The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope is the debut novel by Rhonda Riley. It is the story of Evelyn, a young girl alone on a farm in rural North Carolina during WWII who finds what she thinks is a wounded soldier on her land. She quickly discovers that this is no soldier, and with a remarkable ability to recover, she is not sure who, or what, it is.

Thus begins the story of Adam Hope. With a complete suspension of disbelief, the reader can disappear into this world that Riley has created.

Although I liked the characters of Evelyn and Adam, and later their daughters, I was never fully able to believe in the story; and if it was “enchanted” then I was waiting for something even more magical to happen.

Riley begs the question, do we ever really know the one we love? The writing was beautiful, and overall it was a compelling and original story, but I was disappointed by the ending.