Trying to heal the ache she feels in her empty life, wealthy Christine Pendleton decides to volunteer at Centre Street Chapel. Ministering to one of the most deprived parts of New York City, the chapel aims at making a difference in the lives of the impoverished immigrants flooding the city. After seeing firsthand the hopelessness of the poor women and orphans, Christine is convinced more can be … be done to help them.
Guy Bedell has been serving at the chapel and pouring his heart out for the people he’s grown to care about. When Christine begins to challenge his methods and offers a new vision for reaching out to the community, can he trust that perhaps God has bigger plans in store for him–plans that may include this feisty socialite?
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Great Book!! I loved it, read in one sitting
This story was wonderful, but too short! Especially since there were three perspectives in the story. I loved the characters, particularly Christine and Guy. There love story was wonderful and sweet, even if it was almost an instant love thing. It was interesting meeting Elise, I think the next novel will be about her, so it’s cool having the background info. I just felt it was short even for a novella, considering all that was happening. It totally could have been a full length novel.
I put off reading this book for several months simply b/c the cover didn’t appeal to me (I know–you aren’t supposed to judge a book by it’s cover but admittedly I do). It looked depressing and old to me, especially in a thumbnail on my kindle app. Once the next book came out (technically book 1 in the series, as this was a prequel novella) I wanted to read that book b/c it sounded good and the cover really appealed to me. I obviously had to go back and catch up by reading this. And still am bummed that it took me so long to jump in.
This was a great story. Very different than many that I’ve read. It grabbed my attention from the beginning and kept me engaged until the last page.
Can’t wait to read Book 1. Really enjoyed this book.
This introduction to “An Orphan Train” series by Jody Hedlund read much bigger than a Novella. The 150+ pages was packed with character development for the rest of the series, a romance between the Centre Street Chapel minister, Guy Bedell, and New York City wealthy spinster, Christine Pendleton, plus a captivating emotional vivid look at the lives of the impoverished immigrants.
As with all of Jody’s stories there is a message which is subtly portrayed in only her true knack of storytelling. This is a wonderful start to a series about the very trying time in American history as the European poor flocked to the Land of Opportunity.
I highly recommend “An Awakened Heart” to all who enjoy reading well written Christian historical fiction with a clean romance as Jody is one of the best writers in this genre.
I enjoyed this quick novella! Novellas in general tend to feel rushed, but I found this one to be endearing and a great start to Hedlund’s new series. This is definitely meant to give readers a peek into the full series, including characters with stories that still need resolution. The main characters of the novella, however, have a complete story, and for such a short space, this one is told well. I also appreciated the realistic look at the bleak life of those living in poverty in New York City in the late 1850’s and the desire of people like Christine to move beyond words and put them into action. I’m eager for the Orphan Train series and to see these characters again.
This is an incredible historical romance!
The characters are truly three dimensional in this remarkable beginning of a new series. I love it when a new group of books is introduced in a novella such as this.
This wonderful story is set in New York City in 1857. I have read books from this period about the wealthy and those in high society. I have seldom found a book that is focused on the plight of the poorest of immigrants. The picture drawn of how they are trapped within their circumstances without any foreseeable way out is very poignant. My heart broke for what Elise and her sisters were facing.
At the same time Christine Pendleton and Reverend Guy Bedell were doing what they could to try and help. I was quickly able to empathize with Christine and the heartache she has experienced as well. I was caught up in longing to see her life improve as well.
I am looking forward to reading this entire series.
I enjoyed this historical romance. The characters were believable and held my interest. The plot was excellent.Enjoy!