"After the Shadows" by Amanda Cabot

After the Shadows (Mar. 21, 2023) by Amanda Cabot.*

*This is the first novel in a series.*

When her abusive husband is killed in a bar fight, Emily [Vaughn] Leland sheds no tears. Free to return to her family’s home in Sweetwater Crossing, her homecoming is far from comforting. Her mother’s recently passed away after an illness and now her father’s died by apparent suicide, meaning he can’t be buried by her mother. Her youngest sister, Louisa, resents Emily, and she eventually leaves town. Her other sister, Joanna, is in Europe growing her musical talent. The house where Craig Ferguson, the new schoolteacher, and his two-year-old son, Noah, were set to board with Mrs. Carmichael burns, and Emily opens their home as a boardinghouse (this was the straw that set Louisa to leaving), despite Emily’s fear of men. The Vaughn name is tainted in controversy, but Emily knows her father didn’t kill himself. Craig proves himself to be a man to trust. Not only is he a devoted father, he’s a resourceful teacher and the ally Emily didn’t know she needed. Craig brings “radical” ideas (for the 1880s) to his classroom, from how he handles classroom discipline to welcoming 12-year-old Beulah Douglas with Emily’s support and despite the townsfolk’s protests, whom Emily defends as the child of God that she is. Meanwhile, death continues to come for the residents of Sweetwater Crossing, many of them around 70 years old. As Emily and Craig look to uncover the truth, they find murky depths under the town’s seemingly calm surface.

            The first in the Secrets of Sweetwater Crossing series takes readers back to 1880s Texas Hill Country. Cabot’s narrative is engaging, and her realistic portrayal of characters of the time inflamed me all the more. Not kindhearted Emily, nor compassionate Craig, but the close-minded townspeople, especially outspoken, thinks-he’s-always-right Mayor Alcott, and the uppity Mrs. Dietrich and her vile daughter Lizzie. My parents taught me to be a compassionate person from a young age, and I expect they would have even if we’d been alive in the 1880s. I am curious if Emily will share her story with Louisa in the next installment, as I’d like to see the sisters return to their close-knit bond. Humans have value in this story, no matter how fast they learn or how valuable one thinks one isn’t. Cabot’s new series opener shows courage, grit and determination, more than enough love to go around, and the path that can lie ahead after chasing away the shadows.

* Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Revell Books. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions are expressly my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”