Sophie's Dilemma

Sophie Knutson goes against her father’s wishes of waiting a year to be married and elopes with her beloved Hamre Bjorklund and travels with him to a small town close to Seattle Washington where he works on a fish boat. When the boat that Hamre is on goes down without any survivors, Sophie finds herself pregnant and alone in a strange town, homesick for her family back in Blessing North Dakota. Will her family forgive her for defying her father and running away and allow her to return?

This reader absolutely loved SOPHIE’S DILEMMA. This book is full of life lessons on youth, love, and forgiveness. Sophie feels she is in danger of losing her beloved Hamre when he must return to Ballard Washington without her and although her father have Hamre permission to marry Sophie in a year’s time, she sets out to use her feminine whiles to convince him to take her with him when he leaves Blessing.

This reader didn’t read the first book in the Blessing series, but now it is a must! The characters in SOPHIE’S DILEMMA found a home deep in this reviewer’s heart, not only Sophie, but her twin sister Grace and the other Knutson siblings as well.

Sophie isn’t the only one who must learn to deal with a terrible loss. Garth Wiste moves to Blessing to run the flourmill and escape the memories of his beloved wife who died in childbirth. This reviewer felt for each of these characters as they struggled to come to terms with their grief. This book is refreshing in that author Lauraine Snelling pens the death of other beloved characters in the middle of the tale. Death is a fact of life, and one that is dealt with in SOPHIE’S DILEMMA.

This reader hopes that Ms Snelling will soon pen the tale of other Knutson siblings, including Grace. Grace is a wonderful character who was penned with many human flaws such as anger at her sister for running away; she is totally believable. This reader highly recommends SOPHIE’S DILEMMA. Readers will not be disappointed.

November 2007