Kaye Dacus
Humor, Hope, and Happily Ever Afters! Kaye Dacus is the author of humorous, hope-filled contemporary and historical romances with Barbour Publishing, Harvest House Publishers, and B&H Publishing. She holds a Master of Arts in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, is a former Vice President of American Christian Fiction Writers, and currently serves as President of Middle Tennessee Christian Writers. Kaye lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where she is a full-time academic advisor and part-time college composition instructor for Bethel University.
Kaye Dacus (KAY DAY-cuss) is an author and educator who has been writing fiction for more than twenty years. A former Vice President of American Christian Fiction Writers, Kaye enjoys being an active ACFW member and the fellowship and community of hundreds of other writers from across the country and around the world that she finds there. She currently serves as President of Middle Tennessee Christian Writers, which she co-founded in 2003 with three other writers. Each month, she teaches a two-hour workshop on an aspect of the craft of writing at the MTCW monthly meeting. Kaye lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where she is an academic advisor and English Composition instructor for Bethel University.
Learn more about Kaye and her books on her Website.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Set during the Industrial Revolution and the Great Exhibition of 1851, Follow the Heart is a “sitting-room romance” with the feel of a Regency-era novel but the fashions and technological advances of the mid-Victorian age.
Kate and Christopher Dearing’s lives turn upside down when their father loses everything in a railroad land speculation. The siblings are shipped off to their mother’s brother in England with one edict: marry money.
At twenty-seven years old, Kate has the stigma of being passed over by eligible men many times—and that was before she had no dowry. Christopher would like nothing better than to make his own way in the world; and with a law degree and expertise in the burgeoning railroad industry, he was primed to do just that—in America.
Though their uncle tries to ensure Kate and Christopher find matrimonial prospects only among the highest echelon of British society, their attentions stray to a gardener and a governess.
While Christopher has options that would enable him to lay his affections where he chooses, he cannot let the burden of their family’s finances crush his sister. Trying to push her feelings for the handsome—but not wealthy— gardener aside, Kate’s prospects brighten when a wealthy viscount shows interest in her. But is marrying for the financial security of her family the right thing to do, when her heart is telling her she’s making a mistake?
Mandates . . . money . . . matrimony. Who will follow the heart?
If you would like to read the first chapter of Follow the Heart, go HERE.
MY REVIEW:
Follow the Heart is essentially a “twofer” – the reader gets two romances in one novel! Although Christopher and Kate Dearing have been sent to England where their wealthy uncle has promised to help them make a marriage match that will help rescue their family from financial problems, each of them has fallen for someone who is most unsuitable. Not only that but Kate who has been considered a hopeless spinster back home in America, has caught the attention of the most eligible bachelor in Oxford much to her cousin Edith’s displeasure. Will brother and sister sacrifice true love for advantageous marriages or will they follow their hearts?
I liked both Christopher and Kate as well as Nora and Andrew and sympathized with their dilemma but what I really enjoyed was the interesting historical information woven throughout the story. I found it fascinating that it was apparently common for British estates to have orangeries and/or conservatories where food was grown for the family’s use and included such exotic varieties as pineapples and oranges. The brief description of the Crystal Palace in London that so fascinated Christopher that he walked backward when leaving it, inspired me to do a little online research to learn more. The building was even more spectacular than I imagined and although it no longer exists, I would love to learn more about its history.
Follow the Heart is an interesting and enjoyable book that is sure to appeal to those who especially love Regency or Victorian novels.
