I have been anticipating reading this book ever since the author announced it. Beauty and the Beast vibes...YES Please!!!! And just reading the synopsis had me drawn to it. Let me tell you that it was everything I had hoped for and much, much more!

Sadie is trying to help her family make ends meet after her father has an accident. She moves to the city and starts working in a factory then looses her place at the boarding home and in an effort to save money takes up residence in an abandoned factory.

Add Otis to the story, the sort of prodigal son (you'll understand when you read the book why I say 'sort of'), who returns to the empty family home. He and Sadie cross paths, unintentionally, and from there builds a beautiful friendship. One that teaches us of the power of looking at a person's heart and character and truly coming to know them.

I loved these two together so much! They both have hurts, scars and sorrows. Some of which are deeper and more seen for one than the other. But regardless of that, they have both experienced life and its ups and downs and are still trying to navigate it all. But together, they are so much stronger. Helping to lift and teach and comfort each other. It was a beautiful aspect of this story!

I laughed and I cried. Definitely my favorite book by this author. It is worth every moment of your reading time!

I read and listened to the audiobook and loved both. Highly recommend either way to enjoy this beautiful story of healing, family and love!

Content: Clean.

I received an ebook from the publisher, Thomas Nelson, and an audiobook arc from the producer, HarperCollins Christian Publishing, via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions in the review are my own.

Happy Reading & Listening!!!

ʙᴏᴏᴋ ᴛᴏᴜʀ || BEYOND IVY WALLS [thank you to @thomasnelson and @austenprosepr for my #gifted copy!]

Title: Beyond Ivy Walls
Author: Rachel Fordham
Genre: Historical Romance
Rating: ★★★★☆

ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ:
In the early 1900s, Sadie West takes a job at the Hoag duster factory to support her family. With no place to stay, she ends up hiding in an abandoned building, where she meets the mysterious Otis Taylor. Recently back from exile and desperate to keep his return a secret, Otis hires Sadie on the spot. As they work together, Sadie's optimism starts to break through Otis's guarded heart, but long-hidden family secrets threaten to keep them apart.

ᴍʏ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛꜱ:
This was a really fun mix of a retelling, mystery, and a romance! It had all of the fun elements of Beauty and the Beast - but with enough unique elements added in that you didn’t really feel like you were reading a Disney story.

Otis and Sadie both had their own storylines to contend with, but they also came together and helped each other forward quite nicely! This was truly a slow burn, and I think I fell in love with the romance a little bit more for that.

If you’re looking for an easy, historical romance that also dabbles in solving a mystery, then you’re in for a treat and you should definitely add this to your TBR ASAP!

ᴛʜᴇ ᴠɪʙᴇꜱ:
Beauty & the Beast
Cinnamon Roll Hero
Beastly
Opposites Attract
Slow Burn Romance

ᴅᴇᴛᴀɪʟꜱ:
GR: 4.47 ⭐️
# of Pages: 336
Pub Date: August 13, 2024

This is a poignant and moving tale about the value of one's soul, which I found deeply enjoyable. The story captured my attention from the start with Otis, a boy whose affluent and influential father sends him away upon discovering his skin condition, fearing he would shame the family. The author conveys beautifully the boy's terror and distress, with only his music for comfort under the care of an elderly guardian. After the death of his entire family, Otis must return to sell the ancestral home. Leon and Mildred, the elderly couple who have maintained the mansion, are wonderfully crafted characters. Otis meets Sadie, a homeless woman living in a nearby derelict factory, and offers her a job at his mansion. Her other job at a turkey feather duster factory adds a fascinating layer to the story. Sadie, having left home to support her family after her father's accident, brings a great contrast to Otis's gruffness with her optimism and familial devotion. I enjoyed their relationship as it continues to grow, and they share ways to help each other. As Otis uncovers a niece left behind by his brother, a mystery unfolds. The story is a journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance. I found the entire book and its characters to be exceptionally crafted and endearing.

What a fantastic story! This was my first book by Rachel Fordham and I will definitely be checking out her backlist. Sadie and Otis did not get off on the right foot…at all. It took them a while to tear down each other’s walls and really begin to know each other. Their romance was really sweet and I loved every bit of it. Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite fairytales and I try to read every retelling I can. I love how Beyond Ivy Walls puts its own unique spin on such a beloved story. If you love your historical romance with faith, humor, and depth you should check out Beyond Ivy Walls.

