Publisher:
The Wild Rose Press
Date published: 1-22-2014
ISBN: 978-1-62830-038-3
Historical Romance (Sweet)
E-book
Reviewed by Helen
Weblink: http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=176_135&products_id=5497
Obtained via publisher
Rating: 3.5
Date published: 1-22-2014
ISBN: 978-1-62830-038-3
Historical Romance (Sweet)
E-book
Reviewed by Helen
Weblink: http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=176_135&products_id=5497
Obtained via publisher
Rating: 3.5
Keara Fagan escapes to America from Australia where she was sent to
indentured servitude after false accusations in her native Ireland. But America
can be just as wild and dangerous a place as Australia for a young woman alone
and penniless. She faints from hunger almost at the feet of Dr. Elliott James.
At first he just wants to help, but this desire to be of service to her grows
and he doesn’t want to send her off alone.
This book races off to a really good start, drawing the reader into Keara’s world and her problems instantly. The action scenes and her worries are well written indeed. While the story itself is basically good, and certainly holds the reader’s interest, later on I consider it suffers because a really important scene happens off stage, and the reader is just told about it in a few words. Authors please show, don’t tell and don’t leave out the highlights of the book. Another problem is that Keara is unable to tell anyone about an important fact. Here the book teeters on the verge of descending into the bane of good books, “The Great Big Misunderstanding”. It isn’t that bad, but certainly quite a few scenes would disappear if she could bring herself to tell someone, either one of her new friends or Aunt Millie if she still wants to keep it from Elliott.
That particularly annoyed me because she no longer had a reason to hide the secret. All her original reasons had disappeared and still she hung onto her fears despite being a strong woman who had the fortitude to make her own way in a new country. It seemed out of character and just a ploy to keep the book going.
There were also two minor historical errors, a timeline glitch, and a disappearing horse and carriage, as well as fifteen cases of almost every character in the book smirking inappropriately. (People, look up the definition of “smirk” please!)
However, the author has done a brilliant job with the beginning of the book, and I expect most readers would be hooked and just keep reading anyway.
This book races off to a really good start, drawing the reader into Keara’s world and her problems instantly. The action scenes and her worries are well written indeed. While the story itself is basically good, and certainly holds the reader’s interest, later on I consider it suffers because a really important scene happens off stage, and the reader is just told about it in a few words. Authors please show, don’t tell and don’t leave out the highlights of the book. Another problem is that Keara is unable to tell anyone about an important fact. Here the book teeters on the verge of descending into the bane of good books, “The Great Big Misunderstanding”. It isn’t that bad, but certainly quite a few scenes would disappear if she could bring herself to tell someone, either one of her new friends or Aunt Millie if she still wants to keep it from Elliott.
That particularly annoyed me because she no longer had a reason to hide the secret. All her original reasons had disappeared and still she hung onto her fears despite being a strong woman who had the fortitude to make her own way in a new country. It seemed out of character and just a ploy to keep the book going.
There were also two minor historical errors, a timeline glitch, and a disappearing horse and carriage, as well as fifteen cases of almost every character in the book smirking inappropriately. (People, look up the definition of “smirk” please!)
However, the author has done a brilliant job with the beginning of the book, and I expect most readers would be hooked and just keep reading anyway.
This is an objective review and not
an endorsement of this book.
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