The Hesitant Heiress by Dawn Crandall ~ Book Review + Giveaway

 

About the Book

Book:  The Hesitant Heiress

Series: The Everstone Chronicles, Book 1
Author: Dawn Crandall
Genre: Christian Historical  Romance

Publisher: Whitaker House

Pages: 320

After being unjustly expelled from the Boston Conservatory of Music, Amaryllis Brigham sees her dreams of founding a music academy in her hometown of Seattle, Washington, disappearing before her very eyes. Now, the only way to achieve her goal comes with high stakes for someone set on avoiding men as much as possible: Marry within the year to inherit the immense fortune of her estranged grandmother. Amaryllis reluctantly moves in to her aunt’s Boston home and rubs shoulders with fashionable society. Despite her own misgivings, she soon finds herself quickly falling in love with the most unlikely of men–Nathan Everstone, the envy of every eligible female, whose father has haunted her dreams for the decade following her mother’s tragic death. However, Nathan turns out to be much more than he seems…and everything she never knew she wanted. But just as everything Amaryllis has recently hoped for comes to fruition, it all falls apart when she finds that the real culprit who has been managing her life isn’t who she thought at all.

 

Click here to get your copy!

 

My Thoughts

Oh this story!! I absolutely loved it! This book definitely gave me Pride and Prejudice vibes and I was all for it! It was so descriptive and draws you in from the very beginning! The characters are all likeable and you can't help but fall in love with them. It definitely had a little mystery intertwined in it but what drew me the most was the romance!! (seriously it was amazing!!) 

This book has many stories going on as we do get introduced to lots of characters that I am sure we will meet in the following books but this one  is all about Amyrillis, a young woman who has lost her mother, is estranged from her father and her only desire is to open up a music school in her beloved Whidbey Island. She gets kicked out of the Boston Conservatory of Music for reasons that she doesn't quite understand but you do find out in the story!! Her Aunt Claudine takes her in and announces to her that she has a large inheritance coming to her but the only caveat is that she must get married in order to obtain it. As you can imagine it all goes topsy-turvy from there. 

Let's talk about Aunt Claudine for a second, she was comical in the way she did things. She definitely is pushy but not in a mean way. She truly made things complicated in trying to set Amyrillys up and I was all for it especially when she has Nathan Everstone come and stay with them! (Needless to say I was rejoicing about this!) Let's just say that Nathan sounds heart-throbbingly (I may have made that word up) dreamy!! 

The relationship between Amyrillis and Nathan is comical. She is definitely playing hard to get without even realizing it. I mean he is bold in his advances and she is taken with him but will not budge on releasing her heart all because she believes her aunt has put him to it and because of his last name! (I won't give too much because you need to read the story!)

I will not spoil it for you but this book was quite lovely and the theme of forgiveness and redemption are very clear as you are reading it. I honestly did not know what to expect when I first received this book but to say I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement. I loved this story. The author truly captivated me with her writing and had me wanting more. I cannot wait to read more of the series as I have added all of these to my TBR list. I need to know what happens to Lawry, Meredyth and the rest of the Everstone's!

Oh Ms. Crandall if you ever read this I must know.... when you wrote this who did you picture for Nathan's character? I simply must know!

My Rating; 5 Stars/Absolutely Loved it!!

Favorite Musings/Quotes:

"He was able to captivate me so easily, and I had no idea how he did it. Or why."

"I've done so many things in my life that I regret. I love you, but I know I hardly deserve you. True, I didn't know you back then. Well, I knew your name, but I didn't know you were...her. The one I should have been waiting for all along."

Swoonworthy Level: 💗💗💗💗💗

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

About the Author

Dawn Crandall’s debut Gilded Age Victorian romance, The Hesitant Heiress, was a 2015 ACFW Carol award finalist in the debut category and received the 2015 Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, the 2015 Write Touch Reader’s Choice Award and the 2015 Romancing the Novel Reader’s Choice Award. Her follow-up novel, The Bound Heart, received the 2016 Laurel Award from Clash of the Titles. Dawn earned a BA in Christian Education from Taylor University. She’s been balancing books and babies lately as her two sons were both born as the four books of her Everstone Chronicles series were being released from Whitaker House from 2014 to 2016. Dawn lives with her husband and two young sons on a hobby farm in her hometown in northeast Indiana.

 

More from Dawn

Some things just float your boat, you know? What are some of yours? I’m thinking, for many of you, having piles of awesome newly released novels to read is one of those things. Do you remember what it was that you loved to do more than anything else… when you were a kid? Well, for me, at least, it hasn’t changed much. I remember being in third grade and KNOWING that I was meant to write books. But having ADD in the 80’s and feeling like I was a pretty lousy student through most of my school years sort of put my dreams of being a published author in the category of “pipe dream”. Then during my senior year of college, I had one glorious spring break week of creative thinking, and I came up with the name of the heroine I would (hopefully) write someday—Amaryllis Brigham. And I also came up with the last name of the hero, and the family I would write a series about—the Everstones.

Five years after I graduated from college, I got married. And because I had lots of extra time at that point, I decided to check out some books about character development from the library. Which was the first clue to my husband that I wanted to write a novel. Yes, I hadn’t even told him! Then another five years went by while I worked full time at a daycare. I had definitely thought more about writing it by then, but I didn’t really know how to start.

But then I did. At the age of 32, during January 2010, I finally started writing The Hesitant Heiress. I just dove in, half planned and half one-chapter-at-a-time. I love history so much, when I’m doing research the world as it was just comes to life in my imagination and the story possibilities are endless! And really, I wrote Nathan and Amaryllis’s story for myself—for the joy of writing! Creating story, I found, was my favorite hobby beyond reading them! I did have a dream once during the two year process of writing THH, and I very vaguely saw a cover face out on a shelf. But again, to me it seemed like an impossibility, and I just kept focused on the joy I attained from writing it. If you would have told me back then that that first novel I loved writing would be traditionally published and on the market two and a half years after I finished writing it, I would have laughed in your face! And then, when I first saw Amaryllis on the cover of that first book in my series of five… I thought back to the dream I had that one time, and she was it. The way Amaryllis Brigham is situated on the cover of my published novel was very similar to the vague book cover of my dream. God had done it; He had taken the biggest desire of my life, given me a dream even when I was too cautious to hope, and He had made it a possibility.

Blog Stops

Locks, Hooks and Books, February 11

Worthy2Read, February 11

Inklings and notions, February 12

Mia Reads, February 12

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, February 13

Labor Not in Vain, February 13

A Baker’s Perspective, February 14

deb’s Book Review, February 14

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, February 15

Rachael’s Inkwell, February 15

Rebecca Tews, February 16

Mypreciousbitsandmusings, February 16

Texas Book-aholic, February 17

Connie’s History Classroom, February 18

Blogging With Carol, February 18

A Modern Day Fairy Tale, February 19

Bliss, Books and Jewels, February 19

Musings of a Sassy Bookish Mama, February 20

Stephanie’s Life of Determination, February 20

For Him and My Family, February 21

Simple Harvest Reads, February 22 (Guest Review from Mindy Houng)

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, February 22

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, February 23

Beauty in the Binding, February 23

Hallie Reads, February 24

Guild Master, February 24

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Dawn is giving away the grand prize package of the complete Everstone Chronicles series in paperback and a $50 Amazon gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/10744/the-hesitant-heiress-celebration-tour-giveaway