Sew in Love: 4 Historical Stories of Love Stitched into Broken Lives

Title: Sew in Love: 4 Historical Stories of Love Stitched into Broken Lives

Authors: Kimberley Woodhouse, Debby Lee, Jacquolyn McMurray, Darlene Panzera

Genre: Historical Fiction Novella Collection

Publishing Date: Dec 1, 2019

Publisher: Barbour Books

Length: 448 Pages

About the Book:

When four women put needle and thread to fabric, will their sewing lead to love?

HEARTS SEWN WITH LOVE by Darlene Panzera
Gold Bar, California, April 1850
During the California gold rush, a beautiful seamstress finds her heart torn between the men who want to marry her and the one fortune hunter who won’t.

WOVEN HEARTS by Jacquolyn McMurray
New York City, 1911
A shirtwaist factory fire survivor struggles to provide for her family despite the disastrous misguided intentions of the handsome union organizer who tries to help.

A  LANGUAGE OF LOVE by Kimberley Woodhouse
New York City, 1911
A milliner with thick Irish accent and a renowned baseball player with speech impediment meet at the office of a language teacher. But the issues with their backgrounds that first brought them together will also drive them apart.

TAILORED SWEETHEARTS by Debby Lee
Dutch Harbor, Alaska, Summer 1945
A parachute seamstress struggles with her faith in desperate circumstances. A fighter pilot teaches her to hope in her darkest hours.

My Review:

Hearts Sewn With Love:

I really enjoyed this read. It was easy to get into and I thought it was well paced especially for the shorter length of a novella. Ben and Maggie were both likable characters and it was easy to root for their romance to blossom. There’s something about the times of the gold rush that has always intrigued me so I really loved the setting of this one. I liked that the dangers of gold mining were not ignored and the experiences of the characters sucked me into their world.

Woven Hearts:

I loved this one as well! I remember learning about industrialization and all of the hazards of city life and working factories while I was in school. It’ always amazed me how businesses were able to get away with so much and how polarized people were towards the birth of unions. This story easily held my attention and had me curious to see how things worked out. I adored Millie’s character and her tenacity to support her family during the most difficult of times. As with the first one, it was well paced and I still felt like I was getting a full story even though it was only the length of a novella.

A Language of Love:

Okay. I admit I love listening to people talk in accents. So while I was sad that the characters were trying to get rid of their accents, I also found their conversations about them during lessons rather fun and humorous. I don’t know if this was any inspiration for the author, but whenever I thought of Philip I kept picturing one of the characters from the musical Newsies because of where he’d come from. I liked that he was a man who had risen above his upbringing and had grown into a real catch. (I know, I know bad pun haha). I liked that Jeni had a lot of spunk and was not only talented but knew what she wanted and went for it. I had a lot of fun with this story.

Tailored Sweethearts:

I liked this one but also felt like it was a bit out of place in the collection. It’s still historical taking place in 1945, but the other three were 1850 and 1911 so very different times. It was a little hard to get into but because of that but was still a good read. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything that took place in Alaska during WWII but it was intriguing to read something new. It’s made me interested to know more. Even within the setting this managed to be a sweet romance.

Rating: