Being rescued from a childhood of hard knocks, Jenny Bennett had a deep-seated desired to help others; what better place for a lady with some grit, due to her past, to help others, than as an army nurse. While performing her nursing duties, she runs across a handsome sailor, Lieutenant Ryan Gallagher. For Jenny and Ryan, it is love at first site. From the get go they are inseparable and start dreaming of a future together, knowing the only thing that will separate them temporarily is the high chance that Ryan will be deployed. When the time to be deployed comes, Ryan parts promising to write Jenny frequently and giving her his deceased father’s wristwatch as a promise to come back home to her with a ring.
Jenny starts to write letters to Ryan and gets nothing in return from him. Each day, she checks the wounded or MIA soldiers lists to be sure that Ryan’s name does not appear on it and each day, she is relieved to know that he is still alive and accounted for. One day Jenny receives a note from Ryan that he cannot keep his commitment to her to marry and that she should move on with life. Devastated, Jenny puts her life into her work and caring for others that she loses her social life and does not have time to think on the feelings she felt for Ryan and the pain of the loss.
One day Jenny goes to the cafeteria and finds a little girl playing and the man that she calls “Daddy” looks like none other than Ryan, whom she has not seen in years. The gentleman seems to purposely avoid her however so she is left hurt and puzzling over what is going on. She proceeds to find Ryan’s house and confronts him about what is going on and why the little girl calls him “Daddy”. Ryan cannot seem to give Jenny a straight answer and this only frustrates Jenny even more. What Jenny does not know is that Ryan is still on a secret mission and cannot give out too much information so that way he does not give himself away, even though it risks everyone on break calling him a coward and deserter.
As Jenny is working one night, she overhears some soldiers threatening to turn him in for desserting his duties. Since Jenny still feels an allegiance and desire for Ryan, she feels the need to tell him that he is going to be turned in so that he can have a chance to defend himself. When she goes to confront him, he is sailing with a civilian in the middle of the day instead of working, which leaves her confused. What she doesn’t know is that the civilian Ryan is working with is Ryan’s chance to be relieved from his current mission and have any sort of life with Jenny. One big problem though, is that Ryan’s replacement is a drug addict and needs to be clean to be able to take Ryan’s place on the mission. Ryan believes Jenny is his best chance at helping with the issue, but can he get Jenny to agree to help him so they can live their happily ever after?
To the Farthest Shores by Elizabeth Camden is a captivating novel of love and duty that will have you turning each page. This is not a book that is suitable for younger readers. While it is a Christian based novel, it also deals with some adult topics, such as drug addiction. This is a fantastic novel and based on this book alone, I would enjoy reading more books from Elizabeth Camden.
For a preview of the novel or to purchase, please click here.
I received this book free courtesy of Bethany House Publisher’s Blogger Review Program in exchange for an honest review.
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