Book Review: Hearts Made Whole

Hearts Made Whole by Jody Hedlund is book two in the Beacons of Hope series. The book is a historical fiction novel set in 1865 in Windmill Point, Michigan. Caroline Taylor has been running the Windmill Point Lighthouse on her own, while caring for her younger siblings, after the death of her father. The lighthouse inspector does not believe a woman can or should be running the lighthouse, a fact he makes perfectly clear. He tells Caroline he's assigned the lighthouse keeper job to someone new and she and her family must vacate the home adjacent to the lighthouse immediately. Ryan Chambers is a Civil War veteran who's been assigned the position of lighthouse keeper. He arrives at the lighthouse before Caroline has left, much to her surprise and chagrin. The reality is, Ryan needs Caroline's help to run the lighthouse, so she stays on to assist as he heals from the war and learns how to do the job - which they both desperately need and want.

This historical fiction novel is predictable in some ways, but there were also a number of plot twists as well. The romance aspect between the characters is somewhat what I expected, but the path it took was different than I anticipated. There were also villains in the novel and those individuals were unexpected as well. I did feel that there were more references to the physical aspect of the relationship, which might be more intense for a younger reader (maybe a teen). Overall, I thought this was a solid historical fiction title.

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