Review: To Follow Her Heart

To Follow Her Heart
By Rebecca DeMarino
The Southold Chronicles #3
Revell, 2016


Summary

Duty and love are powerful forces. Only one has the power to make her life complete.

It is 1664 and Patience Terry is devastated to learn that Captain Jeremy Horton's ship has been shipwrecked off the coast of Barbados. There were no survivors. She had hoped that Jeremy would someday give up the sea and settle down with her in Southold, Long Island.

Unaware his memorial service is being planned, Jeremy sails aboard a British warship with secret orders to attack New Amsterdam and claim it for the British Crown. When he makes his surprise return to Southold--and to an overjoyed Patience--it's not quite the happily-ever-after his beloved had hoped for.

With a finely tuned sense for authentic historical characters and settings, Rebecca DeMarino plunges you into a world of tall ships, daring journeys, and yearning hearts.


My thoughts

To Follow Her Heart concludes the Southold Chronicles series, three stories that I have greatly enjoyed. They are steeped in early American history, my favorite historical era and one that is sadly neglected in Christian fiction. Each book can technically stand alone, but as characters are interwoven throughout, reading in order would make for a richer experience. I loved following Barnabas and Mary from A Place in His Heart, and reconnecting with Dirk and Heather Flower from To Capture Her Heart.

To Follow Her Heart is a warm family story, inspired by Rebecca’s ancestors, that reflects the closeness of a community filled with settlers who left Europe to seek religious freedom. Her extensive research and passion shine through, giving the story a realism and authentic feel. The book is character driven and the pacing is not fast, but that’s the type of writing that I enjoy and was eager to keep turning the pages.

To Follow Her Heart is the story of Patience and sea captain Jeremy Horton, brother of Barnabas. They already have strong feelings for each other, so this is more of a story about duty vs. love and the decisions that conflict forces. It was a time when men did pretty much as they felt led, and women had to make the decision to follow or not. Jeremy and Patience’s story is sweet, but downright frustrating at times, because it seems that Jeremy was always arriving, then leaving.

Rebecca beautifully portrayed the strength of their beliefs and how vital worship was to this Southold community – and it’s obvious that this is something that America has lost. I especially loved how the series is brought full circle by a return to the Horton home in Mowsley, England – and also the featuring of Mary Horton in the epilogue that takes place almost fifteen years later.

Recommended

_________________________

Rebecca DeMarino is the author of The Southold Chronicles, a series based on the lives of her ninth great-grandparents, Mary Langton and Barnabas Horton. She inherited her love of baking and gardening from her mother; a love of horses, reading, and writing from her dad; and the wanderlust gene from both parents. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Romance Writers of America, New England Historical Genealogical Society, and the Southold Long Island Historical Society.

Website │ Facebook │ Twitter │ Pinterest

Thank you to Revell for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.