About the Book

Book: Her Steadfast Heart
Author: Sharlene MacLaren

Series: Hearts of Honor, Book 2
Genre: Christian Historical Romance

Publisher: Whitaker House
Release date: January 26, 2021

Pages: 336

Joey Fuller is still mourning three years after his wife’s death, so much so that he leaves his four rambunctious young children to throw himself into the Civil War as a Union captain. But his kids are so ill-behaved that nannies keep quitting—and now, his mother has a broken leg and can’t handle them either. In desperation, Joey decides to advertise for a wife.

Faith Haviland is in a different kind of mourning. Not long ago, her fiancé left her to marry her best friend. Her customers at the diner where she works keep reminding her of that humiliating event and one of them, an older man, has been making aggressive advances. She’s desperate to flee the city—and Joey Fuller’s “Wife Needed” ad seems to be the answer to a prayer.

Will Faith live up to her name when Joey’s kids torment her with their mischief? Can she surrender this strange marriage to God while her new aloof husband is off fighting? And will a string of buttons convince her that he truly loves her?

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My Thoughts

I really enjoyed this story!! This is the second book in this series but other than learning more about some of the characters in the family this read like a stand alone for me. That being said I have definitely added the first book to my TBR list as I really enjoyed Ms. MacLaren's writing style. This story definitely had some of my favorite elements and trope! I mean for me you can never go wrong with a marriage of convenience and then add romance, kids and suspense and most of the time its a winner for me! This book definitely fits that bill!

In this story we meet Faith who poor girl has been jilted at the altar and just wants a new beginning. She works at her aunts cafe and there she has an unwanted admirer that just won't leave her alone. He is so obsessed with her that he assaults her and flees the scene after she seeks help. Later we find out that this gentleman, Stuart, has killed his previous wife and is just all sorts of no good. Joey is an unbeliever that has the most unruly kids. He is a captain in the Union Army and is in desperate need of someone to take care of his kids and does it in the way of a mail order bride.

I love that it is Faith's mom that gives her the idea of leaning and answering Joey's advertisement. The relationship that she immediately tries to instill between and the kids is admirable. There were moments that I kept thinking she should just give up but she remained faithful and her faith definitely persevered. Her name definitely suits her.

I really enjoyed this story and I must say it is a very different type of marriage of convenience as the romance didn't come right away. It was very slow but oh so worth it! I really liked how the author interweaved Spencer's story of forgiveness in here. The change in these characters was very believable and you could relate with some of their struggles which I appreciated it.

Overall I really enjoyed this story and I am looking forwards to reading the rest of the series.

My Rating: 4 Stars/Really Liked it

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. I was not required to post a positive review. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.

About the Author

Born and raised in west Michigan, Sharlene MacLaren attended Spring Arbor University. Upon graduating with an education degree in 1971, she taught second grade for two years, then accepted an invitation to travel internationally for a year with a singing ensemble. After traveling for a year, she returned to her teaching job, then in 1975, she reunited with her childhood sweetheart, and they married that very December. They have raised two lovely daughters, both of whom are now happily married and enjoying their own families. Retired in 2003 after thirty-one years of teaching, Shar loves to read, sing, travel, and spend time with her family—in particular, her adorable grandchildren!

Shar has always enjoyed writing, and her high school classmates eagerly read and passed around her short stories. In the early 2000s, Shar felt God’s call upon her heart to take her writing pleasures a step further, so in 2006, she signed a contract with Whitaker House for her first faith-based novel, Through Every Storm, thereby launching her professional writing career. With more than twenty published novels now gracing store shelves and being sold online, Shar gives God all the glory.
Shar’s novels have won numerous awards. Her Steadfast Heart is her twenty-first novel and the second book in her Hearts of Honor series (after Her Rebel Heart).
Shar has done numerous countrywide book signings and has participated in several interviews on television and radio. She loves to speak for community organizations, libraries, church groups, and women’s conferences. In her church, she is active in women’s ministries, regularly facilitating Bible studies and other events. Shar and her husband, Cecil, live in Spring Lake, Michigan, with their beautiful white collie, Peyton.

Shar loves hearing from her readers. If you wish to contact her as a potential speaker or would simply like to chat with her, please send her an e-mail at SharleneMacLaren@Yahoo.com. She will do her best to answer in a timely manner.

More from Sharlene

Faith Haviland swept a few strands of damp hair off her forehead, irritated by how it had escaped the neat bun of this morning. She shoveled more dishes into the sink and set to washing them as fast as possible to prepare for the supper crowd that would soon descend upon Daybreak Diner. It wasn’t a fairytale job by any means, but, alas, it was a job, and many would clamor for it if her Aunt Martha ever hung up a “Help Wanted” sign in the window. Her aunt, who happened to be her father’s younger sister, owned and operated the establishment and often stated her wish for Faith to one day take it over. Faith shuddered at the prospect of telling Martha she’d been entertaining the idea of leaving Columbus. Martha wouldn’t like the news, but Faith couldn’t worry about that. Things had grown too tedious in her hometown, and too many found it their job to remind her of the unfortunate event of her canceled wedding. Add to that the troublesome, if not peculiarly obsessive, behavior of Stuart Porter, and tedious hardly described it. Ever since her fiancé’s departure with her best friend just two weeks before their April 15 wedding day, Mr. Porter had started closing in on her, insisting he would marry her in an instant if she’d simply agree.
For as long as she could recall, the man had outwardly admired her, even though she had done nothing to encourage it. Nothing about him appealed to her. First, he didn’t serve the Lord; second, he was an obsessive drinker; third, he came off as pushy and persistent; and finally, he resembled a goose with his nose sticking out like a beak. Not that looks meant all that much—goodness, she didn’t consider herself any major prize—but it was all the other things thrown in. The man was almost twenty years older than she and widowed to boot. At least, that was the rumor anyway. No one had really known his wife, only that she was there one day and gone the next. Some said she’d died, and others said she’d left him for another man. Whatever the case, it’d been a mysterious event that few knew anything about, and if they did, no one discussed it much, probably mostly from lack of caring.