This week's Blog Tour Tuesday features
A Heart on Hold
by Sara Barnard
Book
Description:
Charlotte Adamsland is separated from her husband, Sanderson
Redding, the day after their marriage. A captain in the Confederate Army,
Sanderson must return to his unit, leaving Charlotte alone on their Arkansas
homestead to fend for herself. Yankees camp around the town of Altrose,
bringing their own kind of lawless danger. And then, one dark day, a Southern
soldier arrives with terrible news…Sanderson has been killed trying to escape a
Yankee prison.
Sanderson has found salvation and hell in a single turn of events he could never have imagined—his much-younger brother, Jackson, is his Yankee guard. When Jackson’s cruel commanding officer learns of the brothers’ family ties, he devises a wicked plan to see them both dead. Jackson is determined to get his brother to safety—but a last-minute betrayal by another prisoner could be the death of both brothers.
Charlotte can’t accept the news of Sanderson’s death—he promised to come back to her. She heads north armed with only her faith in God and her beloved horse to bring her love home—one way or the other. Will she be able to rescue him? Or will her love remained locked forever in A HEART ON HOLD…
Sanderson has found salvation and hell in a single turn of events he could never have imagined—his much-younger brother, Jackson, is his Yankee guard. When Jackson’s cruel commanding officer learns of the brothers’ family ties, he devises a wicked plan to see them both dead. Jackson is determined to get his brother to safety—but a last-minute betrayal by another prisoner could be the death of both brothers.
Charlotte can’t accept the news of Sanderson’s death—he promised to come back to her. She heads north armed with only her faith in God and her beloved horse to bring her love home—one way or the other. Will she be able to rescue him? Or will her love remained locked forever in A HEART ON HOLD…
Book Review by Zina Abbott:
I love Civil War novels, and was anxious to read this one. Sanderson, Charlotte and others in the book were great characters--well written, not cookie cutter personalities. Like many sweethearts in their time, Sanderson and Charlotte planned to wed, but the war that intruded on their lives threatened to put everything on hold. The first part tells of the conflicts they faced and their decision before Sanderson went off to war fighting for the South.
Later, Sanderson came to the aid of some of his men. It almost cost him his life. But instead of being killed, his Union assailant recognized him. It was Jackson, his younger brother who had stayed in the north with a relative instead of returning to Arkansas with Sanderson.
Then the story moved to the second section which starts with definitions of Romany (gypsy) words. I thought, what? Gypsies in the Civil War? What is happening here? I'm so happy I patiently kept reading until I found the connection and watched as another great group of characters were introduced and another sweet romance evolved. (I was also happy that list of definitions had been included.) Unfortunately, disease, the killer that took as many if not more lives than bullets in this war struck the gypsy community. As for Sanderson, he soon learned not only are all opponents not his enemy, not all those fighting on the same side are his friends. I was quite impressed with how the author wrote the conclusion of this section as both Jackson and Sanderson faced death from the same Union prison camp officer.
In the last section, this story once again returned to Charlotte who searched for Sanderson in spite of the challenges of avoiding those who took advantage of war to pursue criminal activity. Some characters Charlotte and Sanderson met as they travel they had crossed paths with more than once, but the way Charlotte and Sanderson seem to almost cross paths without meeting kept me guessing if they would ever reconnect. I loved the ending.
This is a sweet romance. It exposes some gritty aspects of the reality of war. I highly recommend the book.
I love Civil War novels, and was anxious to read this one. Sanderson, Charlotte and others in the book were great characters--well written, not cookie cutter personalities. Like many sweethearts in their time, Sanderson and Charlotte planned to wed, but the war that intruded on their lives threatened to put everything on hold. The first part tells of the conflicts they faced and their decision before Sanderson went off to war fighting for the South.
Later, Sanderson came to the aid of some of his men. It almost cost him his life. But instead of being killed, his Union assailant recognized him. It was Jackson, his younger brother who had stayed in the north with a relative instead of returning to Arkansas with Sanderson.
Then the story moved to the second section which starts with definitions of Romany (gypsy) words. I thought, what? Gypsies in the Civil War? What is happening here? I'm so happy I patiently kept reading until I found the connection and watched as another great group of characters were introduced and another sweet romance evolved. (I was also happy that list of definitions had been included.) Unfortunately, disease, the killer that took as many if not more lives than bullets in this war struck the gypsy community. As for Sanderson, he soon learned not only are all opponents not his enemy, not all those fighting on the same side are his friends. I was quite impressed with how the author wrote the conclusion of this section as both Jackson and Sanderson faced death from the same Union prison camp officer.
In the last section, this story once again returned to Charlotte who searched for Sanderson in spite of the challenges of avoiding those who took advantage of war to pursue criminal activity. Some characters Charlotte and Sanderson met as they travel they had crossed paths with more than once, but the way Charlotte and Sanderson seem to almost cross paths without meeting kept me guessing if they would ever reconnect. I loved the ending.
This is a sweet romance. It exposes some gritty aspects of the reality of war. I highly recommend the book.
You may purchase this book on Amazon by CLICKING HERE.
About the Author:
Sara Barnard is mother to four beautiful children, daughter
to a pair of awesome parents who have become two of her best friends over the
years, wife to a handsome Texan, student to her Master's of Arts in European
History classes, and friend to many. Oh, she writes some, too.
Sara began writing in the third grade, but became serious
about becoming published after watching Eclipse with her friend, Rochelle.
Rochelle mentioned that Ms. Meyer was a housewife with many children, so Sara
decided that since she was back home while her husband was deployed, she would
put pen to paper and see what happened. Wow. She started writing in 2009 and
hasn't stopped since! This has led to her finding her publisher, 5 Prince
Publishing, and her awesome Warrior Princess editor!
Her debut novel, A Heart on Hold, was published in 2012 and
quickly became a series. Books 2 and 3, A Heart Broken and A Heart at Home,
were published in January 2013 and June 2013 respectively, with book 4, A Heart
Forever Wild, forthcoming! Book 1, A Heart on Hold, made it to the top three
finalists for the best of 2012 American Historical RONE award and became an
Amazon bestseller! Book 2, A Heart Broken, appears to be following in the same
path. On a different note, set to release in November is Sara's debut Amish
romance novella, Rebekah's Quilt.
Author Links:
Please tweet this blog post:
Charlotte can’t accept the news of Sanderson’s death-A HEART ON HOLD @TheSaraBarnard #SweetAmerSweethearts http://bit.ly/1MU9FUx
Charlotte can’t accept the news of Sanderson’s death-A HEART ON HOLD @TheSaraBarnard #SweetAmerSweethearts http://bit.ly/1MU9FUx
I'm so glad you enjoyed this book Zina! This one is very near and dear to my heart. I am so happy that it touched yours as well!
ReplyDeleteI am thrilled more and more people are learning of this book. Keep up the good work Sara. Doris
ReplyDeleteThank you Doris :-) I appreciate y'all a much!!
DeleteSo much lol thank goodness my computer has spellcheck, unlike this iPhone!!
DeleteWell...this sounds rather fascinating! Gypsies in the Civil War? That is a twist for me. Best wishes on your continued success Sara!
ReplyDeleteThank you Kathryn! I hope you enjoy this book if you get a chance to pick it up :-) it is the first of four in the Everlasting Heart series!
DeleteI'm late to this party but had to say, once I started reading this book, I said, I've read this before. You know what? I reread the whole thing again--though I didn't have the time to do a reread, but I enjoyed it all over again just as much. Great job, Sara. I'll now of course have to get the others--after I finish this Medieval anthol. as deadline is approaching.Wishing you much success.
ReplyDelete