Heart's Safe Passage Book Review

The Midwives Series

SUMMARY:  One woman takes the treacherous journey towards redemption and love.

     All Phoebe Lee wants out of life is to practice midwifery in Loudon County, Virginia.  But when she refuses to accompany her pregnant sister-in-law to help save her husband from prison during the War of 1812, Phoebe finds herself pressed aboard a British privateer.

     Captain Rafe Docherty promises to get Phoebe's brother-in-law out of prison in exchange for information Rafe needs to exact revenge on the man who destroyed his family.  As he realizes his attraction to Phoebe, she determines to get ashore before her patient goes into labor - and before her own heart is in danger.  But an enemy in their midst threatens to end their plans - and their very lives.

REVIEW:  This book is good and story is great but there are a few things difficult for me.  Good/Great parts:  Phoebe is a widow who has to face the unforgiveness in her heart towards her abusive dead husband when she tries to help Rafe as he searches for the man who had his wife and parents killed.  She is strong and stands up for what she believes, takes care of her sister-in-law Belinda (even though Belinda has her kidnapped, lies about how far along she is in her pregnancy, and is only focused on rescuing her husband), and even takes care of the crew members when they are hurt or injured.  Rafe cares for his daughter and does what he can to make sure she continues her education while on board his ship since she won't say at the boarding schools he selects for her.  He cares for the men on his ship, even those who are out to seek to hurt him in any way possible.  Derrick is a former slave who works with Rafe.  He and Jordy, a man who has been with Rafe since he was a little boy, both look after and prays for Rafe, hoping he will end this search and find his way back to God.  I like the ended of the story with it's many twists and turns.

     The Not So Great parts: the author goes into GREAT detail about the ships the characters are on and all that goes on aboard in regards to the rigging and such, so much so that I was lost many times just trying to follow along in the story and felt like I was getting tangled in the ropes.  There seemed to be something more involved in Rafe's relentless pursuit of James Brock other than his having Rafe's wife and parents murdered, especially when it came to Belinda and her husband's connection to Brock.  There was also the problem I had in understanding why Phoebe insisted on getting help from her friend Lord Dominick.
     All this said, it was a good book with a great story of forgiveness. This is the second book in THE MIDWIVES series, the first being Lady in the Mist.  Check it out for yourself and see what you think.

This book was provided by Revell for review without compensation.

Available February 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Laurie Alice Eakes is the author of Lady in the Mist, A Necessary Deception, and several other novels.  She won a National Readers Choice Award for Best Regency in 2007 for Family Guardian.  Laurie Alice writes full-time from her home in Texas, where she lives with her husband and sundry of dogs and cats.