A Heart's Home (and Journey of the Hearts series giveaway)

GIVEAWAY

COBLE, COLLEEN
A HEART'S HOME

Emmie’s hope for a life with Isaac is overshadowed by a tragic loss at Fort Phil Kearny.

Isaac Liddle is keen to marry Emmie, and she knows she shouldn’t hide her pregnancy from him any longer. But before she can tell him her secret, a widower friend asks the impossible of Emmie: Will she honor her promise to his dead wife by marrying him to care for the orphaned baby?

With the Sioux Wars threatening outside the fort, Emmie’s solemn vow threatens her happiness from within. Will she honor a promise sure to break her heart—and Isaac’s? Or is there another way to find a home for her heart?

My Review:

Though this is a 2015 release, I am reviewing it on Retro Saturday because the Journey of the Heart series includes both Where Leads the Heart and Plains of Promise (originally published in the late 1990s.) Neither book is available in print format any longer so the author and publisher chose to release them using a serialization model. The two original titles have been divided into six novella length books released monthly March through August.

An action-packed conclusion to this six book continuing series. Almost too rushed for my liking though. It feels like something was lost in the need to edit down the original two books in order to make them into novella length installments.  I think that would be my one criticism with Journey of the Hearts -- the pacing was sometimes off so some books were action packed while others were calmer, scene and setting and character development kind of reads. This isn't a problem if you're reading them one after the other, but it left me wanting a time or two as I read them upon release each month.

Not sure that I'm a fan of this kind of publishing endeavour. I would rather the original books be republished in their entirety. Failing that, I think it would have made a lot more sense to release them as ebooks first -- and closer together -- like one a week and then at the conclusion, release a bound volume in paperback format. But that's just my personal opinion.

The other issue I have with this marketing format is that it significantly increases the cost to the consumer. Each book is $8.00 (in Canada) so that's $48 for the whole series -- double the cost of buying two standard sized books. And keep in mind, you're spending $8.00 for an incomplete story so you really have to commit to buying all six books.

All in all, an intriguing publishing initiative and an interesting glimpse into Colleen Coble's literary beginnings.

My thanks to the publisher and Litfuse Publicity Group for providing me with a review copy of this book.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY

If you would like an opportunity to win a copy of the complete set (six books) of the Journey of the Hearts series please leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca.  **Please note -- four of the books are brand new and two are very gently read copies. If you post a comment and add your email address, please use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in the address to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email please remember to put the title in the subject line so that it's easy for me to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Sunday August 9 2015. Offer open to international readers. Good luck!