Season of Dreams

by Jenna Mindel

Longing for a simpler life, wealthy businessman Adam Peece buys a cherry orchard in Michigan. Problem is, he has no idea how to run it! So he asks Eva Marsh to teach him the ropes. Cherries are in Eva's blood. Her family owned the orchard for generations before selling it to Adam. But she doesn't trust people easily, especially tall, dark and handsome city slickers. However, one look into Adam's caring eyes convinces her to give the city boy a chance. Could their working relationship blossom into love before season's end?

Genres: Love Inspired, Romance

223 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 17, 2011

About the author

I live in Northern Lower Michigan with my husband and our three adorable dogs. I enjoy the Great Lakes, anything outdoors, and a really strong cup of coffee.
My love of fairy tales as a kid paved the way for me to create my own happily-ever-after stories. My passion grew in writing flawed characters who realize their need to trust God before they can trust each other.

I love to hear from readers and can be reached through my website at www.jennamindel.com.

Reviews

[Summer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main reason this one caught my attention is the cherry orchard setting and that did end up being my favorite aspect of reading this. I really liked that this took place over the course of a growing season, you get a strong sense of all the work that goes into producing a crop of cherries, what needs to be done at the various stages, the effect of the weather, etc. I also enjoyed Eva’s cherry infused baking, it all sounded delicious.

I found the abuser part of the storyline a bit of a struggle. Prior to the events of this book, a boyfriend got violent with Eva. I did think a good job was done here of showing how that event scarred her, and I’m not criticizing Eva’s path for healing, everybody has to do whatever works for them even if I couldn’t imagine that being enough for me. Where I mostly struggled was with this ex-boyfriend. Generally, in real life, his sort of behavior is not a one-time thing, whether or not they get sober, whether or not they find god, it’s hard to believe this behavior wouldn’t at some point be revisited upon other women in his life, so I didn’t feel particularly good about where he ends up in the story, for me, it did not feel like the punishment anywhere near fit his crime.

As mentioned this took place over many months and I do like that in a romance, it just always seems more plausible than knowing each other three days and promising forever. Still, even though Adam and Eva spend plenty of time together here, working and otherwise, there were several moments where he cut her out of their working relationship even though these things were supposed to be part of her job and I guess maybe those instances cast some doubt for me on their potential as romantic partners. I wouldn’t have minded just a couple more short scenes showing them as more of a team.

Their relationship and the book did close strong, I did get that united force feeling from them in the last bit before the epilogue, I thought that situation was really effective, a great add to the story and I liked how they responded to each other during it.

[Serena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Setting: Michigan
This is part of my read across the 50 states in America challenge for 2024.

I had a great vacation in Michigan last year and I loved the farms with the cherry and apple orchards.
That was the reason that I chose this book. It was fun learning about the different seasons in the cherry orchards and the process of raising cherries. Was the book predictable? Yes, it was one of those sweet, clean predictable romances, but you read it to see how they get to the predictable ending. This book was laced with Christian threads and the characters grew in their faith and understanding of God which also ultimately provided healing from past wounds. I loved everything about this book and I will read it again when I need a quick, sweet, fun read. :)

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those stories where I felt like the author was telling me a lot of things instead of just showing me through the story. While the orchard setting and situation between Adam and Eva had a lot of potential, the writing left me unable to feel the development of romance or anything else. I didn’t find any of it believable because the writing just didn’t convince me. There was potential for a cute story, but it just wasn’t properly developed.

[Vicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adam Peece buys a cherry orchard in Michigan. Hires Eva Marsh to manage it and teach him how to run the orchard. She agrees but is not happy about it. She thinks he's spoiled wealthy rich man who will not work hard and grow tired and give it to his family for development. Really tough for romance to grow. Fun and sweet romance. Loved it

[Brenda Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

so good

This story is heart warming and uplifting. The characters are well written and the story line very good. I’m going to check out the next story in this series

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a sweet and enjoyable book! I learned so much from this story about cherry orchards and harvesting. Eva Marsh had trust issues, especially with men, and found it hard to believe the new orchard owner, Adam Peece, would follow through to bring about a successful harvest. It was fun seeing the change in her frosty demeanor as their relationship developed. A wonderful message of forgiveness was an important inspirational theme, especially as Eva had to confront an incident from her past in order to move forward. Such an engrossing and upfliting story!

[Christine Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun, inspiring story with a great message on forgiveness. I couldn't put this book down.

[Jolene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed this one - a little mystery of who the hero really was and why he wanted to buy her family farm.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful, sweet book!