Love on the Horizon by Penny Zeller Review

 

Love on the Horizon by Penny Zeller is the fourth book in the Horizon series. I was so excited to go back to Hoizon, Idaho and catch up with the Shepherdson family. Boy has the family grown since the first book. The first book introduced us to Paisley and Tyler plus the three children who became their adopted children, Mae, Lucy, and Albert. They also went on to have Ruby and Timothy. Book two featured Mae, and book three featured Ruby. Though with each book we also got to see a glimpse of other family members and how they had grown. 

Book four is Timothy's story, along with Mags, or Magnolia, Davenport. Timothy's plans for his life are to serve God, be an awesome uncle to all his nieces and nephews, and to take care of his farm. Even though he is quite the eligible bachelor, with several young ladies pining over him, he is content with his life and has no plans to marry. 

Mags has had a hard life, a life where she has had so much taken from her and she feels that God doesn't care about her, so why should she bother with Him. She decides to leave Chicago and make her way west, choosing Horizon, Idaho as her destination. Though her mode of travel isn't quite ethical, she makes her way there and, on the spur of the moment, decides she is going to open a bakery to share delectable creations she learned to bake from her mother. But just how is she going to do that with no money?

I love how we see God providing and working in the lives of both Timothy and Mags. How for Mags, things that were "evil" in her past, ended up working for good. We get to know Mags more through her memories of her past, which occur quite a bit, especially when something triggers a memory. It was definitely very emotional, getting to see the good times and then the bad times she lived through after her parents passed away. There were life lessons and spiritual lessons, and oh how it moved me to see Mags grow closer to God again, and I loved how Timothy's mom Paisley played a part by sharing her faith with Mags and being there for her and encouraging her. 

I loved how faith was such an important part in their lives. I loved the sense of community in the small town of Horizon. It was awesome to see so many rally around Mags and help her. At the same time, we got to see how caring Mags was, even though she had so much she was struggling with. And Timothy had his own things he had to deal with and work through. I also enjoyed the addition of Ozias and his family. And of course, I always love when a pet plays an important role in the story, so I loved Goose the dog. 

Just so much to like about this book. I loved it and highly recommend it and the rest of the series. And, yes, I recommend reading them in order so you get to know the characters and their relationships without any spoilers. 

I received an e-copy of this book as a member of the launch team and was not required to write a favorable review. These are my own honest thoughts.