Review: Hidden Truths

Hidden Truths by Jae
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Finished on April 9, 2021

Favorite Scene/Quote: "Sometimes, falling in love doesn't mean you'll heave a happily-ever-after."

I finally got around to reading the sequel to Backwards to Oregon and I think I love it more than the first book. As much as I loved to read about Nora and Luke falling in love, somehow Rika and Amy were better.
    
Amy is Luke and Nora’s eldest daughter. She loves horses and riding around, and she wants to prove to Luke that she can run the ranch while Luke goes to Fort Boise. She’s headstrong but insecure. She is also enlisted by Phin, the ranch’s foreman, to go pick up his mail order bride. Rika is fleeing from Boston after a series of unfortunate events, and she’s fleeing to the Hamilton Ranch. She arrives with secrets and is brought to the ranch by Amy. She’s no stranger to hard work, but how easy is it to learn how to be on a farm. Secrets are abundant and various issues arise, but surely everyone will come out fine.

I really adored Amy and Rika. Rika is scarred from past events and she’s willing to help out if it means that she can keep a place on the ranch while waiting for Phin to arrive. She’s so easy to like and it’s so nice to see her grow more comfortable. Amy is living a life of fear and it breaks my heart. I love her so much and she’s so sweet. She’s scared about her feelings and she has to portray a rough exterior to get some of the men on the ranch to take her seriously. Under the rough exterior though, she’s an absolute sweetheart.

It was nice to see some more of Luke and Nora, but I didn’t really enjoy Luke’s parts very much. They weren’t bad, but they didn’t feel necessary, I guess. It was nice to see more of Phin though, especially considering the role he plays in Rika’s life. On the other hand, I adored every scene with Tess and Frankie. They were such a nice couple to have added to the story and it was amazing.

I was really happy with how the drama was handled in this book. In the last book I found that some of it felt like it had been drawn out more than necessary but in this book it worked. It might have drawn out, but it felt perfect with how the characters were portrayed.

I really enjoyed this book and at some point in this year I’ll get around to reading Shaken to the Core .