Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Book Review: To Win Her Heart, by Karen Witemeyer

To Win Her Heart is the story of Levi Grant, a blacksmith with a rough past, who is looking for a fresh start in the small town of Spencer, Texas. He finds himself drawn to Eden Spencer, the daughter of the town's founder, who also happens to be the town librarian. Levi and Eden discover that they have a mutual love of books, so Levi begins spending his lunch hour in the library nearly every day. He and Eden form a sweet friendship, but as their feelings for one another grow, they face obstacles from the town's jealous sheriff, as well as Levi's own difficult past.

I thoroughly enjoyed this historical western romance. Levi and Eden were both likable characters, and their personalities were well-developed. The fact that Levi struggled with a lisp and was always trying to find words to substitute for any word containing an "s" made him an even more human and endearing character. It was interesting to get a glimpse into the life and work of a blacksmith, too . . . and I could relate to both characters with my own love of books! I appreciated that this novel did have quite a bit of spiritual content--more than some of the other Christian fiction I've read. I also liked how both Levi and Eden tried to work through their obstacles with God's help, seeking His will above their own. There was also a little subplot/secondary romance between a couple of the other characters, which was fun. All in all, this was a sweet, enjoyable book, and one I'll probably read again!

**Disclosure: I was given a free review copy of this book by the publisher, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

2 comments:

Diana said...

Ooo this sounds like a good one! Was it "clean" the whole way through?

Carrie said...

Overall, yes . . . there were some kissing scenes though. It reminded me of Lori Wick's books (although it's been a while since I've read one) as far as the romance aspect went. I definitely liked the writing style better than Wick's, though. Now that I have a daughter, I try to think about whether I would let her read some of these books when she's older. Not sure about this one--I would say not when she's a younger teen, but I probably would be OK with it when she's college age. It's hard to explain--this one was a sweet story and I really enjoyed it, but trying to put myself in the shoes of a teen girl I think it might be a bit too strong on the romance--when you read a lot of these type of books as a teen (speaking from experience ;)) you can start to think that marriage is all romance and kisses. Anyway . . . that is my long winded reply. :) You're welcome to borrow this one anytime if you'd like to try it and see what you think for yourself. :)