Beyond the Ashes by Karen Barnett

About the book:
Beyond the Ashes (Abingdon Press, June 2015)

Where better to rebuild and face one's fears than in 1906 San Francisco, a city rising from the ashes?

Ruby Marshall, a young widow, is certain she'll discover new purpose assisting her brother Robert with his cancer research, but she doesn't anticipate finding new love.

Dr. Gerald Larkspur dreams of filling his empty home with family, but he'd always hoped it would be a wife and children. In the aftermath of the great earthquake, the rooms are overflowing with extended family and friends left homeless by the disaster. When Robert's widowed sister arrives, the close quarters seem close indeed.

Ruby and Gerald's fledgling romance is put at risk when Gerald develops symptoms of the very disease they're striving to cure. Together they must ask---is it worth a second chance at love when time might be short?

Purchase a copy: http://bit.ly/1IGu1bg

About the author:

Karen Barnett is the author of Beyond the Ashes, Out of the Ruins, and Mistaken. Named the 2013 Writer of Promise by Oregon Christian Writers, Karen lives in Albany, Oregon, with her husband and two kids. When she's not writing novels, she loves speaking at women's events, libraries, and book clubs.

Find Karen online: website, Twitter, Facebook

My Take:  This book is the second book in a series but you can read it as a stand alone.Ruby Marshall is tired of everyone feeling sorry for her in her hometown so she decides to go visit her brother in San Francisco.  This is shortly after the big earthquake.  Ruby intends to help her brother in the hospital he works in. Her brother was one of the doctors doing early research on the use of x-rays in cancer patients.  She meets her brother's partner in this research Dr. Gerald Larkspur, who has always dreamed of having his house filled with family by that meaning a wife and some children,not his sister, and other family and friends.
I enjoyed this book as I learned abit about how San Francisco rebuilt from the earthquake. I enjoyed all of the characters , they reminded me of holidays when my family and extended family would enjoy getting together.

I received a review copy of this book from Litfuse in exchange for my honest opinion.