Follow the Heart by Kaye Dacus
4/5 stars
B&H Publishing, 2013
321 pages
Adult Christian Historical Romance
Source: Received an e-ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Other books by this author:
Stand-In Groom
Menu for Romance
A Case for Love
Love Remains
The Art of Romance
Turnabout's Fair Play
Ransome's Honor
As you can from the above list, I have read a lot of Dacus' writing and obviously I quite enjoy it. Thus I was pleased to see a new release from her, this time set in 1851 England around the Great Exhibition. It follows siblings Kate and Christopher Dearing, poor relations from Philadelphia come to marry money and save the family's fortunes but both are quickly captured by someone entirely unsuitable. Will they follow their head or follow their heart? (Hint: look at the book's title.)
I am a big Kaye Dacus fan and I liked this title a lot although it is not my favorite (that is probably Stand-In Groom or A Case for Love). For me, I was less than enthused about the dual love stories for the siblings as I didn't really feel we got enough time with Christopher. I feel quite certain that I know Kate's heart, inside and out but Christopher is more enigmatic. Similarly his love interest gets less page time than hers.
But it is the message of this book that I really love. In essence, Kate (re)discovers God's great love and how he brought her to England to give her happiness. It's the reason why one (I) reads/read Inspirational fiction-for just such these moments of clarity and understanding. I really appreciated the message about waiting and listening to the Lord instead of trying to force him into your own will-patience is not my strong suit and that is a discipline in which I need to grow. I feel like this book came across my path at an excellent time, reminding me of some things I needed to remember.
Cover: I do not like that dress but Kate does tend to eschew bright fabrics for more staid clothing.
I'm glad you enjoyed this, and this came to you when you needed it too. Things always have a way of happening when we need to them too. Wonderful review.
ReplyDeleteI was so thankful for some of the lessons here-hope others who like HF will check this out!
DeleteHm, for some reason books with two romances (particularly siblings) rarely work for me, but it's good to hear you still enjoyed it overall! Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteWendy @ The Midnight Garden
I feel like I have read some books with two romances that worked for me but here they were just so unequal in terms of page time that it was a bit unsatisfying.
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