Together Forever by Jody Hedlund is the second book in the Orphan Train series, the sequel to With You Always, which you can find my review of here.  While I suppose this book could work as a stand-alone, it will make more sense if you read book 1 to get background on the characters: who they are and how they came to be where they are at the start of book 2.

Marianne Neumann works with the Children’s Aid Society placing orphans from the streets of New York with families out west.  While she works, she looks for records of her younger sister Sophie who disappeared in book 1.  In doing so, she befriends another placing out agent, Andrew Brady, and the two of them travel out on the orphan train with a group of kids and the two of them learn to love and let go along the way.

I definitely liked Together Forever better than With You Always, and if this Orphan Train series ends up anything like Hedlund’s previous lighthouse-themed series, each book will only get better and better along the way.  The characters really drew me in with their passion for their work, and their flaws along the way made for a moving story of love and forgiveness.  I finished this book within a day or two because I simply could not put it down! I definitely would recommend this read.

Thank you to the author, Jody Hedlund, and her team at Bethany House for providing me with a copy of this book and read and promote! All opinions are my own.