Unending Devotion by Jody Hedlund ~ Review

My Review: A riveting read, with genuine characters.

Lily Young is determined to find her younger sister, even if it means searching among the Michigan lumber camp brothels. Lily travels with her dear companion, an older man named Oren who is fiercely protective of her, and is like a father to her. She came to find her sister, but love just might be lurking in the form of Connell McCormick.
When Lily stumbles into Connell's life--literally--Connell can't help but feel attracted to her pure kindness and spirit, but can he overcome the scar of his past and open his heart to someone new?

Unending Devotion is going right onto my favorites shelves, I loved it! The characters were well built and the pages flew by, there were humorous moments to offset the harsher and more heart-breaking elements of the story, a perfectly balanced tale.

I loved the characters. I felt that they were well developed and that I could connect easily with them, even though I have never faced anything as hard as the things that they dealt with. Lily was a likable heroine, prone to act perhaps a bit too quickly before thinking, but I could understand why she made the choices that she did.
Oren wins the prize for best side character, I loved his lovable gruffness, and his constant threats to blow the brains from any guy who so much as looked at Lily twice! He was amazing!
I also really liked Stuart, the brave and noble widowed newspaperman, I'm crossing my fingers that he'll get a story of his own someday. He was such a nice guy!
Connell was the perfect hero, in that he had his flaws and he struggled to keep his feelings in check, but he was honorable above all and his actions spoke for his strength.

The setting felt gritty and realistic to what I imagine a lumber camp would be like, and I thought that Ms. Hedlund always found a wonderful way to describe the scenes.

From the way that this book rocketed to a start from the very first page, to the very end Unending Devotion was a book I loathed to put down. I loved how this book had plenty of action and intense moments, with sizzling romantic tension, and as I said before this book is straight to my favorites shelves! The characters came to life for me in this thrilling tale of life in the lumber camps of Michigan. This is a book I heartily recommend!

I received this book from Jody Hedlund and Bethany House Publishers in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!