Thank you @rachel_fordham, @uplitreads, and @thomasnelson for my complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This is a beautiful story. It had me sobbing at a couple spots which I loved. It moved me so much. Otis returns to the home he was banished from with every intent to settle matters and leave. He doesn't count on meeting a young woman who could change everything he's believed about himself.

Sadie is a wonderful woman. She works hard to provide for her family while her dad recovers even if she has to sleep in an abandoned building. She sees people for who they really are. It's sweet watching her interact with Otis and watching her kindness have an effect on him. Otis is a little rusty at interacting with people. I appreciated his wit whether in writing or speech. I felt for him and the trauma he endured.

This is a quick read because you just want to know more about them. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend it. Thank you to Thomas Nelson for providing me with a free e-copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Sing it with me now: Tale as old as time // True as it can be // Barely even friends // Then somebody bends // Unexpectedly! Beyond Ivy Walls by Rachel Fordham is a Beauty And The Beast re-imagining and was a beautiful-as-can-be fairy tale!

Otis Taylor returns to his family home after being cast aside and shunned by his father; Sadie sends money home to her own family as her father's health is failing. A mystery over Otis's missing niece provides both a way to push the two characters together while also creating a slight conflict, understood through their dual perspectives. This is a classic story that is well deserving of its ever-present yet nuanced theme!

With Fordham's unpretentious and approachable writing, this book had such a dreamy feel to it! There's a gentle, languid pace to this historical romance, like the muted colours of a harvest sunset or the ease of a meandering brook.

Leon and Mildred who have worked for the Taylor family for years represented all the meddling characters in Beast's home, pushing the two love interests gently together. I loved that Sadie worked in a feather duster factory, providing another subtle nod to a Beauty And The Beast character.

Em Eldridge and Jason Keller narrated this audiobook, their voices lending perfectly to their respective characters. Eldridge had a warm and friendly voice, airing on the side of innocent and playful. Keller was the opposite in contrast: gruff and powerful, demanding attention while still sounding introspective when called for. Keller, in particular, did an amazing job creating distinct voices for those characters he narrated.

Sweet, wistful and full of nostalgia - this was an easy five-star experience!

Thank you NetGalley, UpLit Reads, Thomas Nelson Fiction, Thomas Nelson, HarperCollins Christian Publishing and Thomas Nelson Fiction for the complimentary copies to read and review.

Last year I first read Rachel Fordham's The Letter Tree, which I consider to be the definition of a cozy historical romance.

So when I heard she would be publishing a new story and that it also had Beauty and the Beast vibes, I said obviously I'd be reading it, and here I am.

Here we meet Otis Taylor who was cast out many years ago by his family because of a defect, which is why he has always been wary of other people seeing his scars and why he refuses to leave his mansion, which is how he meets our main character Sadie West who does everything she can to help her family, After the shock of their first meeting, we see how a peculiar friendship is forming between these two personalities who are guided by the search for a shared goal, and the more time they spend together, the more tense and romantic things become.

I've stumbled upon another enjoyable read by Rachel that I've had a great time with, so highly recommended.

And this continues to leave Rachel on my radar to keep reading her books in the future.

Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas Nelson for providing me with the opportunity to be able to read this wonderful story in exchange for my honest opinions. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own

Beyond Ivy Walls is a sweet historical romance, reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast.

Our main character, Sadie West, comes to be hired by recluse, Otis Taylor, and the two strike up an unexpected friendship. Will Sadie be able to help Otis find peace with his past and with a medical condition that has left him scarred and believing he isn't worthy of love or friendship. Will their friendship evolve into something more?

I liked that this book had disability representation. It presented a picture of what it might be like to be deemed "different" in 1903. And I particularly liked how Sadie reached Otis, by telling him she didn't see his flaws, that it was just a different kind of normal.

But this didn't take up the entire story. There was also an element of mystery to the story, as Otis tried to find something terribly important left behind by his recently deceased brother. This part of the storyline left me incredibly sad at first, but in the end, I shed some happy tears.

I enjoyed the romance that developed between Sadie and Otis. It was slow and careful because Otis had been hid away from the world since he was young, and he was made to feel unlovable and abandoned by those who should have loved him. So, with that, there was a lot of miscommunication, which I can normally do without, but in the context of this story, it made sense.

