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Title: Heart of the Ocean
Author: Heather B. Moore
Release Date: January 2nd 2013
Publisher: Mirror Press
A dark secret . . . a grieving ghost . . . a handsome stranger . . .
What more could Eliza Robinson want?
Except for maybe her life.
In Heather B. Moore’s enthralling 1840’s historical romance, Heart of the Ocean, Eliza Robinson has turned down the very pretentious Mr. Thomas Beesley’s marriage proposal. As a business partner of Eliza’s father, Thomas quickly discredits the family and brings disgrace to the Robinson name.
While her father scrambles to restore his good name in New York City, Eliza flees to the remote Puritan town of Maybrook to stay with her Aunt Maeve. Although relieved to be away from all- things-male and unforgiving gossip columns, odd things start to happen to Eliza, and she is plagued by a ghostly voice. Her aunt’s explanation? That Eliza is being haunted by a woman who died of a broken heart twenty years ago.
After Aunt Maeve is tragically killed, Eliza's life is put in danger as she tries to uncover the mystery of her aunt's death. She encounters Jonathan Porter in Maybrook, whose presence in the town seems suspicious, yet she finds herself drawn to him. When she discovers that Jonathan’s dark secrets may be the link between the dead woman who haunts her and her aunt’s murderer, Eliza realizes that Jonathan is the one man she should never trust.
Within my first few pages of reading, Heart of the Ocean already had me. I was anxious to know more about Eliza's life and the place where her parents had planned to hide her until the controversy she'd left in New York had died down.
The setting was one of the strong points of this novel; Maybrook was definitely a breath of fresh air through the pages. I found it very easy to picture the cold, biting wind, the constant lull of the waves crashing against the cliffs, and even the astonishingly conservative and simple-minded Puritans who lived in it. The place lent more eerie factor to the already-creepy voice that began to haunt Eliza on just her first day there.
If I were Eliza, I would've left Maybrook the second I was sure that voice wasn't just in my head, so I certainly admired how she faced it: bravely, though not quite carefully and thought-out, which delivered her to a rather perilous situation. What disappointed me more was when it happened not just once.
Apart from Eliza, there were also a lot of other colorful characters, each very different on their own. They definitely added to the overall fun of reading this book and even their stories were wrapped up by the last page - well, except for this one guy. My heart goest to thee, Nathaniel... (Excuse me if I messed that up, but I never bothered to learn that era of English, lol.)
Anyway, aside from doing a great job of putting to paper the atmosphere of the 1800's, the author also managed to perfectly mix mystery, suspense, paranormal, and romance, all of which were completely resolved in the ending that I seriously prayed for and had me tearing up. Just a few tears... yep... *hides*
MY FAVORITE PART was, well, the ending! XD
RATING:
About the author:
Heather B. Moore is the award-winning author of ten novels, two inspirational non-fiction books, and two anthologies, including The Newport Ladies Book Club Series, A Timeless Romance Anthology, and Christ's Gifts to Women (co-authored by Angela Eschler).
Her historical fiction is published under the pen name H.B. Moore. She is the two-time recipient of Best of State in Literary Fiction, two-time Whitney Award Winner, and two-time Golden Quill Winner for Best Novel. Her most recent historical novel under H.B. Moore is Daughters of Jared (2012 LUW Gold Award of Excellence & 2012 LUW Best Book Trailer).
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