Book Review: Hope's Highest Mountain by Misty M. Beller

Ingrid Chastain readily agreed to accompany her father to deliver vaccines to a mining town in the Montana Territory. She never could have anticipated a terrible accident would leave her alone and badly injured in the wilderness. When rescue comes in the form of a mysterious mountain man who tends her injuries, she's hesitant to put her trust in this quiet man who seems to have his own wounds.

Micah Bradley left his work as a doctor after unintentionally bringing home the smallpox disease that killed his wife and daughter. But his self-imposed solitude in the wilds of Montana is broken when he finds Ingrid in desperate need of medical attention, and he's forced to face his regret and call on his doctoring skills once again.

Micah can't help but admire Ingrid's tenacious determination despite the severity of her injuries, until he learns the crate she brought contains smallpox vaccines to help quell a nearby outbreak. With Ingrid dead set on trekking through the mountains to deliver the medicine--with or without his help--he has no choice but to accompany her. As they set off through the treacherous, snow-covered Rocky Mountains against all odds, the journey ahead will change their lives more than they could have known.

Series: Heirs of Montana, #1

My rating:

Hope's Highest Mountain started out so, so well! I loved how the storyline basically started with tragedy (yes, you already know I'm a sucker for tragedies). But then it got worse . . . and worse . . . and worse.

The writing style was amazing and captured me immediately! Finally, I thought, A review book that I'll finally rate more than three stars! Unfortunately, the contents heavily detracted from that. *cries*

I loved Micah's character: strong, protective, and running away from the memories that haunt him. Having suffered unspeakable loss, he's lost his faith and isolates himself in the wilderness, where he finds the wagon wreck and Ingrid Chastain.

I liked Ingrid? Generally in romances, I tend to like the man far better than the woman, and this was no exception. I did love her heart of gold, but though she was a Christian and prayed every once in awhile (the spiritual aspect of the book seemed lacking), she seemed to have no problems with falling in love with and kissing Micah, even though she knew that he and God were not on good terms.

The overall setting was fantastic. There were times I had trouble conjuring up an image in my mind to match the description, but I could definitely feel the characters' pain and cold.

The last complaint I have is that once I got about 3/4 of the way into the book, it seemed to drag. Like, it reaches a plot twist and you're just like "oh YAY plot twist!" and then another one comes and you're like, "okay, I can handle this" and then by the time the end of the book rolls around, you're wondering if the author was just looking for ways to draw the story out longer.

But, the rest of the book definitely kept me hooked (aside from the romance, thx) and thus 3 stars!

*I received an e-copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts are my own.

Have you read Hope's Highest Mountain? I hope you liked it!