“Miss Harriet Hancock enjoys playing the role of eccentric heiress, using her wealth and influence to cleverly and anonymously better the lives of those in Newmarket. Though she keeps people at a distance to protect a years-old secret, when her friend pleads for help on a personal project, Harriet can't resist.
Stable hand Jonas Fitzroy would do anything for his twin sister, even if it means seeking out the woman whose meddling ways have made him wary and suspicious. The last thing he expects is for Miss Hancock to request his help in writing a book. Intent on revealing her underlying plan, Jonas agrees.
As they work together, an unexpected friendship forms. But when things for once don't go according to Harriet's plan, she's left wondering if good intentions might not be enough. Is there a way to mend the broken pieces of her life? And will Jonas give her another chance at his heart?”
Series: Book #3 in the “Hearts on the Heath” trilogy. Reviews of Book #1 Here! and Book #2 Here!
Spiritual Content- Ephesians 1:7-10 is referenced in the dedication; Many Scriptures are quoted, mentioned, & discussed (at the end of the book, there is a Scripture References section); Prayers; Talks about God; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Jonas often quotes Scriptures and while attributes Bible verses to everything because “it helped keep his own life grounded”, he wonders if he has “inadvertently taken to using them as weapons against other people” and even damaged someone else’s faith; Harriet says that she could “believe in a God” like Jonas describes (a God that doesn’t “weigh people by their birth or accomplishments or money”; This isn’t brought up again nor her comment implying that she doesn’t currently believe in God, but does imply with a few other thoughts that Harriet has had a work-based salvation thought-process); Jonas & Harriet have a discussion on which comes first, the verse or the application (Jonas focuses more on the verse coming first and then the application, but Harriet says that it hasn’t always been that way for people because “they didn’t always have the Bible. Someone had to be guided through living it first”; Jonas feels like something was off with that logic, but what’s sure what it was); *Spoiler* Jonas realizes towards the end that the Bible is for giving a complete picture of God with all of it’s books and verses, and he's been picking it apart and “using single verses as solitary guideposts” and ought to be considering the Bible as a whole *End of Spoiler*; Harriet tries to read the Bible and discovers that “she couldn’t stand to read more than a few verses at a time”, which makes her think that she still has a long way to go, but believes that God doesn’t requires everyone to be a scholar; Jonas accuses Harriet of playing God by thinking she knows what’s best for everyone; Mentions of God, His plans, & trusting Him; Mentions of prayers, praying, thanking God, & blessings over food; Mentions of Bibles & Bible reading; Mentions of those & events in the Bible; Mentions of churches, church going, services, sermons, hymns, & vicars; A few mentions of Christians; A few mentions of miracles; A couple mentions of St. Patrick;
*Note: Mentions of horses that are named Pandora & Apollo; Mentions of flipping a coin for decision making (Jonas and Harriet do this at the end a couple of times); A mention of Jonas “meditating” on Bible verses; A mention of luck.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘blasted’, a ‘darned’, a form of ‘dumb’, a ‘stuff it’ (shut up), a ‘stupid’, and two forms of ‘drat’; Sarcasm & Eye rolling; Pain & Injuries (up to semi-detailed); Seeing an ill family member & expecting the worse (up to semi-detailed); Jonas recalls & has a nightmare of a traumatic injury where his horse was also injured and had to be shot (up to semi-detailed on most details, barely-above-not-detailed on the horse parts); Harriet tells little lies & has also been lying to her father for years and feels guilt over it, but deems it necessary for him to be proud of her (he wants her to travel and see the world since her mother and grandmother weren’t able to do that & make a name for herself); Harriet also keeps Jonas’ involvement in the letters a secret and lies to him that it’s for a book (thinking that it was “for the greater good, but it was still deception”); In a letter, Harriet’s grandfather told her that she didn’t need to tell her father that she would be with him (and not traveling as planned and expected, thus keeping a secret from a parent); Jonas thinks about altering the truth (lying) at one point, but does not; Harriet & Jonas drinks sherry at dinners (her twice and him once) & Jonas has ale at a gathering; Many mentions of lies, lying, liars, deceit, & manipulation; Mentions of deaths of family members (Jonas’ parents and Harriet’s mother and grandparents); Mentions of the possibility of someone being trampled by a carriage & a carriage accident; Mentions of injuries, pain, & an accident (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of alcohol, drinking, & a pub; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of jealousy (Harriet over her friends getting married and having children); A few mentions of potential injuries & events (a fire, an injured horse, & someone not stabbing himself); A couple mentions of wars; A mention of a metal asylum.
