This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Hearts Aglow
Bethany House (March 1, 2011)
by
Tracie Peterson
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Tracie Peterson is the bestselling, award-winning author of more than 85 novels.She received her first book contract in November, 1992 and saw A Place To Belong published in February 1993 with Barbour Publishings’ Heartsong Presents. She wrote exclusively with Heartsong for the next two years, receiving their readership’s vote for Favorite Author of the Year for three years in a row.
In December, 1995 she signed a contract with Bethany House Publishers to co-write a series with author Judith Pella. Tracie now writes exclusively for Bethany House Publishers.
She teaches writing workshops at a variety of conferences on subjects such as inspirational romance and historical research.
Tracie was awarded the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award for 2007 Inspirational Fiction and her books have won numerous awards for favorite books in a variety of contests.
Making her home in Montana, this Kansas native enjoys spending time with family–especially her three grandchildren–Rainy, Fox and Max. She’s active in her church as the Director of Women’s Ministries, coordinates a yearly writer’s retreat for published authors, and travels, as time permits, to research her books
ABOUT THE BOOK:
The future should be bright for Deborah Vandermark, who is now pursuing her interest in medicine alongside Dr. Christopher Clayton, who is courting her. But the lumber town is resistant to the idea of a woman physician, and she feels thwarted at every turn.A more devastating blow occurs, however, when Christopher breaks off their relationship to return home to his troubled family. Despite her own love life going awry, Deborah is still intent to be a matchmaker for both her widowed mother and her brother, who has caught the eye of the spit-fire daughter of the local pastor.
But what will Deborah do when faced with the truth about Christopher’s family? Is there hope for the two of them…or will Jake Wyeth’s attentions finally catch Deborah’s eye instead?
If you would like to read the first chapter of Hearts Aglow, go HERE.
MY REVIEW:
As a long-time fan of Tracie Peterson, I was surprised to find that I had difficulty getting into her most recent release. Hearts Aglow started with plenty of action and drama that quickly came to a standstill. At that point the narrative began to focus primarily on everyday activities in the lives of its characters and the romance between Deborah and Dr. Clayton. The romance was pretty ho-hum in my opinion and with a few minor exceptions, the action never really picked up again.
Peterson does manage to convey quite a bit of historical information. To me the highlight of the book was the excellent sermon given by Pastor Shattuck regarding racial issues. Hearts Aglow contains some drama, a bit of humor, several tepid romantic scenes, and some spiritual lessons. Unfortunately, I never really cared what happened to most of the characters. From my perspective, Hearts Aglow does not quite meet the usual standards I expect from a Tracie Peterson novel. Nevertheless, it is an enjoyable story as long as it is not compared with some of Peterson’s earlier excellent novels.
