A Lifetime to Share

Oregon Trail Dreamin', Book 2

By: Kathleen Ball

Narrated by: Tom Jordan

When life has shown you death, can you bring yourself to love again?

Eli Todd is a tall, handsome captain of a wagon train bound for Oregon. Life has taught him if he allows people into his heart, he ends up losing them.

Amelia Cruthers is a pretty, young woman with a limp. She’s a hard worker who starts out the trip to Oregon with her parents, until they try to leave her behind. In shock, she watches them cross a river by ferry without her.

Thankfully, the kind, strong Eli Todd takes her with him. Admiring her spunk and work ethic, he gives her a job cooking for the crew. After a fall from his horse, Amelia tends him and he realizes she is sweetness on earth.

Her parents demand he marry Amelia, since she spent time alone with him, nursing him. Eli figures why not? He won’t be home most of the year anyway, and Amelia could have a safe place to live on his ranch. What could possibly go wrong?

Amelia never thought to be married. She’d been told her hip was too hideous for a man to look upon and that she couldn’t have children. Knowing that she could never be a real wife, the love she begins to feel for Eli frightens her.

The distance they try to place between them doesn’t work, leaving them both hurt with longings that could never be fulfilled. But there are secrets, and when they realize they’d been lied to, do they take the leap at a lifetime to share?

©2017 Kathleen Ball (P)2018 Kathleen Ball

Author + narrator = perfection

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I loved this book. The plot, flow, characters and pace was dang near perfect. I feel in love with the characters. I felt for them. This audio made it so I was on the trail with them. There was a lot of feeling, emotions... I have listened to other books by the narrator, Tom Jordan. He has a way of bringing life to characters and how to develop emotions with his voice. I say this is a perfect match with Ms. Ball's writing and Mr. Jordan's narrations. I am looking forward to hearing or reading more of this series in the future.

Excellent clean western !

Amelia has been told. all of her life that no man will want her and people will shun her because of her disfigurement. But her strong will has made her a fighter even though the words hurt. Eli doesn't want to get married yet, but he is drawn to Amelia. This story is about the hardships and perils facing the settlers as they moved west, cruelty of words, strength of spirit, greed, friendship, abuse, and love.

Tom Jordan does an excellent job of portraying the lives of these characters. He created both female and male voices. In fact I thought I was listening to duel narration. His voice is so smooth and easy to listen to. He captured all of the drama in this story. I could listen to him all day long.

I volunteered to receive and review this Audible book. This is an excellent and clean western that is filled with drama and adventure. The Audible book is outstanding.I highly recommend this book.

a lifetime

I liked the book, it was a story of good winning over evil, but the journey was quite hard. I wanted to smack Amelia a few times. Yes... I know how damaging self-esteem crushers can be, but didn't Eli show her at each turn that he can be trusted? She believes a woman who belittled her all her life and tried to kill her many times. What is Eli to do? I stuck to the end, I wanted to have a positive outcome after all that trouble and was rewarded with a sweet HEA.
Mr. Jordan's voice made it easy to listen to the story. This is my first listen and I like his warm voice, he gave the characters distinctive voices that fit their temperament. I will definitely check out his other works.

Enjoyable story

A very sweet story of a young woman whose parents treat her horribly and a man who once lost his love and is afraid to love again. Eli and Amelia meet on the journey through the Oregon Trail which Eli leads west and many twists and turns come along which draws them close and reveals not all is as it seems to be. This story will keep you entertained and whether you prefer to hear it as an audiobook or read it you will be very pleased with it and the narrator did an excellent job with each character.

Absolutely loved this book!

This was the most captivating story! I felt everything the characters were going though, pain, sorrows, hardship, love, joy...the author has a wonderful style of writing! Drama would build just to the point I couldn't stand it, and then relief would come just in time, all the way through the book. I really enjoyed the historical aspects of the Oregon trail, racial prejudice, and the underground railroad. I haven't read book one, but this book was great as a stand alone, and I am going to want the first and next in the series for sure. The narrator did an excellent job also. The romance between Amelia/Amy and Eli was absolutely precious. I was shocked by all that Amelia had endured at the hands of her so-called parents, and Eli was the perfect character to help her heal and believe in her true beauty. This is one of the best books I've ever read!

Great story!

This book was a clean and wonderful story. It held my attention throughout the book to the point where I couldn't put it down until I accidentally fell 😴 asleep. Highly recommended this book.

Excellent

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, I would recommend this book. The heartache of the trail, tragedies and triumphs were very real.

Who was your favorite character and why?

There are many memorable characters. The main couple, Eli and Amy, were wonderful, but the supporting characters were also very strong and compelling.

What about Tom Jordan’s performance did you like?

Mr. Jordan's voice was very strong and easily understood.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The heroines situation had me in tears. Love and justice triumphed.

Great Read

Overall great read. Characters were like-able and story had the perfect amount of romance, drama and suspense.

Makes you believe

This book was very enjoyable. I have listened to this narrator before and he has a good voice. Most of the time I would call it hypnotic or calming.
He was an excellent choice for this book.

I loved the story. Between the narrator and the story line I wish it would have gone into more detail. But let’s be honest. It was well edited.
I admit I have not read any other books from this series and I will correct that problem shortly.
Amy or Amelia was a wonderful character that you could not help but love and cheer for. She has more spine than I ever could have. I won’t go through all that this lady went through but at the end it made you believe in happily ever after. The book also made you want to find a horse and go riding. (Not sure I could handle riding in a wagon that long) oh and I also want to be able to shoot a gun like her.

Just a great story. Hope you take a chance and read it.

The Todd Brothers Continue Their Story

Eli Todd took over for his brother Mike as trail boss since meeting and marrying the love of his life. Being the trail boss means protecting everyone under his leadership and when one family tries to leave their daughter behind in the middle of the Oregon Trail, Eli steps in and has her join his crew.



Amelia Cruthers has given everything to her parents and they have taken advantage of her giving spirit. She has a limp though, and they see her as defective. When another young person becomes available to help Amelia's parents get to Oregon, they leave her on the side of the trail. The handsome trail boss has other plans though. He is determined to get her safely to their destination and find out why her parents hate her so much.



Will this situation show Eli that love is possible and will Amelia find that people can be kind, or will the meddling of her parents' cause even more heartache? 

I

LOVED this second book of the Oregon Trail Dreamin' series. Kathleen Ball wrote another wonderful story and Tom Jordan brought life to her characters! Looking forward to book 3!




I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.