Genre: Historical Romance
Rating: ♥♥ Two out of five hearts= okay
Book two in the Triangular Trade Trilogy
Miss Mary Hope Adsley always considered herself to be the sensible one. But now, her sensibilities are unraveling around a man she thought she knew. After he attempted to marry her best friend—for money, no less—authorities charge Sir Steven Likebridge with masquerading as a gentleman and abduction. With his execution days away, Mary Hope desperately seeks to learn the truth about the man she loves.
Will the truth turn out to be worse than his lies?
Description from publisher.
Description from publisher.
Review:
Never Past Hope continues right where Starving Hearts (book one) left off, throwing you right into the emotions of the last one.We get to know more about Mary Hope, Peter's sister in this one, as she's the heroine, and I enjoyed learning more about her and getting inside her head. Steven, whom she has secretly admired for some time, turned out to be one of my favorite characters.
The fine writing style is still there, as is the story weaving. The details have you imagining the 1795 settings and predicaments as you read. A bit of advice, though- don't read Never Past Hope until you've read Starving Hearts. The multiple characters and settings may confuse you and you won't be as invested in the storyline.
The fine writing style is still there, as is the story weaving. The details have you imagining the 1795 settings and predicaments as you read. A bit of advice, though- don't read Never Past Hope until you've read Starving Hearts. The multiple characters and settings may confuse you and you won't be as invested in the storyline.
Now the cons. Starving Hearts, while it had a lot of inward thoughts and prayer, had enough tension (plus the bad guy's point of view. It was maddening when he began closing in, and I just had to keep reading) and interest to drive me to read more. Never Past Hope, while well-written, felt slow and tended to lag a bit. There was a lot of emphasis on spiritual things and prayer, which I'm not going to say is wrong- I love Mrs. Mendenhall's heart for spreading the Gospel and encouraging others! However, all the inward thoughts took up a lot of pages and took my interest away from what was going on in the story. There were also a few sentences that confused me, and even when I reread them I wasn't sure what was trying to be said.
Also, I felt one character had too quick of a turn-around. The badness of their heart, thoughts and actions seemed to change just too quickly and completely for me. In my thoughts, if you're a new believer, you're going to still think and say different things than what a long-time Christian would, because you're still learning. You haven't had time to read the Bible and find out all that God would like for you to think and say, you've just started and a lot of what your previously said and did is going to be slowly changed and molded. This character just didn't do that- he tended to go from bad to amazing.
I was also a bit startled on first seeing Never Past Hope's cover. The guy on the front didn't fit in- he's obviously not wearing a shirt, making it look a bit more sensual than I would have liked (not trying to be nitpicky, this was my first reaction).
I was also a bit startled on first seeing Never Past Hope's cover. The guy on the front didn't fit in- he's obviously not wearing a shirt, making it look a bit more sensual than I would have liked (not trying to be nitpicky, this was my first reaction).
To bring it all together, Janine Mendenhall is a promising author with a gift and heart for encouraging others through storytelling. I just wasn't as big of a fan of Never Past Hope, as compared with Starving Hearts. While the plot had merit, I also found it a bit lagging. Nevertheless, if you're a fan of historical romance, keep an eye out for this new author. She definitely has a gift.
I received this book from the publisher through Prism Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I received this book from the publisher through Prism Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
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