Sexual Content- Two scenes of nearness that could have led to kissing (more so nearness and thinking about it than an interrupted kiss, up to semi-detailed); A barely-above-not-detailed kiss and two detailed kisses; Imaging/Wanting to kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Dancing, Close Nearness, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Blushes & Winks; Noticing & Staring (including at another’s lips, her foot, & his calf and leg hair, up to semi-detailed); Harriet & Jonas spend a lot of time alone together in her library and once in her private parlor (Jonas is mostly of the belief that it’s okay because of his low social standing); Talks about kisses & kissing (between Harriet and her female friends); Mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of flirting; Mentions of reputations & chaperones; A couple mentions of an illegitimate son; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
*Note: A few mentions of a mother & child passing away in childbirth; A mention of a young married couple that could become pregnant at “any time”.
-Harriet Hancock, age 29-30
-Jonas Fitzroy, age 23-24
P.O.V. switches between them
Set in 1818 (Prologue in 1817 & Epilogue in 1819)
369 pages
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My personal Rating-
I was concerned going into this book because I wasn’t a big fan of Harriet in book two. I was curious to learn more about Jonas, though, so I decided to give it a try since I already owned the book. I did like that the first little bit of this book covered the final little bit of the prior book but from Jonas‘ perspective. It was really hard for me to get into this book else wise though and I truly made myself finish it to count it for my Goodreads reading challenge. Content wise, it was definitely on the cleaner side, but I had different issues with this book.
I think it’s interesting the difference between how Harriet looks at telling lies as potentially helping another by giving them what they think they want to hear or what will make them feel better, and then there’s Jonas who is honest opinion is that they are still lies and can cause someone to second-guess everything they discussed with her before. I think this was my main reason for not liking Harriet—her lying. I wish she could have been honest with her friends, but especially to her father. I found this element of the book to be annoying, but also sad because of her missing out on being with her father.
I think their arguing was supposed to be like cute banter, but I just found it to be annoying. There’s so much of “yes” “no” “yes” “no” “yes” “no” that I was kind of losing my mind at times. Their relationship and how they spent so much time together just felt so unrealistic. Even if he is “a lower status” than her, I feel like there still would be problems of them being alone together in this time period. I never cheered for them as a couple they felt too different and their outlook on life being too different to be compatible. The only part I truly cheered at was when Jonas gave her a dressing down on how she manipulates and tries to change others for her what she thinks is best for them.
Harriet and Sophia were both concerned about Jonas’ talent being wasted, but there’s a fine line between encouraging someone’s talents and pushing them to apply themself to receive recognition and/or a higher standing for the talents. Harriet definitely bordered on the latter.
I appreciate it towards the end that Jonas realizes that he’s been taking different verses out of context and applying them to his situation at the moment, when he should have been noticing the answer that’s within all the different parts of scriptures, not just one that seems to fit. That was bothering me the more the book went on, despite enjoying seeing the faith content, it made him feel very structured in his faith…not a personal connection to God, if that makes sense.
I unfortunately didn’t love this one because of Harriet, her lies, and not cheering for them as a couple. It just felt so unrealistic. It was really hard for me to get into this book and I truly made myself finish it to count it for my Goodreads reading challenge.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
