reviewsbyerin

After her father's death, Caroline Taylor bravely kept the lighthouse at Windmill Point running smoothly. She and her four younger siblings have held out hope that perhaps the lighthouse board would let them stay in their home, but now that that they have hired a man to replace her, Caroline begins wondering if the best course of action is to find someone willing to marry her and take on the responsibility of helping raise her parentless brothers and sisters.

Civil War veteran Ryan Chambers is still trying to get over his battle wounds, both physically and emotionally. Haunted by pain and memories of what he has seen, he frequently turns to opium pills and alcohol just to get through each day. At first it seems a miracle that he would be hired as a lighthouse keeper, but soon he realizes the injustice of forcing a capable young woman out when he himself is in no shape to take over the job. Ryan offers the assistant lightkeeper position to Caroline and lets the young Taylor brood remain in the house, while he continues to struggle with the downward pull of his addictions.

Caroline is frustrated that Ryan has been hired to replace her, but she also sees that underneath his problems there's a man who was once kind and gentle. She wants to believe the best of him and see him recover, and she feels the trust he places in her as he begins to desire positive changes in his life. When mysterious life-threatening events begin happening around the lighthouse, Ryan and Caroline must work together to discover who is trying to bring them harm, and continue to fight against their respective battles of addiction and self-reliance.

I really enjoyed Caroline as a character. Her emotions as a big sister rang very true to what I feel as I help raise my younger siblings. There's no sacrifice that would be too great for them, and Caroline reflects this beautifully. The way Ryan sees this in her and decides to become the champion of the caretaker touched me in a personal way. I also enjoyed the fact that both characters, while falling in love with each other, realized that they needed to rely on the Lord and lean on His strength rather that solely looking to what they could give one another as flawed human beings.

There are twists and turns in the plot and both victories and failures for the characters. I feel like some would be bothered by the women's rights aspect of the story, but given that the plotline was based loosely on a real life situation I thought it added an extra layer of historical depth to the novel. All in all, I think this is my new favorite of Jody Hedlund's stories!

I received my copy of the book from LitFuse Publicity in exchange for this honest review. All opinions are my own.

Join the Flock! Litfuse Publicity Group blogger

Celebrate the release of Hearts Made Whole by entering to win an Afternoon at the Beach prize pack and RSVPing to Jody's June 23rd author chat party!

One grand prize winner will receive:

A copy of Hearts Made Whole

A picnic basket set

A beach bag

Flip flops

A beach towel

One second-place winner will receive:

A copy of Hearts Made Whole

A lighthouse journal

One third-place winner will receive:

A copy of Hearts Made Whole

A lighthouse necklace

Enter today by clicking the icon below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on June 23rd.Winner will be announced June 23rd at Jody's Facebook party. RSVP here!