A Place in His Heart by Rebecca DeMarino

She could cross an ocean, but could she ever win his heart?

        Anglican Mary Langton longs to marry for love. Left at the altar and disgraced in her small hamlet, she is being pressured to marry the eligible son of the London milliner. Puritan Barnabas Horton still grieves the loss of his beloved wife, but he knows his two young sons need a mother.

        With tender hearts, Mary and Barnabas take a leap of faith and wed. But when Barnabas’s secret plans to move his family to the New World to escape persecution come to light, Mary’s world is upended. How could she possibly leave her papa and her dear sister?

        And will she ever reach the secret places of her husband’s broken heart?

        A Place in His Heart is the only book I have ever read by Rebecca DeMarino, so I wasn’t sure what to expect going in. Let me just say, considering the fact that this was her first published novel, I was pleasantly surprised. Whenever I find a new author, I either fear that their works will bother me to such a degree that I cannot finish the book, or feel that they will become one of my new favorite writers (let me be clear that I rarely ever find novels that I cannot finish). Clearly I am a little silly for going from one extreme to the other, but I do very often find new authors I love simply by reading one of their books. However, this was not one of those times. I did enjoy this novel, but there were a few things about it that I could not ignore.

        One of which is the fact that it was very slow moving. Not much happened in the middle part of this novel, though it covered a span of more than ten years. I felt like many of the scenes added nothing to the story and were purely filler, and that disappointed me greatly. The main theme of this novel was a great idea, but I just am not sure it was well executed. On the other hand, Rebecca’s facts were impeccable. I could tell she spent hours researching for this story.

        Like I’ve said before, I hate writing bad reviews, so I’m a bit at war with myself. Although, I’m not sure if this could qualify as a bad review. I mean, I am giving it four bookshelves. I just felt a little lost in the monotony of the story, especially as it was a bit repetitive. I am still looking forward to the second novel in this series, however, so I would say this is a worthy read. Just a bit off for my tastes. Fortunately I still was able to enjoy it, and you just might too!

        Happy reading!

Pick up a copy of this book here.

All credit for the italicized synopsis goes to Rebecca DeMarino and her publishers.