What Once Was Lost - A Book Review

What Once Was Lost by Kim Vogel Sawyer is a heartwarming historical romance that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Christina Willems has been running the Brambleville Asylum for the Poor ever since her father died a year ago.  When tragedy strikes and a fire leaves the house uninhabitable, Christina has to find shelter for all the people in her care.  They are all like family to her and having them all scattered about town soon becomes the least of her worries.

When Christina approaches the towns people she has no problem fining places for those in her care to stay, all that is except for poor little Tommy, the eleven year old blind boy.  Christina only has one other option and she knows she must approach Levi, the reclusive mill owner.  Levi has lived as a hermit and has no desire to let anyone into his life.  He reluctantly agrees to take Tommy in on a temporary basis and soon forms a strong bond with the boy.

As the weeks go by it seems like one catastrophe after another takes place that hinder the rebuilding of the mission home.  Christina begins to wonder if she will ever be able to fulfill her desire to rebuild the mission and to resume the job that she has dedicated her whole life to.

There are so many things I love about this book.  I love the character of Christina.  She has a servants heart and she wants so much to help others and is trying to do things like her father would do.  Tommy's character pulled on my heart strings and it was at times heart wrenching to read how he deals with the rejection he has experienced due to his blindness.  Then there is Cora, a young lady that has made many mistakes and fears rejection herself if anyone finds out the secret she is hiding.  I can't forget Levi, he is so good with Tommy and gives him the independence that the boy has needed.  Although most of the book is about rebuilding the mission home there are glimpses of romance that melted my heart.  I love reading a book that I can feel uplifted from and this book did exactly that for me.  I was interested from the first page to the last.  I would definitely recommend the book to anyone who enjoys historical romance novels.  

***This book was provided to my by the publisher in exchange for my review.