Leanna's Choice ~ Review

My Heart Belongs in Castle Gate, Utah
Leanna's Choice
By Angie Dickens

Leanna McKee's life is not what she expected it to be. Living far from her old life in Boston society she finds herself a widow in the harsh mining town of Castle Gate, Utah and surviving on the slight salary she makes as a school teacher to the children of Greek immigrants. The resentment and bitterness that have made a home in her heart are keeping her from any contentment in her situation.

But when Alex Pappas, a friend of her late husband, seeks her help with his niece and nephew Leanna finds a new purpose in her life and a chance to earn her way out of Castle Gate. But the more she gets to know the Pappas children the more aware she becomes of the prejudices that are held against these hard-working immigrants.

Fear and intolerance have divided this community into two halves. Though there is work and opportunity to grow and improve what they have, distrust of what isn't known has driven in a wedge that is widening the divide. And Leanna and Alex's friendship could be the catalyst to destroy everything. Or it could be the first step in drawing everyone into a community that works together. But when two other choices for the future present themselves Leanna is faced with a decision that only she can make. But which way will she turn - that which she had known, that which she now knows, or the unknown?

This story is set in 1910 and it is interesting to run parallels to today and people's stance on immigrants. Fear that these new people will steal the jobs, the opportunities that belong to others has been a motivation in this intolerance throughout history.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review. All opinions expressed are my own.

About the Book:

Forbidden love challenges Old World

expectations in the coal mining town

of Castle Gate, Utah

Schoolteacher Leanna McKee plans on leaving the coal mining town of Castle Gate, Utah, and never looking back. Good riddance to coal dust, rugged men, and the fatal mine that took her husband’s life.

Until the widow meets a widower who awakens her heart...and she finds herself inexplicably falling for miner Alex Pappas which stirs up a whole heap of trouble.

Alex’s Greek parents have arranged a more traditional match for him.  When the schoolteacher’s association with the Greek family begins to anger the American miners, they threaten Alex and his family. Leanna has received an offer to teach elsewhere and feels she has no choice but to leave Castle Gate. . .though she will be leaving her heart behind.