Faithful Heart by Al Lacy
Review Copy; Multnomah Books 304 pages
Book Synopsis:
Dottie Harper fears for her children's safety. Her husband is struggling with dementia brought on by the Civil War. It's as though there are two Jerrod’s locked inside him: the tender and loving man she married, and a harsh man given to fits of violent rage. Dottie's sister, Breanna, is a certified medical nurse. She's headed west, planning to visit Dottie in California and meet her family for the first time. Little does she know what awaits her.
Memorable Quote:
That was before he threatened to kill you. He’s dangerous…Very dangerous. It wouldn’t take much for him to kill you with his bare hands. He’s got to be locked up!!
-Says the good Doctor on Page 245.
Review
I’m not a big western romance fan, so I had a difficult time with the setting of this novel, but all of you out there that have read this series or dig the western thing it was pretty good. The historical aspects were off a bit; there was a lot of medical knowledge going on that I thought wasn’t accurate for the time period-but hey its fiction so sometimes you can bend the rules. For the most part the story just didn’t grab me. The romance between John and Breanna was so full of sappy cheese I was craving nachos. Also the main meaty parts of the book when we meet “the crazy” and get a look into Dottie’s life, took a long time to build up to.
At points when I was reading through Dottie’s turmoil I was thinking she might be the crazy one- due to the fact that she was not willing to get her kids out of a dangerous situation and stay with her husband (suffering from psychological war symptoms) who’s on the brink of severely hurting himself or his family. Finally when we reach the climatic point of the book it comes at an abrupt violent end and all the characters that are left to face the outcome- get a nice easy way out with a happy ending. Sometimes I hate a happy ending.......
Of course to be fair- I haven’t read any of the other books in the series so I haven’t been connected to the characters to really jump into the current events that this story offered. I must give kudos’s to the prologue which gave the reader a nice rundown of the previous books. I definitely felt like there was a big back-story that I had missed, so if this is your type of book (western) I would start at the beginning.
Rating
This is a very wholesome novel, no language or sex scenes. There is violence and adult content so I’d give it a PG.
3/5- Western Romance
Thank you to Waterbrook Press for review copy
Also I have one lovely copy to pass on to my savvy readers. To enter just leave a comment and email before March 5th.
Great review!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, you said you have a copy to pass to your readers.
Can anyone enter?
Is it International?
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Hope you like it!
Let me join with Yasmin.
ReplyDeleteI am also International (South Africa)
I haven't read much Western romance but perhaps I should try one again !
If it is open please enter me as well.
Thanks.
Carol
buddytho {at} gmail DOT com
Cool, please enter me in!
ReplyDeletestephaniet117(at)yahoo(dot)com
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If this is international count me in please. I don't think I've tackled a Western Romance before.
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Sounds like a great read!
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