*As far as I know, these are the only two in the FNS series so far, but feel free to let me know if there are, in fact, others.
Francine Howard has her life all mapped out until the soldier she planned to marry at WWII's end writes to tell her he's in love with a woman in England. Devastated, Francine seeks a fresh start in the Appalachian Mountains, training to be a nurse midwife for the Frontier Nursing Service. Deeply affected by the horrors he witnessed at war, Ben Locke has never thought further ahead than making it home to Kentucky. His future shrouded in as much mist as his beloved mountains, he's at a loss when it comes to envisioning what's next for his life. When Francine's and Ben's paths intersect, it's immediately clear that they are from different worlds and value different things. But love has a way of healing old wounds . . . and revealing tantalizing new possibilities.
★★★☆☆
In the summer of 1945, wanting to distance herself from a broken heart, nursing student Francine Howard decides to do a stint with the Frontier Nursing Service station in Appalachian Kentucky. There she will train in their midwifery course as well as assist with general medical concerns (illness, broken bones, skin irritations, etc.) that come up in the community. In these remote parts, she'll also come to find out that "off-duty" is just another word for part-time farming. All the while, Fran is frequently reminded that she "ain't mountain."
Over the course of the story, Fran develops a bond with veteran and former medic Ben Locke. Ben and Fran first meet when Fran, forever getting lost in the hills, gets thrown from her horse one day. The spooked horse runs off and eventually crosses paths with Ben, who had newly arrived to the area. Ben gets the horse to guide him back to Fran's location and from there a friendship (and yeah, duh, a romance lol) begins to grow.
While I was excited for the setting of the story, the plot here was a little slow for me. There are lots of scenes of mundane chores being carried out, and while I understand this kind of thing is often meant to develop a sense of community within these rural sort of stories, in this case it wasn't terribly interesting and just bogged down the pace of the story. Additionally, many of the characters conversed in a way that was too stiff and proper to allow a chance to get too invested in them. There were some quick moments of action here and there, such as Fran being thrown from a spooked horse, or another character being shot at from an unknown source. And hey, I'll always offer up a few extra points whenever an otherwise kinda slow story introduces a cute puppy co-star like Sarge. :-)
In 1933 Louisville, Kentucky, even the ongoing economic depression cannot keep Piper Danson's parents from insisting on a debut party. After all, their fortune came through the market crash intact, and they've picked out the perfect suitor for their daughter. Braxton Crandall can give her the kind of life she's used to. The only problem? This is not the man--or the life--she really wants. When Piper gets the opportunity to volunteer as a horseback Frontier Nursing courier in the Appalachian Mountains for the summer, she jumps at the chance to be something other than a dutiful daughter or a kept wife in a loveless marriage. The work is taxing, the scenery jaw-droppingly gorgeous, and the people she meets along the way open up a whole new world to her. The longer she stays, the more an advantageous marriage slips from her grasp. But something much more precious--true love--is drawing ever closer. Bestselling author Ann H. Gabhart invites you into the storied hills of Eastern Kentucky to discover what happens when one intrepid young woman steps away from the restrictive past into a beautiful, wide-open future.
★★★1/2
In 1933 Kentucky, Piper Danson's wealthy family has ridden out the aftermath of 1929's Black Tuesday with hardly a ruffle to their fortune. Though the rest of the country is well settled into The Great Depression, Piper's tone-deaf parents decide it's time to go through with her debut ball, the event to officially herald her arrival into socialite circles. The trouble is, Piper has little interest in going on with this privileged life she was born into, instead craving something with more substance, something that will put some real good out into the world.
At a tea party at her Aunt Truda's, Piper finds her answer: She'll spend the summer volunteering as a courier with the Frontier Nursing Service. Though not medically trained, Piper will assist the nursing stations in any way needed --- tending to livestock, delivering supplies between stations, being an extra helping hand at house calls, whatever.
And you know readers are gonna get a romance! But this time around Gabhart decides to mix things up and write in a mild triangle. While Piper is still secretly pining for her former flame Jamie (and he for her, also secretly), she's stuck being pushed into date nights with Braxton Crandall, handsome heir to a railroad fortune... a union her parents want to go well, since they shut down any chance of her matching with "too poor" Jamie. (Jamie, not an heir to anything, takes up teaching jobs to pay the bills but dreams of making a livable income as a writer. For the time being, he makes due with part-time work at the local newspaper).
Piper finds Braxton nice enough, if a little full of himself, but she's got zero romantic spark with the guy. Oh, but you KNOW Jamie's not out of the picture yet! And to be honest, from the very beginning of this book it's pretty clear how this whole triangle business is going to go. Much like a Hallmark movie, you're not surprised by the ending but the journey is fun regardless and everyone goes home with warm fuzzies.
The tone here felt much more relaxed than what I found in These Healing Hills. There's also more humor, realistic conversations, and a nice "late in life" side romance involving Truda and a man she thought she'd lost forever years earlier in her youth. And of course there's the message readers are left with that love conquers all and wealth isn't everything.
Nice little reading experience overall. I loved the "faith like a swinging bridge" analogy!
This book and These Healing Hills are not really connected as far as the characters go, they just share setting and similar historical period, so both books can easily be read as standalone novels.
FTC Disclaimer: Revell Publishing kindly provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The opinions above are entirely my own.
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