The Mountain Midwife by Laurie Alice Eakes

Ashley Tolliver has tended to the women of her small Appalachian community for years. As their midwife, she thinks she has seen it all. Until a young woman gives birth at Ashley’s home and is abducted just as Ashley tries to take the dangerously bleeding mother to the nearest hospital. Now Ashley is on a mission to find the woman and her newborn baby . . . before it’s too late.

Hunter McDermott is on a quest—to track down his birth mother. After receiving more media attention than he could ever want for being in the right place at the right time, he receives a mysterious phone call from a woman claiming to be his mother. Hunter seeks out the aid of the local midwife in the mountain town where the phone call originated—surely she can shed some light on his own family background.

Ashley isn’t prepared for the way Hunter’s entrance into her world affects her heart and her future. He reignites dreams of having her own family that she has long put aside in favor of earning her medical degree and being able to do even more for her community. But is it commitment to her calling or fear of the unknown that keeps her feet firmly planted in the Appalachian soil? Or is it something more—fear of her growing feelings for Hunter—that makes her hesitant to explore the world beyond the mountains?

This book is about the journey Ashley and Hunter take on the road to discovering who they really are and where they are going.  Ashley thinks her goal is to earn her medical degree and Hunter thinks he will continue to travel and dig tunnels.  Then God steps in. After 32 years, Hunter learns he is adopted. He heads off to the Appalachian Mountains in search of his birth mother.  What he discovers changes his life completely.  Ashley joins Hunter in his search for his birth mother.  Her grandmother is the midwife who delivered him. 

I’m not really sure how I would class this book.  It has some mystery and romance.  But it’s more of the story of Ashley and Hunter’s journey.  I have never read any books by Ms. Eakes.  This won’t be the last.  I found it to be a very good book and I would recommend it.

I was given this book by the publisher for an honest review.  I was not compensated in any way.