Longing for Home Books In Order

Publication Order of Longing for Home Books

“Longing for Home” series is a set of inspirational and historical romance novels by award winning author Sarah M Eden. The author is known for combining her love for beautiful love stories with her obsession for history to make what have been called heartfelt romances full of witty characters. As a very active member in the writing community, she has been the Northwest Writers Retreat Writer in Residence and twice has been the LDS Story makers Writers Conference Master of Ceremonies. Eden self published her first novel “The Price Paid” in 2008 but since she needed to try out traditional publishing she got an agent and is now a hybrid author. In addition to her novels, she is also an author of the “Timeless Romance Anthologies.” She now has more than thirty novels in several series.

Unlike many authors, Sarah M Eden never wanted to become an author growing up. In fact, she got into writing on a dare even though she had always loved reading historical romances. She used to be the person often asking to use the interlibrary loan since she had read everything at her local library. Nonetheless, unlike most romance lovers, she never liked steamy romances and hence finding something to read was always difficult. She also had little patience for poorly drafted characters, poorly drafted plotlines and poor writing. Eden was reading a novel while visiting her mother and started complaining about the quality. Her mother responded by telling her that she understood but that if she wanted something good why not write it herself. That was all she needed and she took the dare to heart spending the following year learning everything about the art of writing. It was not long before she published her début and she has never looked back since becoming one of the most prolific writers in romance.

The “Longing for Home” series follows the life and times of 26 year old Katie Macauley. She has decided to move to Wyoming as she believes she can make enough money working there that would enable her to go back to Ireland to make amends with her estranged family. She will be working for Joseph Archer as a housekeeper and he had agreed to meet her. But she was late and missed her bus forcing her to hitch a ride with Ian and Tavish O’Connor. Tavish is a handsome single man while Ian is married with children. When she finally gets to her destination, she finds that her employer is a single handsome young man with two children. One of the most persistent threads in the series is the sharp division in the town between the Irish and Americans. Her employee makes his home in the middle of the town and tries to stay above the fray, but this becomes increasingly harder with Katie living at his home. In addition to her love for Tavish and Joseph, Katie’s life is complicated by the baggage from her past that makes it almost impossible for her to open up. She had a very difficult childhood and is often guilt ridden from the events from her past. She hopes to put her head down and work hard to earn enough money to travel back to Ireland and reconcile with her estranged family. Over the course of the series she makes friendships and becomes more independent as she ingratiates herself to the people of the small community of Hope Springs.

“Longing for Home” the first novel of the “Longing for Home” series introduces Katie Macauley, a twenty six year old who believes her salivation lies in Hope Springs. She is heading to the small town in Wyoming where she has been promised a job. If she is to achieve her aim of going back to Ireland to reconcile with her family, she will need to convince Joseph Archer an influential man in town to employ her for the long term. But the small town where she is headed is ground zero for a decade’s long struggle between the Reds or Americans and the Irish. Since she is Irish she is sure to attract a lot of attention to Joseph who has for the longest time avoided the fight. The so called Americans aim is to expel all the Irish from Hope Springs. However, the Irish are not pushovers and will do anything to carve out a home for themselves in the Americas. When Joseph agrees to employ Katie, the feud which had taken a lull fully erupts and Katie becomes the rallying point for the Irish immigrants. Soon the violence engulfs the entire town even as Katie is torn between two men that had been trying to charm her. Only one may have the willpower to give her the hope she needs to soldier on.

In “Hope Springs” the second novel of the series things have not been going so well for Katie Macauley. Her dream of going back home to Ireland is dead in the water and she now intends to make the small town of Hope Springs her home. But she still faces an uncertain future with a town divided more than ever. The Reds and the Irish have been burning buildings, stealing from each other and overall putting the lives of each other in danger. Katie is still struggling between the steady Joseph and the playful Tavish as she cannot decide who would be the best man for her. In the midst of the uncertainty, a bitter winter visits the town and the nightmare of cold and famine become very real. Will the small town of Hope Springs be able to weather the harsh winter when Ireland could not. Katie is forced to make sacrifices to help the people that have become her friends and neighbors survive the difficult days. Will the town band together in the face of troubling times ahead so that Katie can finally find the peace and love she has been searching for?

“Love Remains” the third novel of the “Longing for Home” series is the story of Tavish O’Connor. The future of his family has been weighing on his shoulders for years but he cannot do anything about it. He is charged with taking care of Finbarr his youngest brother that went blind after a terrible accident. Given his condition, he requires a lot more than he can offer and he is forced to find outside help. He employs tutor Cecily Attwater who is a specialist at giving hope to the newly blind and helping others overcome challenges just like she did. But her assignment in the small town is not that easy as Finbarr seems reluctant to learn. Making matters worse, the Irish townspeople are unhappy with the fact that an Englishwoman is living in their sanctuary. The only hope she has for getting the cooperation of the child is to get the support of her harshest critic who happens to be his brother Tavish. For the sake of the child, they make an uneasy alliance and over several weeks this develops into something deeper.