Overall, this was a wonderful story full of acceptance, forgiveness, found family, love, and happily ever afters. I particularly loved the epilogue for this story. It's definitely a good one for historical romance fans.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson Fiction for the advanced digital copy of this book. My opinions are my own.

Beyond Ivy Walls is a lovely and interesting historical story with wonderful characters, a unique storyline, romance, and a great ending. Otis is the only surviving member of his family, one of wealth; he was sent away by his father as a boy because of a physical flaw. Sadie is the oldest of four daughters of a farmer who is injured and not able to work. She moves to town to work in a duster factory to help keep the family farm. She and Otis meet on his property where she is staying in an abandoned bicycle factory. Theirs is a sweet and unlikely romance that begins slowly and blossoms into an unlikely romance. It is a story of hope, love, forgiveness, unselfish love, and overcoming past hurts, seeing beyond the outer shell of a person and what is inside and worthy. I enjoyed the sense of family and community that came together to heal broken relationships and welcome home a long missing hometown son.
I received a copy for the purpose of an honest review. These are my thoughts. and opinions only.

Loved this clever, heartwarming twist on the Beauty and the Beast fairytale! Rachel Fordham delivers a new favorite historical romance in this touching story of a grumpy, scarred hero & sunny, endearing heroine. I loved being transported to early 1900’s Iowa when roller skating was all the rage. The lovely, sweet opposites attract romance kept me thoroughly enthralled as did the charming characters & inspirational story.

Sadie West left her family’s farm to work at the Hoag Duster Factory in Monticello, Iowa to help make ends meet after her father’s injury. To save money, she sleeps in an old abandoned building. Unusual circumstances in the form of a dog cause her to meet her wealthy, reclusive neighbor who offers her a position in exchange for her silence in regard to his return to Monticello.

Otis Taylor was forced to leave home at a young age & hasn’t returned since. When the death of his brother compels him to return, he’s reluctant to let the town know he’s back. When a young woman upends all his plans, he offers her a job in exchange for her silence. But, he soon finds her irresistible charm getting under his skin. As he shares his talents and deepest feelings with Sadie, she offers him the acceptance he’s always craved. But, his brother had a secret and Otis and Sadie must work to unravel the mystery.

I adored Beyond Ivy Walls! Otis was such a tender, sweet teddy bear of a guy whom you just want to hug. His unfortunate diagnosis at a young age and subsequent treatments were horrible and I mourned for his lost childhood & connection to his family. Sadie is such a ray of sunshine who completely changes his life and I loved her bubbly enthusiasm and desire to do the right thing. She’s faced with a difficult choice and I admired the way she handled everything. I loved the letters they exchanged and Sadie’s stories. I also enjoyed Mildred, Leon, & Sadie’s family.

I loved the themes of looking on the heart, acceptance, sacrifice, and the meaning of family & true friendship. I also appreciated the way the author brought the setting and time period to life. It was such a fantastic story and I found myself shedding a tear or two at the end.

Highly recommend this heartfelt, inspiring fairytale retelling! I received an advanced complimentary copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own and voluntarily provided.

“This house is not only mysterious, it is magical.”

This was such a beautiful and heartwarming story. I absolutely love Rachel’s books and this one is another excellent offering. There were so many amazing quotes, I was highlighting on every page.

I adored Sadie. Her perseverance and her desire to help her family was inspiring. Otis is back home from years away, his brother and father now dead.I appreciated his need to hide, but also in wanting to make things right with his family. I loved the Beauty and the Beast feel to the story. The development of Sadie and Otis characters and relationships were so well done. Sadie’s love and acceptance was a pleasure to read. I loved Leon and Mildred. And Sadie’s family! All were wonderful additions to the story. Some of my favorite things were letters, Leon and Mildred, rollerskating, and so many more. One of my favorite things was the epilogue.

There were so many quotes and beautiful words I highlighted. I also listened to some of the audio. The narrators were excellent.

I received a paperback from the publisher. I also received an ebook NetGalley link and an audio approval from NetGalley.

When I grow up, I want to be Rachel Fordham. I keep thinking: how does one learn to write such awesome stories?

This is not my first book by Mrs. Fordham, and let me tell you, this book did not disappoint. I liked the Beauty and the Beast vibes, but what I loved most was the bond between the West sisters. It constantly reminded me of the March sisters and was such a cute thing.♡
As for the romance, I couldn't help but simply adore it. I didn't wish for this book to end. I wanted more of Sadie and Otis. I loved her sweet person and the way she understood him so well. As for Otis, while I could not understand the depth of what he's been trough, I loved to see him overcoming his past.
So, give me all the Rachel Fordham future books, 'cause I'm here for them.

