Kaye Dacus

Interesting story about two siblings who travel to England to find rich spouses after their father loses his fortune in Philadelphia.
I liked the hero Andrew who was a landscape architect and the fact that Kate loved gardens. She had a noble obligation to do what was best for her family but her heart had other ideas. Likewise, her brother Christopher, found love in an unexpected circumstance. They both sought God to resolve their problems and learned that they had to listen to God and not go show more off on their own way.
I l8ke to learn about historical events and this was a good peek into the exhibition instigated by Prince Albert in 1851.
* I purchased a copy of this book from a library sale. All opinions are my own.* show less

Chef Major O'Hara is a sweet guy with a big problem. He's in love with his boss Meredith Guidry, but doesn't think he's good enough for her. His mother is schizophrenic and has "episodes." She likes to light fires and burned down an apartment complex a few years ago and sent a lot of her neighbors to the hospital. He doesn't want to saddle the love of his life with his burden.

Meredith has loved Major for years. Eight years. Eight long years in which he 's made it quite clear he isn't show more interested. She finally decides she is wasting her time and asks God to send her someone she can love. He sends her two contractors and a dog. Not what she in mind.

This book left me so frustrated I wanted to throttle it. The characters are 38 and 34 and they make life decisions at a glacial pace. Meredeith works as a party planner for her parent's company. She's shown pulling off huge society soirees with ease but her parents needle her about the fixer-upper she just bought, fearful she will "be stubborn and try to do it all yourself." (She spends all her working hours orchestrating huge parties and they think she hasn't picked up a thing or two about hiring the right person for the right job?) Her mother snears at her clothing choices and worries that she didn't spend enough on one party, not wanting the town's big wigs to think they were cutting corners. Meredith fumes and finally blows up to her older brother but never screws up enough courage to have a sit down with her parents and talk out her concerns, or better yet quit and leave the ungrateful monsters to try doing all of it without her.

Major isn't much better. Meredith's mother volunteers him to do a weekly food segment for a local TV program (without clearing it with him or Meredith). He's a bit of a shlub, no confidence, over weight, bad haircut and the make-up girl hints he should get his teeth whitened. All this is going on while he trys to juggle his mom (who's "episodes" are starting to escalate), the chance to open his dream restaurant, all his regular work and the bad feeling he has that Meredith is avoiding him. (Eight years of nothing; who can blame her?)

I really wanted to reach into the book, grab the mains by the back of their necks and shake some sense into the two of them. Neither one likes the way their lives are going but they take no steps to change their directions. Major doesn't like the TV spots but won't say so because he doesn't want to rock the boat. Meredith is the family doormat but "knows that she is where she can do the most good" so she decides to put up with everything her family dishes out.

They finally end up engaged after a traffic accident forces Major to admit his secret to Meredith. All I could think was "Great. Now the 'rents only have to make one phone call when they decide to make unilateral decisions about your lives instead of two. What a time saver." A very frustrating read for anyone who likes their heros and heroines with some backbone. show less

Americans Katharine and Christopher Dearing have a problem. Because their father has lost his fortune, they must, in essence, sell themselves to the highest bidder and marry money to save their family from financial ruin.

During a time when women of wealth were groomed only to marry money, a life of service for Katharine was out of the question. I must admit, living in the day and age in which we do, I find it repulsive that women and daughters were treated as possessions. Things to be show more bartered with by undisciplined and selfish fathers and brothers. This created a wave of sympathy and empathy for Katharine's plight. Although her brother wasn't totally unfeeling, he could find a way to be self-supportive and marry whom he chose. Yet, even that would leave the burden of their family's financial issues on Katharine.

Parents who make mistakes are normal, as I myself can attest to. But parents that make the mistakes and then expect their children to clean up the mess? Unfathomable and disturbing. I honestly did not see a way out for Katharine in this book. Her heart had found the man it could love. But poor and obscure Andrew wasn't the answer to her family's financial woes.

Ms. Dacus is a seasoned author and it shows. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Follow the Heart and will be reading more from her in the future. Scenic settings, great plot structure, and imperfect heroes and heroines? Yes please! I love how her characters were flawed. Self-sacrificing, yet flawed in such a way that made the reader care for them and wish they had a fighting chance.
Highly recommend. show less

I tried. I really, really tried to finish this book. It was like facing down a plateful of luke warm, naked mashed potatoes. Where was the flavor of Louisiana? Where was the spice of romance? Where was the meat?

The book did have traces of "salt of the Earth" Christianity with its talk of Sunday School, ministers, services and such, but the characters were pretty flat.

I couldn't identify with any of the main characters for more than a page or two. No sooner did the heroine rescue a puppy, show more than the poor beast was relegated to oblivion for twenty pages, then was merely mentioned in a superfluous having-to-clean-up-after-him aside. I love dogs. Give me more dog.

We have a chef for the protagonist, but little detailed mention of what or how he cooked, just copious references to stryofoam containers. I love to cook, give me cooking detail!

To be fair, I gave up at page 166. The characters (and the reader) spent too much time inside their heads. Perhaps I simply expected too much based on the back cover blurb, which promised an excellent story. Instead, the author told us what the two main characters were thinking instead of showing us by their words and actions.

I would like to see Kaye Dacus try again, but with a story set in her own neck of the woods for better authentic flavor. And it wouldn't hurt to have the big dramatic obstacle that's keeping the hero from the heroine be a little bigger and more dramatic than caring for a mentally unstable mother.

I'm sorry I couldn't find more positive things to say for this Christian romance than just that it does not offend my sensibilities as a Christian. show less