4.5 stars.

Set during the depression in Buffalo Creek, Kansas, Room for Hope by Kim Vogel Sawyer is a beautiful novel of faith, reconciliation, forgiveness and compassion.

Neva Shilling is anxiously awaiting the return of her husband Warren from his latest trip to neighboring towns to buy and sell goods for their general store. The arrival of a wagon sends her and their two children Bud and Belle rushing to greet him, but to their surprise, a stranger is waiting with a wagon full of furniture. Jesse Caudel, a deputy from Beloit, is the bearer of bad news when he announces Warren and his wife Violet have recently passed away. Even more stunning, Warren’s last request was for Jesse to take his three young children to their “Aunt Neva”. Shocked, ashamed and heartbroken, she takes in Charley, Cassie and Adeline but angry and resentful over Warren's deception, Neva maintains an emotional and physical distance from the orphans.

Used to taking care of things in Warren's absence, Neva is a strong and resourceful woman with an unwavering faith. She blames herself for her husband decision to "marry" another woman and her shame leads her to keeping the youngsters' true identity a secret from Bud, Belle and her neighbors. Somewhat out of her depth and relying heavily on fourteen year old Bud's assistance, Neva quickly figures out what she needs to do to keep the family store open. Unwilling to tell anyone the truth about the children's parentage and ignoring concerned friends' advice to put them in an orphanage, Neva allows the bulk of their care to fall on fourteen year old Belle's shoulders.

Neva receives encouragement from an unlikely source when furniture store owner and neighbor Arthur Randall offers to help her. The families have never been close and Neva cannot help but be a little suspicious of his overtures since, in the past, Arthur has made numerous offers to buy their store. Gradually, she lets down her guard and accepts his assistance at face value. Unbeknownst to Neva, Arthur does have an ulterior motive for coming to her aid, but as his family's life becomes more entwined with hers, he genuinely begins to care for Neva and the children. However, when the truth about Warren's illegitimate offspring emerges, will Arthur continue to support her?

Jesse is also on hand to lend Neva a helping hand after he becomes the sheriff of Buffalo Creek. The observant lawman quickly figures out the truth about the three orphans and he does not mince words with Neva when he becomes aware of her antipathy towards them. He also becomes suspicious about the true nature of Warren's out of town activities and although sympathetic to her plight, he is completely honest with her about his misgivings about her deceased husband.

Despite her hardships and heartache, Neva remains a caring and compassionate woman who does not hesitate to help others in need. Using scripture and her strong faith to guide her along her journey, she tries to leave behind her hurt and bitterness but finding forgiveness is not always easy. Although Belle easily accepts the three orphans into her heart, Neva's lingering resentment blinds her to Bud's somewhat callous treatment of young Charley. True healing for the family begins in the aftermath of near tragedy but the townspeople's less than compassionate response to the truth leaves Neva shaken and uncertain of what the future holds for them.

Room for Hope is a captivating journey of healing, redemption and acceptance. Kim Vogel Sawyer uses true to life situations to gently demonstrate the true meaning of several key scriptures and parables. While Neva's faith never weakens, both Jesse and Arthur undergo tremendous spiritual growth as they help her during her trials and tribulations. Uplifting and gratifying, I absolutely loved and highly recommend this incredibly heartwarming novel to readers of historical faith-based fiction. ( )

Pick up Kim Vogel Sawyer’s Room for Hope for an authentic and emotional trip to Depression-era Kansas. Fans of historical fiction will not regret it.

Neva Shilling discovers, in one conversation, her husband’s death, infidelity, and three orphaned children, and her life changes dramatically. The aftermath of this devastating discovery brings a persistent struggle with a wide array of feelings - anger, betrayal, bitterness, doubt - to Neva and the family surrounding her. Yet, through it all, a reliance on faith, hope, and love permeates and encourages.

From start to finish, Room for Hope is a touching and heartfelt story. With well-developed characters and realistic challenges, it kept me eager to see how the story would unfold. I absolutely loved it and would highly recommend it to interested readers.

Thanks to Blogging for Books, I received a copy of Room for Hope and the opportunity to provide an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, and all the opinions I have expressed are my own. ( )

Neva Shilling is waiting for her husband, Warren, to return home when she gets a surprise visitor, Jesse Caudel. She thought her husband was traveling selling items when he actually had a second family in another town. Her husband and his other wife died, and on his death bed his instructions are for their three children and their belongings to be delivered to Neva. Neva is a very caring person and takes the children into her home and raises them. They have their struggles. Neva doesn’t want to look at Warren’s other children, but she also refuses to send them away. Her son, Bud does not want the other children to be with them and is convinced they will not bind together. Where as Neva’s daughter, Bell enjoys having the children and takes care of them and feels everything is going to be OK.

Arthur Randall owns the furniture store next to Neva’s store and wants to buy Neva’s store to enlarge his. He tries to buy it from her as soon as he hears about Warren’s death and is asked to leave her building. He decided to try being nice to her instead, to win her over to selling him the store.

Jesse Caudel moves to Buffalo Creek and takes the sheriff position. He is in need of furniture to set up his house. Neva does not have room for Warren’s other furniture so they make a deal for Sheriff Caudel to use some of the furniture and keep it safe for her. As he is laying in bed, he sees the name of the manufacture and is puzzled by it. He eventually finds out the furniture company had furniture stolen from them at some time in the past.

Neva is finding out Warren is not at all what she thought he was. And she wonders if she can trust others as well. When the community finds out the three children are Warren’s other family, they turn their backs on Neva and the children.

This is a very good story and am so glad I got a chance to read and review it. The story takes place in 1936 and shows us some of the struggles the people go through financially. Even though the subject of adultery is mentioned, this is a good, clean historical story. The story is very realistic in struggles a family would go through in this situation. We see the pain they go through with losing loved ones, the pain of betrayal, and see the healing that takes place through the power of prayer and with God’s intervention. We also get to see through Neva’s love for others and faith that others are lead to the Lord through her.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Information about Kim Vogel Sawyer and excerpts from this book and others can be found athttp://waterbrookmultnomah.com/authors/162648/kim-vogel-sawyer/ and http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/books/221712/room-for-hope-by-kim-vogel-sawyer/

This book is about a woman who finds out something about her husband. Her twins, Bud, and Belle have their parts in this story as well.

Arthur has parts in this story. We see a lot of people have shown their feelings and how it is is hard to hold on to faith. Each member shows their true colors. Or will they show mercy towards the woman?

Will the truth be brought open? To find out you will need to read the story. It's quite a heartfelt story. It made me cry a little bit. Kim Vogel Sawyer has done it once again. She brought the story to life. I have been affected while reading it. I felt like I was in the town of Buffalo Creek. Seeing the struggles Nava went through with her twins Bud, and Belle along with Charley, Cassie, and Adeline.

There are many different secrets that will be revealed. Her husband held many secrets that show up until he has died. ( )

This was another fantastic book by a wonderful author. What would you do if someone came to your door and told you your brother was dead and he wanted you to care for his children? It would be harder than you think when you don't have a brother. You find out that your husband had a second family at the same time you learn that he and his other wife are dead. Could you care for these children? Will Neva Shilling find room to love these other children? I was given a copy of this book from Waterbrook Multnomah for a fair and honest opinion. ( )