A Trusting Heart, by Mary Andersen

Setting

1695
Oxford, Maryland

Synopsis


Susannah Smith is devastated by the sudden death of her husband, James, and does not wish to find a replacement any time soon, if ever.  Though several men vie for her hand and her financial situation dictates that she remarry quickly, she continues to turn down their proposals over the coming months.  When she finally decides to sell her late husband's candle shop to procure some much needed funds for her support, she is very troubled to discover that a drunken, wounded squatter has taken up residence there.  The handsome man scares her to death, yet her traitorous heart is drawn to him, even as his dangerous and unorthodox ways are turning her life upside down and putting her in grave danger.  Will he ever be able to trust her with his darkest secrets and accept her love?  Or will his violent past end up destroying them both?

My thoughts

Since I wrote this book, I'll try not to give a conventional review because that would just be weird.  However, I have to say that I am very attached to this story and especially to Joe's character.  There is something about him that just tugs at my heart. He's so haunted by the past, and his wounds run so much deeper than the physical.  He's so sure that he is unworthy of Susannah's love. In fact, he doesn't even really remember what love feels like.  After what has happened to him and after the sins he's committed, he feels cold and empty inside.  His progression, as his heart thaws and slowly lets Susannah in, really gets me, as does how fiercely he fights against it, so afraid of hurting her.  Okay, I guess that ended up being a review of sorts.  My apologies, but I just really like Joe!  He's definitely my favorite character so far in this series.

Edgy Content

1) Emotional romance scenes.  I intentionally left out any explicit content, but some scenes really address the emotional aspects of Joe and Susannah's relationship and of temptation, and might just get your heart racing a bit.
2) Cohabitation of an unmarried couple.  I don't want to give away too much, but it becomes necessary for Joe and Susannah to live in the same house for a few days and then stay in the same bed temporarily as well, but they they keep it chaste and try to keep a boundary between them as would have been done during that era.  They didn't have a bundling board or other such accepted barrier, but they did the best they could.  It actually made for some very tender moments between them.
3) Reference to past visiting of prostitutes.  This is not something that is glorified at all and it did not happen during the story. It is just a matter of the person not previously being taught that there was anything wrong with it, although the man in question deeply regretting it once he did learn the error of his old ways.
4) Violence.  There were instances of two of the characters being in predicaments that they were sure would result in their death, but there is nothing gory.  There is also reference to violence that occurred before the story opened.


1 comment:

  1. This story looks incredible. Just my type of read. I saw it on Amazon and went to do a little more investigating about the author. Ended up here. ;-)

    ReplyDelete