Starving Hearts by Janine Mendenhall

Thursday, February 28, 2019



Genre: Historical Romance

♥♥♥ Three hearts out of five= liked it

Book one in the Triangular Trade Trilogy


Carol Award Finalist
Selah Award Finalist

"Not only is this a delightful regency romance but it is also suspense filled mystery of the very best kind." ~ Amazon review

"The author did a great job, maybe too great a job, describing the slave scenes. Spine tingling and suspenseful. I was biting my nails throughout much of this book." ~ Amazon review

Plagued by nightmares, Annette yearns to find her anonymous rescuer — the man who saved her life from a near deadly assault. Deep inside she is starving for companionship and a mutually respectful relationship. When Mr. Peter Adsley, an abolitionist pastor dealing with his own emotional baggage, agrees to a clandestine meeting, the event appears providential. But self-doubt, deception, and the schemes of a mutual enemy threaten to keep the pair apart. A phantom adversary will stop at nothing to win Annette’s dowry for himself, even if it means killing Peter.

Description from publisher.


Review:


Despite restrictions to women of the era, Annette Chetwynd (our heroine in Starving Hearts)  is her own person, who struggles with what I assume is the then-unknown disease of diabetes. She doesn't let it control her, though- she still lives her life and mainly does what she wants. Peter is more serious, and they connect over a mutual desire to do more in life than discuss tea parties and horse races. 

Starving Hearts is a good first novel for Janine Mendenhall. The romance is there, the characters have you rooting for them, the bad guy is pretty believable and realistic, and the plot had me reading more. It also surprised me- she has a good mind for unexpected endings and turns of plot- not unlike Jane Austen, in a way. The slave trading parts also seemed really realistic, with none of it sugar-coated. Janine Mendenhall has a fresh, good writing style that proves she will probably be releasing more books and series in the future.

While the story could be bumpy at times, Janine Mendenhall is a promising author with a gift and heart for encouraging others through storytelling. 

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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