"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.
God sets the lonely in families..." - Psalm 68: 5-6 (NIV)
What if your son was kidnapped? After searching desperately, you find him living with another family, and he didn't recognize you. What would you do? This is just part of the premise for Prize of My Heart by Lisa Norato. Norato's main character, Captain Brogan Talvis, finds himself in just such a situation. He finds his son, Ben Talvis, living with a new family and a new name -- Drew Huntley. Ready for revenge and his son, he decides on befriending the family and kidnapping Ben back ... when the time is right. However, all his grand plans don't play out as he hopes, and he learns that God has plans of his own for Brogan and Ben Talvis.
Prize of My Heart is a brand new (2012) historical fiction novel published by Bethany House. At $14.99, the price is reasonable for a good sized paperback with graceful cover art by Dan Thornberg. I found myself pausing to enjoy the beautiful cover's realism and imagine myself in historic Massachusetts each time I went to read the book (and wishing I had that dress!). The audience here is obviously for Christian women, so guys might need to go find something else. ;)
The theme of this book is one of faith, forgiveness, redemption, and love. The setting is early 19th century Massachusetts. We open to find a young woman, Lorena Huntley, who is a daughter of a wealthy shipping mogul. Her head is buried in her arms near the pier. She is not alone; Captain Talvis is watching her, surprised to see someone so early near the docks. Little does he know that she holds the secret to the circumstances surrounding his son -- or that she is acting as the only mother Ben knows. Their lives will soon be entangled and changed forever.
The book starts off a little slowly, and I did find myself a little bored. However, as it progressed, it improved as more of the plot unfolded. Norato is very good at writing action scenes, and I felt that an opening action scene would be better at immediately captivating the reader. The perspective is third-person and switches from Captain Brogan to Lorena and back most of the time. Norato's style attempts to mimic the speech of early 19th century New England. Occasionally, I wished she would stop telling so much and start showing, but the details are exquisite. Plenty of action is later included: another kidnapping, a chase, a tense ship skirmish, a brutal storm, and a twist ending (although a little predictable).
While the book is romantic, I wouldn't necessarily call it a romance. I was happy that the whole book didn't dwell on the romance and had plenty of action also. The book does focus heavily on Lorena and Brogan as the protagonists with very little character development for the minor characters. This was a little disappointing, and I found myself at one point forgetting a minor character totally when they were brought out again later on in the story.
Another thing about the book I enjoyed was the delicate weaving of faith and Bible verses throughout. Norato wasn't in your face about her Christian references, but it was there throughout, comforting and gentle. She wasn't trying too hard or force-feeding, and I like that.
I chose this book to review because as a prospective adoptive parent, anything related to orphaned children, non-traditional families, etc. speaks to me right now. As a Christian woman, I'm looking for quality Christian reading, and I would recommend Prize of My Heart for taking to the beach, Monday morning porch reading, or any other time you just want a light read. It is a nice, gentle read to accompany a cup of tea.
Disclaimer: Bethany House sent me this book gratis in return for a review.
Mackenzie's Ears
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