Review: Defending Hearts by Shannon Stacey

In Defending Hearts, we meet Alex and Gretchen when he returns to his hometown a little burnt out from his photojournalism job and rents a room from her and her grandmother. This is a sweet story and is as much about how Alex and Gretchen grow as people as it is about them as a couple. Due to the living arrangements, these two do not have a typical courtship, but they are still fun to watch.

The supporting cast isn’t large, but they all play a part in how Alex and Gretchen come together. I loved Ida, Gretchen’s grandmother. If not for her, I don’t think either of them would have ever gotten the ball rolling. The Coach was also a key secondary character who gave Alex some great advise.

There are a couple of awkward places in the story. One, was the first time Alex and Gretchen were intimate. I think anyone reading the story would know its coming, but there didn’t seem to be any kind of real fore play to ease them (and the reader) into the change of relationship. The other again happend while they having a sexy moment and Alex’s demeanor seemed out of character. It almost seemed that the author wasn’t comfortable writing those particular scenes. These moments stood out to me because the rest of the story flowed so well.

Defending Hearts is the second book in Stacey’s Boys of Fall series, but it does very well on it’s own. There is some cross over with the main characters from the first book and the heroine for book three, but it does not influence the story here. Overall, this was an enjoyable book and I will gladly come back and visit Stillwater Mills again.