Thursday, October 5, 2017

Review Catch Up Marathon: To Wager Her Heart

 


Zondervan; 374 pages; $15.99; Amazon
As I promised yesterday, I will catch up on all my needs-to-be-reviewed books this month. Today, I'm reviewing To Wager Her Heart: A Belle Meade Plantation Novel by USA Today Bestselling Author Tamera Alexander. Technically, I haven't had the book very long, but I'm still including it as a "Review Catch Up Marathon!" post.

As you can probably tell by the cover art, To Wager Her Heart is a historical romance. It's set in Nashville, Tennessee during the year 1871, and centers mostly on two characters - Sylas Rutledge and Alexandra Jamison.

Sylas, a enx-gambler from Colorado Territory, is the new owner of the Northwest Line Railroad. While it's not exactly his dream job, he's mostly there to clear his father's name, who's blamed for a deadly train accident. To fit in with Nashville's high society, he enlists Alexandra Jamison to tutor him to become a gentleman.

Despite the fact her family is well respected around Nashville, many people turns the other cheek towards Alexandra, mostly due to the fact that she's a teacher at Fisk University, the first freedmen's university in the United States.

Everything goes fine between Sylas and Alexandra, well, until he learns that her fiance was killed in the exact same train accident that his father was involved in. I guess you can things get a little awkward from there.

Final Thoughts

For some reason or another, I could of sworn this novel was a young adult book when I signed up to review it through BookLook. Only until I actually started reading it that I realized it was written for adults, though the book is clean-cut, so there is nothing wrong with young adults reading it. 

Anyhow, I wanted to read the novel for two reasons:

1. I recognized the author's name.
2. The cover art is pretty.

I was hooked to the storytelling by the end of page one! Tamera, the author, has a wonderful way with words. She works her writing magic by crafting intelligent, likeable characters, gripping descriptions, and lively dialogue. I like how she blends in historical settings and facts into a fictional story. There are "discussion questions" at the very back of the book, which would be great to use for a book club. Also, there's a recipe for Alexander's Chocolate Chess Pie!

Overall, I ended up loving To Wager Her Heart. Despite it's nearly 400 pages, I read it pretty quickly. I highly recommend the novel to others.



*Note - I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own.



About the Author

Tamera Alexander is USA Today bestselling novelist whose deeply drawn characters, though-provoking plots, and poignant prose resonate with readers worldwide. She and her husband make their home in Nashville, not far from Belle Meade Plantation.

Learn more about Tamera at TameraAlexander.com.

No comments:

Post a Comment

I adore reading reader feedback! I will, however, remove all spam and pointless comments.

Please take note that I have the right to delete comments from this site. Please only post constructive and respectful feedback.