MY REVIEW:
Each volume of Dawn Crandall’s Everstone Chronicles has been my favorite – that is until I read her latest. I believe each book has been a little better than the previous one and that is saying a lot because I’ve loved them all.
“The Cautious Maiden” may be best because black sheep Vance Everstone is back in the picture as its hero. And what a hero he is! With a questionable reputation that was earned through his poor choices and past mistakes, Vance is a changed man who has found the Lord. Determined to live up to his new-found beliefs, Vance suddenly finds himself in the very center of a scheme devised by Violet Hawthorne’s brother Ezra to save her from the man he lost her to in a poker game. As Vance grows to know Violet better, he finds himself falling in love with her.
This was one book I definitely did not want to put down. Between the romantic tension between Vance and Violet that was made all the better due to his vow to keep the relationship pure and the danger that seemed to stalk them at every turn, I found myself turning each page in anticipation of what might happen next. “The Cautious Maiden” is just the kind of book I love – a romantic historical woven with suspense and mystery plus a good dose of faith.
Violet was a strong and likeable character but Vance was the real star of this book. He was such a shining example of how finding the Lord can help turn a scoundrel into a saint. You really did good on this one Dawn. Now I’m ready to see how you will surpass it with your next novel.
Anyone who has not discovered Dawn Crandall’s Everstone Chronicles needs to pick up the entire series soon. “The Cautious Maiden” can certainly stand alone but is so much better if you have the background from the previous novels.
A copy of this book was provided in exchange for my honest review by the author.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Violet Hawthorne is beyond mortified when her brother Ezra turns their deceased parents’ New England country inn into a brothel to accommodate the nearby lumberjacks—but when Violet’s own reputation is compromised, the inn becomes the least of her worries. In an effort to salvage her good name, Violet is forced into an engagement with a taciturn acquaintance—Vance Everstone.
As she prepares for a society wedding, Violet learns that her brother had staked her hand in marriage in a heated poker game with the unsavory Rowen Steele, and Ezra had lost. Now Rowen is determined to cash in on his IOU.
With danger stalking her and a new fiancé who hides both his emotion and his past, Violet must decide who to trust—and who to leave behind.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Dawn Crandall is the author of The Hesitant Heiress (released August 1, 2014).A graduate of Taylor University with a degree in Christian Education, and a former bookseller at Barnes & Noble, Dawn Crandall didn’t begin writing until 2010 when her husband found out about her long-buried dream of writing a book. Without a doubt about someday becoming published, he encouraged her to quit her job in 2010 in order to focus on writing The Hesitant Heiress. It didn’t take her long to realize that writing books was what she was made to do. Dawn is represented by Joyce Hart of Hartline Literary.