Oh, You Need to Read This Book!

Every new Rachel Fordham book is my favorite until she writes another. This one is really special. Set in 1903 Iowa, Fordham tells a romantic tale of a lost soul and the ever encouraging young woman who helps him find the courage and grace to hold to a home that didn’t welcome him. One that spun memories of shame and abandonment, transporting him into an upbringing of loneliness.

This love story is so beautifully written with banter and bargaining and highs and lows mixed with the tension and emotion that comes with true friendship.

I love that Fordham subtlety gives the reader nudges toward the whole story which, for me, makes the book a deeper read. Clues are divulged along the way to fill in the blanks regarding Otis’ past and what had shaped Sarah’s plan for her future…both asking what love really is and what it is not.

This book is suitable for teens and older with no inappropriate intimate scenes and no bad language. I received this book from the author/publisher free of charge, with no expectation of a positive review.

2.5⭐️ I’ll just be straight up and say I skimmed the last 150 pages and just couldn’t. Stories like this do not do it for me. Their romance was lacking, the storyline/plot was not intriguing, and I was not invested in any part of it. I also think the era (early 1900s) is not my favorite for historical romance. Another thing that made it hard to read.

Otis’ backstory was extremely tragic and honestly hard to stomach. I’m glad for Sadie and her love and understanding for him (she was very sweet), but any more than that, I really didn’t love much of this book.

Ultimately, I never got hooked. I need to be hooked from the first chapter. And if I’m not, it’s hard for me to be invested and press on.

*Thank you to NetGalley, Thomas Nelson, and Rachel Fordham for the complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

On the whole, I really enjoyed this book. I loved seeing the slow unfolding of Sadie and Otis’ friendship and romance, I loved the look into their pasts and their very different families and home lives, and of course the Beauty and the Beast tie-in. However, there are a couple issues I had toward the end of the book.

Early on in the book, Sadie very often thought about her faith—with references to her praying for her family, for her father’s health, and for her to be able to keep her job and have a place to live. Otis’ was a bit more complicated, as his was partially his faith that was kept strong through memories of his mother’s love for him and partially his insecurities due to how his father had treated him. But it was interwoven into the story very well for most of the book.

However, it seemed that the further into the book I got, the less faith content there was. Even when the characters were dealing with bigger immediate dilemmas and were trying to figure out the best decisions to make, prayer or reading the Bible or anything like that did not come into it. The only mention of God in the last quarter to third of the book is when Sadie tells Otis that her and her family are praying for a miracle (a cure for her father) and Otis realizes he could potentially be the one intended to provide that miracle.

The other part I didn’t care for is that, throughout the book, Sadie and Otis did really well in the first, roughly, two-thirds of the book when it came to talking about things that wouldn’t be easy. Even when they felt it might be easier not to bring something up or they were worried about how the other person would respond, they would still talk about it right away. So there was very little tension due to miscommunication or a lack of communication. Until the end of the book. At that point, all of a sudden, Sadie decides that she has to keep Elisabeth’s identity a secret from Otis until after the masquerade skate night. Why? All throughout the rest of the book, she talked to him about hard things, asked him hard questions, admitted things that she didn’t want to admit right away, so why was this the one thing she couldn’t bring herself to tell him? It doesn’t surprise me that Elisabeth’s identity was used as a point of tension for the last portion of the book, but because of what we had seen between Sadie and Otis prior to this realization, Sadie keeping the information from Otis didn’t feel in line with what we had come to expect from the characters.

Again, overall, it was a really good book and I really enjoyed my time reading it. There is also a lot of really good commentary on not judging people before you get to know them, on doing what you can to help others, and on doing what’s best for someone else even if it’s hard.

By far this book is one of my favorites that I have read this year. Of course, I always love reading through one of this author's books as I know it's going to be a winner and this one is. It's a real page-turner that I couldn't put down. I was engrossed with the story line from the very beginning. The characters in this book captivated my heart, especially Otis and Sadie. This book is full of forgiveness, compassion, romance, and sacrifices. If you like stories where you feel so good while you are reading them, then you will also love this book by Rachel Fordham!



