I will state at the outset that I received this as a review copy in exchange for my honest opinion of it.
And here is that opinion, in sum: it is a typical, but not notable, example of its genre.
The publisher, Bethany House, lists it as 'Historical Fiction,' which it is, but I think that leaves out the equally apt and important 'Romance.' This is the sort of book I would have loved during my misspent youth, but which I have come in my more mature years to regard with a certain mistrust.
If you read and like Christian Historical Romance, then I expect you will like Prize of My Heart. It is set in Massachusetts in 1815. Captain Brogan Talvis commissions a ship from master shipbuilder Nathaniel Huntley, whose beautiful young daughter Lorena cares as a mother for a little boy left to the Huntleys as a ward. Unbeknownst to the Huntleys, Captain Talvis is the boy's father, and intends to kidnap him at the first opportunity. But, of course, Captain Talvis and Lorena fall in love before Captain Talvis can put his plan into action.
As a work of literary fiction, I thought this book fell short of Miss Julia Takes Over (which I reviewed earlier today). Captain Talvis and Lorena are somewhat gullible in believing the wicked people who practice deceit upon them, but they are fine, upstanding people of integrity, lacking quirks and faults. As I read Prize of My Heart, I kept thinking I have skill enough to write such a story. But as I read Miss Julia Takes Over, I kept thinking I'd never be an author as good as Ms. Ross.
I'd like to read more Christian novels, but so often I find the stories and writing mediocre at best. Too often I find the characters one dimensional and cliched.
ReplyDeleteYes, they were one-dimensional. They were essentially good people whose only struggles in life were brought about by the deception practiced upon them by bad people. The two main characters of 'Prize' did not seem to struggle with any intrinsic problems. And they were too good-looking. That made me long for a Jane Eyre. :)
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