Review: This Heart of Mine – Brenda Novak

Elizabeth’s Thoughts

I have to confess to being a little nervous when I started this book. I have enjoyed the previous entries of the Whiskey Creek series and I wasn’t sure how I felt about Phoenix being a heroine. While I haven’t read all of the books in the series (I want too), I have read enough to know the back ground of Phoenix’s situation and that made me leery of her.

It didn’t take me long to discover that I really liked Phoenix! She’s had a raw deal, but is willing to put up with absolutely anything to get to know her son, Jacob. I appreciated that Phoenix’s focus was on building lasting relationships with both her mother and son and that she tried to avoid anything romantic with Riley, Jacob’s father.

Riley is a good guy and hard not to like. It doesn’t take him long to figure out that he’s been unfair to Phoenix and in the process of supporting his son’s getting to know her, he figures out his own feelings. This is a couple that you definitely root for throughout the book.

There is an element of “too good to be true” in the Phoenix-Riley-Jacob relationship and interactions, but it works in the context of the story. The big conflict in the book is Phoenix and Riley vs outside forces and Ms. Novak did a great job with handling it. We get the expected happy ending, but it isn’t exactly perfect and that’s what makes it just right for the story.

Overall, This Heart of Mine is a well written and strong entry into the Whiskey Creek Series. It also works well as a stand-alone novel. The characters from previous Whiskey Creek stories make an appearance in the book, but are not central to the action.