The Loyal Heart Book Review

A Lone Star Hero's
Love Story Series

Book One

SUMMARY:  Robert came to Galveston to fulfill his promise to a dying man and look after his widow.  He didn't expect to find love in the unlikeliest of places.

     Robert Truax, former Second Lieutenant and Confederate officer in the Civil War, made a promise to his comrade Phillip Markham.  If anything happened to Phillip, Robert would look after his beloved wife, Miranda.  She was his life, his world, his everything.

     After the war, Robert is left to pick up the pieces and fulfill his pact.  When he arrives at Miranda's home in Galveston, Texas, things are worse that he imagined.  Phillip's name has been dragged through the mud, everyone in town believes him to be a traitor, and his widow is treated as an outcast.  Even more disturbing is her emotional well-being.  Miranda seems hopeless, lost, and so very alone.

     Robert had thought his duty would be simple.  He would help Miranda as quickly as possible in order to honor a promise.  But the moment Robert laid eyes on her, his plans changed.  He's mesmerized by her beauty and yearns to help her in any way he can.

     He makes it his duty to protect Miranda, turn her reputation around, and to find some way to help her smile again. But it doesn't prove to be an easy task - Robert knows something about Phillip that could shake Miranda to the core and alter her view of the man she thought she knew so well.

REVIEW: A secret pact was made between a group of officers while in captivity during the Civil War - anyone who survived the concentration camp would look after the others' families.  I love how these men did not renig on their promise after they were released but honored their word.  In this particular story, Robert has gotten word that Phillip Markam's wife was having some difficulties.  I like how when he realizes just how bad off Miranda is and sees the affect the townspeople's  hatred towards her and Phillip, Robert steps in and makes things right.  I'm not sure I totally agree with him keeping the real reason for his being there a secret but I understand why he did it. 
     Miranda deals with severe depression after the loss of her husband.  With the financial straits and the attitudes of the townspeople adding to her burdens, Miranda thinks there is only one way out.  I like how Robert pulls her out of the doldrums and encourages her to keep on living.  I like how he fights for her.
     This is the first book in this series.  It will be intriguing to read the others as they are released.

This book was provided by Fiction Guild and Thomas Nelson Publishers 

for review without any compensation.

Shelley Shepard Gray is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, a finalist for the American Christian Fiction Writers' prestigious Carol Award, and a two-time HOLT Medallion winner.  She lives in southern Ohio, where she writes full-time, bakes too much, and can often be found walking her dachshunds on her town's bike trail.  She also spends a lot of time online.  Please visit her website:  www.shelleyshepardgray.com.  Find her on Facebook at ShelleyShepardGray.