Book Review: A Heart Adrift by Laura Frantz
A Heart Adrift is an historical romance novel, although I would wish it were a series. I think its story could have continued on in one or two more books instead of just one novel.
The book opens with a Prologue on the Virginia Coast in April 1745, yet the main story continues ten years later in York, Virginia 1755.
The story centers around two main characters Esmee Shaw and Henri Lennox who fell in love in 1745, yet because of circumstances were separated by the sea. Both heartsick and hurt, they each went their separate ways, trying to live purposeful lives, yet neither ever forgetting the other as the flame of their love never went out. Now, ten years later Captain Henri Lennox returns to York with his sailing vessel to perhaps revive a long-lost dream on his Indigo Island, not even imagining that he might rekindle a relationship with Esmee Shaw, but upon seeing her he can’t help but wish he could. Esmee now an independent single woman, chocolatier and proprietor of Shaw’s Chocolate Shop, outwardly wants nothing to do with Captain Lennox and tries to avoid him at all costs, yet inwardly she has to admit she is still attracted to him.
This book seemed to start out slow, focusing on past events, taking the reader on a leisurely walk about York to view its seaport town and Chocolate Shop. Tempting the reader to imagine the sights and smells of the delicious chocolate treats and the smells of the sea. It also takes the reader into the politics and culture of the day, transporting him/her to Williamsburg, PA for a historical tour of the city life of that time and the events surrounding the threat of war between the colonies and France.
Once lured halfway into its pages this novel captures the reader and pulls him/her into drama, suspense and action. No longer a leisurely walk, the reader is propelled to run, hide, gasp, fret, sorrow, cry, and wonder what will happen next, as he/she becomes so much a part of its pages it is hard to stop reading.
This book had so many wonderful words used in the time of Old English and French culture, that I very frequently did have to stop reading and go to the dictionary to look up their meaning. In my mind, that makes it a quite unique story and one that made me love it more, as I love words and their meanings.
So, in conclusion, I would say I really enjoyed reading this novel and I do wish it was a series, so its story could continue.
I was given a copy of this novel by Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and comments are my own.
Leona J. Atkinson