The Ladies of Ivy Cottage (Tales from Ivy Hill book 2) by Julie Klassen

The second book in the Tales from Ivy Hill, continues the stories of Jane, Rachel, and Mercy from the first book. Jane is in charge of The Bell Inn, left to her when her husband died. She faces some challenges in a former maid with a child who Jane encouraged to come back to the inn that might discomfort her brother-in-law. Jane also has to deal with pain from her past in order to move forward in her life.               Rachel moved out of her home of Thornvale after the estate went to a distant cousin. She moved to the home of her friend Mercy and Matty, Mercy’s aunt. Rachel was left all her fathers books with the stipulation that they had to stay together and not be sold off. At first she doesn’t know what to do with them, but then she is encouraged to start a library. A room in the cottage is transformed into a library and it is a hit with the village. Meanwhile, Rachel has to deal with a couple suitors while managing her popular library. Nicholas Ashford makes Rachel an offer of marriage but she is hesitant to accept him. Sir Timothy Brockwell has been friends with Rachel and Jane since they were young and he is the one Rachel loves. He loves her as well but arguments and misunderstandings come between them.                                                      Mercy goes through trials of her own. She has a school for girls that she conducts in the cottage that is owned by her parents that she and her aunt and Rachel live in. This is complicated by her parents wanting her to get married. They bring a man who is an academic to meet her, thinking he will win her heart, but he does not,and her school and the library are in danger of being closed. Mercy is also asked to take care of Alice, a little girl at her school, by Alice’s great grandfather who cannot take care of her himself. Mercy eventually wants to be the sole guardian for Alice, but a complication in the form of Alice’s father changes that.                              The second book does a good job of continuing the story from the first book. The friendship between Rachel and Jane is fully restored and the three women help and encourage each other throughout the story. We are not done seeing the love stories of Jane and Mercy, and will see more in the next book. I loved the heavy Jane Austen reference and quotations from Persuation in Rachels story.                                 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 #christionfiction #fiction