Customer Reviews

Enduring Love: A Novel (Sydney Cove)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Now that John and Hannah have been in New South Wales for several years, they've begun to build a life together. It was interesting to read about how they started off as convicts but have now managed to have their own farm, livestock and their past has become a distant memory. This story is not so much about Australia as it is about John and Hannah's relationship. Hannah is like a Job character as she is severely tested throughout the whole story. Anything bad that could happen to her, happened in this book. She handled things way better than I would have.

While I enjoyed the story, I did have several qualms while reading it. My main one is the entire storyline of the dead spouse coming back to life and ruining a marriage. I really don't like this storyline because it seems to come up a lot in Christian fiction and every single time it ends the same way. This case is no different. I cannot believe that not a single person questioned Margaret and was so readily to dismiss John and Hannah's marriage. It just seemed that everyone gave up too easily. I unfortunately did not like Hannah in this book. Any spunk or boldness she had in previous books seemed to disappear once Margaret showed up. She didn't try to fight for John, she just became a pushover. Even when she had suspicions she didn't want to pursue them and when she did find out the truth, it was only because of a friend's urging that she finally decided to do something. John is no help either as he immediately goes back to his first wife and just dismisses Hannah. There were several times throughout the book that I just wanted to scream at everyone. I will say though the ending was slightly unexpected and I am glad that it didn't end in the predictable way. I am sad that this is the last book in the series as I would have liked to see more of how the characters survive in their new surroundings. Stories about this time period and location are unique and these characters will be missed.

With the release of Enduring Love, the Sydney Cove series by Bonnie Leon comes to a sweet end. While book two in the series, Longings of the Heart, was a bit slower for author Bonnie Leon, Enduring Love was anything but. I purposely put off reading the book until I was able to read it through uninterrupted and was rewarded by my patience. The emotion, the tension, the conflict kept me turning the page as Hannah and John struggled with the trials thrust into their lives and continued living by faith. Hannah was a great example of grace and surrender as God allowed such difficult circumstances to enter her life. The book was predictable, but that was okay because the process wasn't. I loved this book. The only thing I didn't like was that it was over. Bonnie, you did it again! Well done!

Bonnie Leon"s "Syndey Cove" series is very well written and holds your interest..All 2 books have wonderful story lines and the final book closes the story very well..Good reading.

Enduring Love, by Bonnie Leon, is Book 3 in Leon's Sydney Cove series, and an exciting and satisfying finale to a compelling adventure.
Enduring Love draws the reader into the Australia of the early 1800's. The settings are so realistic that I could feel the heat and dust of John and Hannah Bradshaw's sheep farm.
Even more, I felt the tension in the story as Hannah and John struggle against the reality of his first wife's reappearance in his life. How could she be alive when John had been told of her death years before? What would happen to Hannah and John's marriage in a time when divorce was almost never permitted?
Leon's book is filled with unexpected plot twists, humor, and the warmth of an enduring love. The conclusion had me racing to turn the pages.
If you've missed this series, I recommend you return to the beginning and read Books 1 and 2--To Love Anew, and Longings of the Heart. You'll find yourself transported to another time and place.