Review: A Loyal Heart by Shelley Gray

Not Gray's Best

Amazon Description

Robert came to Galveston to fulfill his promise to a dying man and look after his widow. He didn’t expect to find love in the unlikeliest of places.

Robert Truax, former Second Lieutenant and Confederate officer in the Civil War, made a promise to his comrade Phillip Markham. If anything happened to Phillip, Robert would look after his beloved wife, Miranda. She was his life, his world, his everything.

After the war, Robert is left to pick up the pieces and fulfill his pact. When he arrives at Miranda's home in Galveston, Texas, things are worse than he imagined. Phillip's name has been dragged through the mud, everyone in town believes him to be a traitor, and his widow is treated as an outcast. Even more disturbing is her emotional well-being. Miranda seems hopeless, lost, and so very alone.

Robert had thought his duty would be simple. He would help Miranda as quickly as possible in order to honor a promise. But the moment Robert laid eyes on her, his plans changed. He's mesmerized by her beauty and yearns to help her in any way he can.

He makes it his duty to protect Miranda, turn her reputation around, and to find some way to help her smile again. But it doesn't prove to be an easy task—Robert knows something about Phillip that could shake Miranda to the core and alter her view of the man she thought she knew so well.

My Review

Shelley Shephard Gray writes Amish fiction under her full name, and historical romance with a touch of suspense as Shelley Gray. I’m not a fan of Amish fiction so haven’t read any of those, but I’ve read several of her previous historical romance novels and been impressed. I watch out for her new Shelley Gray releases, and was pleased to be given the opportunity to review A Loyal Heart.

But I have to say it wasn’t up to the standard I have come to expect from Shelley Gray (or from her publisher, Zondervan). The plot was an excellent combination of romance and suspense, but I was underwhelmed by the plot twist which revealed who was behind the threatening letters widow Miranda Markham had been receiving for the last year, and that meant the novel ended with less than a bang.

I also wasn’t impressed by the editing. There were spelling mistakes, a couple of irritating anachronisms (especially strange, as Gray’s books are usually well researched), and lots of annoying dialogue tags—which perhaps shouldn’t have distracted me, but they did. I was left wondering if I was reading a pre-proofed review copy (which I sometimes do get, but which are usually marked as such). If not, are the spelling and writing errors the fault of the author, or of the editor and publisher?

So while the plot and writing weren't up to the high standard I expect from the author and publisher, the characters were excellent. Miranda Markham blossomed as she got to know Lt Robert Truax, who was a true hero and proved that there is more than being a gentleman than being born into money and influence. I found the growing romance between the two as interesting as the suspense plot, but the romance had a better and more believable resolution.

Thanks to Zondervan and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

Review: What Happened on Beale Street by Mary Ellis

Not up to expectations

I had two problems with What Happened on Beale Street. The first was that solving the question of what happened on Beale Street—the murder of Danny Andre—didn’t seem to be the focus on the novel. Instead, it seemed like it was little more than a handy plot device to get newly-licensed private investigator Nicki Price from her home in New Orleans to Memphis, so she could investigate a fifty-year-old mystery in hotel.

My second problem was that I didn’t warm to Nicki Price, and I liked her fiancé, Hunter Galen, even less. This is perhaps my fault, because this is the second book in Mary Ellis’s Secrets of the South Mysteries series, and I haven’t read the first, Midnight on the Mississippi. This Nicki and Hunter, and maybe I’d have liked them better if I’d read the first book. As it was, Nicki came across as naïve and lacking intelligence, while Hunter came off as arrogant and controlling.

Having said that, Nicki and Hunter weren’t meant to be the focus of What Happened on Beale Street (even though Nicki did her best to steal the show, and the climax of her subplot was actually more satisfying than the payoff from the main murder plot, and I did enjoy the scenes where we got to explore the opulent Peabody Hotel).

What Happened on Beale Street centres aroud Nate Price (Nicki’s cousin and boss) and his search to find out what happened to Danny Andre, Nicki’s best friend, a some-time saxophone player in some of the blues clubs on Beale Street. He reconnects with Danny’s sister, Isabella, an old acquaintance from school days, and that provides most of the relational interest in what is otherwise a straightforward mystery novel (well, as straightforward as a mystery novel ever is, with all the requisite twists and turns on the journey to find whodunit).

Overall, while What Happened on Beale Street is a solid mystery novel with a developing romance, it wasn’t as satisfying as I’d hoped.

Thanks to Harvest House Publishers and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about author Mary Ellis at her website.