*Thank you to Netgalley & Thomas Nelson Publishing for an eBook copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion/review of this book!

1903 Iowa and Sadie West must find a job to help support her family as her father has had an accident on the farm and is bedridden.

Otis Taylor left home as a young boy when his father sent him away because of health issue that led to his father trying remedies that only scarred Otis.

Sadie finds a job at a duster factory but has no money for a place to stay and finds an abandoned factory to sleep at each night. This factory is on Otis’s property and he finds Sadie there. Instead of throwing her out, he offers her a job in the house which includes shelter and food.

Otis is very self conscious of his appearance and it takes time for Sadie and Otis to build a relationship. But Sadie also has her family to think about and Otis has uncovered that he has a niece that he is trying to find.

This book will definitely be one of my favorite reads of 2024! The relationship between Otis and Sadie was one that had you turning the pages quickly to find out what would happen next!!!

ng read several Rachel Fordham's books, I knew I would enjoy Beyond Ivy Walls...and I did. It is a wonderfully charming historical fiction. It captured my heart from the beginning and hung on until the highly satisfactory ending. Fordham has done a great job of drawing the reader into the scenes and the lives of her characters. The characters are strong and engaging, with emotions and reactions that resonated well with me. The story is not just about hard times survival and letting go of the past. It speaks to maturity and growth in understanding those around us and recognizing that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and self-worth comes from within not from our appearance or circumstances around us. I highly recommend this book for readers who love inspirational historical romance stories. I can't wait to read more from this author. I was given a copy of this book through NetGalley and was not required to write a review. The opinions are my own.

I’ve been a fan of Rachel Fordham since I discovered her books last year. Whenever I’m in need of a wholesome, historical romance, with plot, substance, and great character development, she time and again delivers.

That’s why when I was approved for an ARC from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley for Rachel's newest book I was over the moon excited. Especially, since once again, she set this story in my home state of Iowa.

BEYOND IVY WALLS is a play on the classic Beauty and the Beast storyline (a personal favorite of mine) and Rachel did a wonderful job at keeping those tones but making it fit her book.

FMC, Sadie, finds herself working at a factory in town to help pay for her father’s medical bills after he was hurt on the farm. She is carrying the weight of her family’s survival on her shoulders, while also struggling to keep a roof over her own head- something she remedies by finding an abandoned warehouse in town.

What she doesn’t realize is that the warehouse is property of the Taylor family, whose only surviving member is a reclusive son, Otis, who was harshly sent away years before when an illness caused him to lose all his hair (what we now know as alopecia). His father used very harsh ‘remedies’ in the hope of healing his son, but in the end all it left was physical and emotional scars.

Sadie and Otis develop a friendship and later a bit more with the help of her family and the Taylor mansion’s hired help, which were all wonderful side characters. As in all Rachel Fordham’s books- her couples truly are better together than they are apart, and she develops that fact so well throughout the story. It’s also extremely enjoyable and relatable as a reader to have main characters that aren’t physically perfect.

While the dialogue in this one wasn’t my favorite (at times it felt choppy) I will give a pass as it played into the awkward nature of both MCs. And it wouldn’t be a Fordham book without a little mystery, but I’ll admit, I didn’t see the plot twist coming on this one. It added such a beautiful element to the storyline in the way of portraying sacrificial love in its purest form.

My favorite part of BEYOND IVY WALLS came in the epilogue. Usually, an author only uses this part of the story to show the readers a ‘happily ever after’ a few years down the line. While still true here, there was an added bonus that took me by complete surprise and caused a few tears to well in my eyes. I don’t want to spoil anything, but it was a beautiful addition to bring the storyline full circle and then some.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Part Beauty and the Beast, part Jane Eyre, Beyond Ivy Walls was such a wonderful story of acceptance and love without conditions.
Sadie, a young woman who has been tasked with bringing in extra money for her family due to extenuating circumstances, is having a rough go of it when Otis Taylor finds her living in his family's factory.

At that point, he decides--against his better judgement--to allow her to live with him in his large house and help her out.

Otis doesn't like to be around people because of his scars--both literal and figurative. He's used to rejection because of them. And so he doesn't even want anyone to know that he's back in town.

He and Sadie form a bond of friendship over time. He helps her with her financial needs and security and she helps him gain some confidence.
Their love story was sweet and innocent. And I loved getting to know them and all the side characters.