Sandhill Dreams

Cornhusker Dreams, Book 2

By: Cara Putman

Narrated by: Cecily White

Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

She closed her eyes and tipped her head. For a moment that seemed to last for eternity, she waited. Then she felt his breath get closer and then he kissed her. She eased into the kiss, but he edged back.

Lainie Gardner once dreamed of becoming a nurse. Of serving her country. Of doing something important in the war. But rheumatic fever changed all that, and instead of running home to her parents’ coddling, Lainie is determined to find a war job at Fort Robinson in Nebraska's sandhills, where she meets a soldier with his own broken dreams.

Tom Hamilton has feared dogs since he was bitten as a child, but his assignment at Fort Robinson is training war dogs and their handlers. Surely the Army has another use for him, but he’s trapped in a job he can’t stand in an out-of-the-way outpost. Every day is a reminder of his cowardice. Who would want to build a future with a man like him? Getting to know Lainie is a welcome distraction from the work that causes so much turmoil.

Is it possible new dreams will bring Lainie and Tom more joy than they ever imagined? Or will their fears hold them apart?

©2017 Cara C Putman (P)2019 Cara C Putman

Sweet WWII Stateside romance

Only slightly connected to book one, this is an easy stand alone story!
The ending was slightly corny, but I enjoyed the book a lot!
This is a different narrator from book one, but she did an exceptional job!

Sweet war time romance

This is a follow up to Canteen Dreams and focuses on Lanie, Audrey's best friend. After attempting to join the nursing core and getting sick, Lanie refuses to return home to the life that she feels is pre-planned for her. She takes a train to a remote outbase with the intention of working as a civilian. She faces a few roadblocks but refuses to accept them and ends up building a comfortable living and working situation for herself. Just in time to fall in love.

This book reminded me that we tend to think that life was easier back then. It really wasn't. The diseases they faced and limitations on antibiotics to fight them are scary. The war that was happening in the world impacted every life whether they knew someone on the front line or not. Uncertainty was certain. Lanie's roll with it attitude, though a point of teasing by Tom early on, are precisely why she was able to move forward and find happiness in the midst of sickness and war.

I received an audible copy of this book for free for review. The narrator is different than the first book, but the performance was just as good. She has a voice that now matches Lanie's in my head. Production quality was excellent.

Good story about 1940a military

Great love story and the issues surrounding a couple and the animals in and around the base. Nice easy story and got involved with the characters

interesting

A love story set in WWII. Lainey was a civilian employee in the corps. Also on this base was the training of soldier dogs. People would donate their family pets for the war. It was interesting to read about the training of the soldiers and their chosen dogs for war. Lainey has a connection with the trainer of the dogs, but he wants to get in the action of the war instead of training the dogs.
I enjoyed listening to this story narrated by Cecily White. 🎧audiobookobsessionreviewer🎧

Sweet WWII Romance

Sandhill Dreams is a sweet WWII romance by Cara C. Putman. It is second in the Nebraska Brides series, but can easily be read as a stand-alone story. Having lived in Nebraska for a number of years, I was looking forward to reading this and was not disappointed. Although not on the war-front, the story brought out interesting things about the war. I especially enjoyed hearing about the training of dogs for combat as I had not ever read about that before. Engaging, believable characters, broken dreams, growing faith in the midst of fears and disappointments, and a captivating romance--Sandhill Dreams has it all. Cecily White does a great job narrating the book, giving voice to the characters and their story, making for an enjoyable listening experience. I won a copy of the audiobook version of Sandhill Dreams in a contest and was not required to write a review. The opinions are my own.

Cool historical setting but disappointing heroine

This sweet historical romance had a lot of good points, but several things in the story left me feeling dissatisfied. First, here are the things I enjoyed. I really liked the unusual and fascinating setting at Fort Robinson, an army base in Nebraska, during World War II. The author described the landscape, town, and fort very well. I could visualize the prairie and the wildflowers blowing in the breeze. The overall writing quality was very good as well. Secondly, the hero Tom was a wonderful guy with a lovable personality. Third, the heroine had an interesting health problem that I had never encountered in a book: rheumatic fever, which occurred after a staph infection when antibiotics were not available. Finally, I loved the narrator, Cecily White, who was great at male and female voices, and she really gave a believable 1940s flair to the voices.

However, there were several things about the book that bothered me. First, this may be a trigger warning for some people. Tom trained dogs for the army to send to the front lines of the war. At first I was intellectually intrigued, but the dog training gave me (a dog-lover) uncomfortable feelings. I worried about all of the dogs getting sent to war (I know it really happened), and more than one dog attack occurred in the book. Then, Lainie's family dog got donated to the war effort, which is distressing to me. Secondly, Lainie’s personality was annoying. She was so stubborn (while being obliviousto her surroundings at the same time) that she almost got herself killed twice! It took Lainie way too long to gain some emotional maturity, and when she supposedly did, I was not convinced. Lainie was not good enough for Tom, I think. Those are the reasons why I had mixed feelings about this audiobook.

This book has a somewhat strong Christian component, but I don’t think it was too strong. There was a bunch of prayer and Bible verses. The story is told in alternating third person perspective. The steam level is very low, just kissing. Readers who want a sweet Christian romance and/or an interesting WWII-era setting might enjoy this book.

I requested and received a free audiobook copy via #AudiobookObsession, and I voluntarily wrote this honest review.
#AudiobookObsession Reviewer