Book Review: The Wayward Heart by Nerys Leigh

Fun Mail Order Bride Romance

Lizzy Cotton signs up as a mail order bride to marry a handsome cowboy and fall in love. The adventure starts well, when she arrives at her destination with four other mail order briders. Her husband, Richard Shand, is even more handsome in person than in his photograph. But he doesn’t seem at all interested in being a real husband. Instead, he leaves her alone on the ranch all day, with only one of the cowboys for company.

Lizzy was a likeable heroine, if a little naïve (delusional?) at the beginning. She was almost annoying in her Pollyanna-like cheerfulness and optimism, and her overly romantic ideas about living in the West, marrying a cowboy, and falling in love. She’s got it all planned out, but you know what they say about plans …

Richard was not nearly so likeable. In fact, he was downright unlikeable in the way he advertised for a mail order bride, married her, then ignored her. And I don't know what else to say about him that wouldn't be a spoiler. Let's just say there was a big twist, and while I knew something was coming, my guess was about 90% wrong.

There was plenty of romance—but the course of true love definitely doesn't run smooth.

There's conflict (plenty of conflict), but also a lot of laughs as Richard and the other cowboys underestimate Lizzy in many ways. Yes, she's way more than a Pollyanna.

The Wayward Heart is the third book in Nerys Leigh’s Escape to the West series, but the books can be read in any order. They all take place in the same town over the same timescale, with each book focusing on one of the mail order brides.

Overall, The Wayward Heart is a Christian Western historical romance that's got everything: intelligent and likeable heroine, intelligent and gentlemanly hero, conflict, laughs, and a thought-provoking Christian theme.

Recommended.

Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Nerys Leigh at her website, and you can read the introduction to The Wayward Heart below:

Review: Behind the Scenes by Jen Turano

A New Series from Jen Turano

Jen Turano is one of my favourite Christian historical romance authors. I love her characters, her witty dialogue, and the underlying truth (Truth) in her novels. And Behind the Scenes is no exception.

The main character is the unfortunately named Miss Permilia Griswold, member of New York’s elite, and well-known (or perhaps unknown) wallflower. The story starts at the famous 1883 costume ball given by Mr and Mrs William Vanderbilt II, an event which let the media into New York society for the first time, for better or worse. The descriptions of the ball are excellent, and my initial suspicions that the descriptions might have been a little over-the-top were allayed when I did a little research. If anything, Behind the Scenes is understated.


The story has touches of Cinderella, with Permilia as the motherless girl, a self-centred stepmother and an even more self-centred step-sister, an absent but loving father, and Mr Asher Rutherford, the owner of one of New York’s biggest department stores, as Prince Charming.

But there is also a suspense element, after Permilia overhears a death threat against Mr Rutherford … and he doesn’t believe her. This leads a quirky troupe of characters on what is best described as a merry chase as Permilia and Asher spend more and more time together as they attempt to find the source of the threat.

My one issue was that there were parts of the story I didn't quite understand, almost as if I'd missed something ... I had. I'd missed At Your Request, the free novella introducing this new series (partly because the novella didn't release until January 2017 and I couldn't resist reading this as soon as the review copy was available. In December 2016). Anyway, I suggest you don't make the same mistake.


Recommended for fans of witty historical romance.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

Author Interview and Giveaway: Annette O'Hare Shares Her Inspiration

Authors get stories from so many different places and experiences. It's always interesting to discover where the inspiration comes from. Today, we'll hear from debut author, Annette O'Hare. Her historical romance, Northern Light has already garnered some terrific reviews!

From the first sentence to the book’s stunning conclusion, Annette O’Hare’s brilliant first novel Northern Light captured my heart. O’Hare’s storytelling is flawless and her grasp of Texas history is spot on. This tenth generation Texan heartily approves! Do yourself a favor and savor this meeting of North and South on the Bolivar peninsula. I promise it will be the best book you’ll read in a very long time! —Kathleen Y'Barbo, best-selling author of over 40 titles

My Inspiration For Writing Northern Light

By: Annette O’Hare

Annette O'Hare

There’s a wonderful phrase known to authors that says, write what you know. This simple idiom by Twain, or was it Faulkner, no…I think it might have been Thurber, no it was definitely Twain who said it. Whoever it was knew what they were talking about and that’s why I wrote Northern Light. The setting for my debut novel is the lighthouse on the Bolivar Peninsula on the Texas coast; a place near and dear to my heart. A place I know very well.

When I was a child growing up in Houston, Texas in the 1970’s, my family visited Bolivar every summer for fishing, swimming, and shell hunting. My father would drive our family of five to Galveston, and then onto a short ferry ride connecting Galveston Island with the Bolivar Peninsula.

The ferry ride was a favorite part of the vacation. We made playful bets concerning which ferry we would ride. Would it be the Cone Johnson, the E.H. Thornton Jr., the R.S. Sterling, or the Gibb Gilchrist? We knew each boat by name. My two older brothers and I would save back French fries and pinches of bread from our fast food meals. After the boat was loaded and the captain gave the safety speech, we would bolt for the back of the boat to feed the seagulls and dolphins.

I always knew the exact place the ferry would dock at the peninsula because Daddy told me to look for the landmark. It was hard to find at first, but the closer the ferry came to Bolivar, the bigger it became. By the time the boat landed, the Bolivar Point Lighthouse was as big as a skyscraper in this little girl’s eyes.


Once off the boat we drove past the iron lighthouse. Her light extinguished, she no longer lit the way for ships coming in or going out of Galveston Bay. Daddy always pointed out the two, abandoned keeper’s houses beside the lighthouse. He showed how one of the house’s nameplates read Boyt and the other, Maxwell. I didn’t understand the significance then, but later I realized the connection. Daddy’s aunt, my great aunt, was married to a Boyt, and she and her sister, my grandmother, were born with the surname Maxwell.

You’re probably wondering if my daddy’s family were the lighthouse keepers. No, the truth is that Mr. Boyt, my great-uncle, bought the lighthouse and property at an auction and it has been owned by that family ever since.

The original Bolivar Point Lighthouse dates back prior to the Civil War. In fact, it was during that war that the Confederates completely dismantled the lighthouse. Some accounts say it was so the Union wouldn’t use the light to their advantage. Others say the Confederate army used the iron for weapons and artillery. Nevertheless, the lighthouse was rebuilt shortly after the war. The great conical tower has seen over 150 years of United States history and it still stands tall on the Bolivar Peninsula to this day.

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Visit Annette at AnnetteOHare.com

About Northern Light

Civil War has robbed Margaret Logan of all she holds dear, including her beloved New Orleans home and her fiancé. When her family moves to the desolate Bolivar Peninsula to manage a lighthouse that is no longer there, all her hopes for a normal future are dashed. Her world is rocked once again when a wounded Yankee soldier washes ashore needing her help. Despite her contempt for the North, Margaret falls in love with Thomas Murphy. As their love blooms, Margaret’s sister is overcome with neurosis, and her mind slowly slips away. Bitterness, psychosis and depression yield a decision fueled by contempt. Will one fatal choice cause Margaret to lose the man she loves and condemn Thomas to death?

Purchase Northern Light in e-book or paperback

Annette O'Hare has one free ebook to give away today. To be in to win, leave a comment and tell us why you'd like to read Northern Light!

(I'll draw the winner at 8am on Monday 15 August, New Zealand time).