Book Review: A Heart Adrift by Laura Frantz

About the Book:

It is 1755, and the threat of war with France looms over colonial York, Virginia. Chocolatier Esmée Shaw is fighting her own battle of the heart. Having reached her twenty-eighth birthday, she is reconciled to life alone after a decade-old failed love affair from which she's never quite recovered. But she longs to find something worthwhile to do with her life.

Captain Henri Lennox has returned to port after a lengthy absence, intent on completing the lighthouse in the dangerous Chesapeake Bay, a dream he once shared with Esmée. But when the colonial government asks him to lead a secret naval expedition against the French, his future is plunged into uncertainty.

Can Esmée and Henri's shared vision and dedication to the colonial cause heal the wounds of the past and reunite them?

Read an excerpt from A Heart Adrift on the publisher's website.

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My Thoughts:

I read A Heart Adrift by Laura Frantz twice before writing this review. I enjoyed the novel more the second time and came away with the same conclusions. Laura Frantz is a master wordsmith. The lyrical narrative amazed me with its beauty and had me adding words like “mayhap” and “ken” to my daily vocabulary. The plot in A Heart Adrift held my attention, even as it meandered. Chapters 69-73 felt like a set up for another book featuring certain characters from this novel (rumored to be a 2024 release). With excellent historical details of Colonial Virginia, I learned much about this time in history and felt immersed in the setting.

A Heart Adrift by Laura Frantz rekindled my love for hot chocolate. Almost every day since reading this book, I’ve had a cup. Though my chocolate comes out of a pack, I enjoyed reading about Esmée’s chocolate confections and preferred hot cocoa recipe. Like Captain Lennox’s weakness for chocolate, a good romance can make me melt and the romantic tension in A Heart Adrift had me flipping pages to see how the romance would unfurl. The way the reunion came about disappointed me a bit, but Henri and Esmée still made a lovely couple.

A Heart Adrift is not my favorite novel by Laura Frantz, but I’m still a fan of this author and I’m glad I gave it a try. Clean romance readers with a taste for chocolate, beautiful writing, and historical settings will likely enjoy A Heart Adrift by Laura Frantz.

 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I was provided a copy of this book by the author or publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.