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In  A Love Such as Heaven Intended , the third in a Civil War series, Amanda Lauer shows us that even during times of war, love wins. In this enchanting book, we meet Josephine Katherine Bigelow, a social elite, of the Washington D.C. circuit. As a recent graduate from the Georgetown Academy for Young Ladies, Josephine has grand plans to become a writer. Thinking she needs no further education, she readies herself to conquer the world with her pen. Yet, her father, on the other hand, Brigadier General Matthias Bigelow, has different designs. Although the country is at war, and the General is one of President Abraham Lincoln’s right-hand men, he wants to see his daughter receive more education. But, Josephine knows well how to get what she wants. By wrapping her father around her little finger, Josephine sets out on an adventure that proves to us all that living life fully means finding a love such as Heaven intended. Josephine Bigelow sets out on a course only God could design.

Let me take you back in time, to the early 1860’s, when the American Civil War was raging. There, we meet Brigid McGinnis, in Amanda Lauer’s  A Life Such as Heaven Intended .  Brigid is 17, and coming of age, as a typical southern belle. However, rather than marrying, Brigid sees herself giving her life to God as a nun. That is, until one day, when Brigid finds a very handsome stranger, lying injured in her backyard. Charitable young thing that she is, Brigid tends to the injured soldier, who seems to have lost his memory because of a head injury. Together, she and the injured soldier try to make sense of what might have happened to him. As he recovers under Brigid’s care, love blossoms between the two. From the onset, Lauer takes us on a romantic journey of chaste love, valuing the virtue of chastity. In this second book in a series, we see the virtues of charity, compassion, honesty and love on full display. There are fascinating sub-plots addressing the horror of slavery, and