Enchanting the Heiress - Kristi Ann Hunter

The Hearts on the Heath series has been an enjoyable series to read, and in this third volume was have a novel in which fans of Emma may notice a number of familiar elements.

 

Harriet Hancock likes to meddle in her friends lives to make them happier – whether they like it or not. She’s surprised to find her friend Sophia Whitworth (whose own story is told in Winning the Gentleman) is set on improving the happiness both of Harriet, and of Jonas, Sophia’s brother.  

 

Jonas isn’t at all keen on this idea, as he thinks Harriet interferes in his sister’s life far too much. He would rather live a quiet life among the horses he loves. 

 

When Harriet finds out Jonas’ gift for words she asks for his help to write a book. But there is far more behind this request than first appears, and the bubbly and engaging Harriet has a secret of her own.

 

This is an entertaining story, with enough intrigue to keep this reader interested.  (I prefer suspense to romance, so like my romance reads to have a good helping of mystery!)  It flows on very nicely from the earlier two books in the series, but it would be possible to read it as a stand alone novel, although I would recommend reading the others first, for background detail.

 

As an English reader who has spent quite a few years riding and working with horses, there are some ‘horsy’ elements I found jarring.  We don’t say ‘shall we run’ when we mean ‘shall we canter or gallop’, we don’t refer to ‘stirrup straps’, and some of the racehorse training described didn’t ring true. For the largely US readership though, and probably for ‘non-horsy’ readers elsewhere, these elements won’t even be noticed.

 

More likely to raise eyebrows is the idea of a high born English Lady pursuing a serious relationship with a stable hand. I found this a huge stretch of my credibility, even though we do know that his background certainly wasn’t as a stable hand. That said, the story survived these glitches, and I really do enjoy Kristi Ann Hunter’s storytelling skills. Her characters are all well rounded and feel ‘real’ and her descriptions bring places to life in the reader’s inner eye.

I very much look forward to seeing what comes next from Kristi Ann’s pen (or laptop!).

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Bethany House, out now

Note: for transparency, I was sent an advance copy of this book, but I was not required to write any specific or favourable review. All views herein are my own.