanted out of life and worked hard to fulfill her dreams despite all of the people who stood in her way.  She was not only a strong character but she was compassionate and loved to take care of people.  Her romance with Josh was gentle and sweet and his feelings for her kind of snuck on him.  The plot of the novel revealed some of the secrets in town but left a few things unanswered that I'm sure will be revealed in book 3 in the series.

Note:   This is the second book in this series and even though it can be read as a standalone with minimal confusion, I recommend reading the books in order.  The first book is After the Shadows.  Read my review.  Book 3 in the series is scheduled to be published in July 2024.

Buy Against the Wind at Amazon

Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is two hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west.  She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction.   

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