Customer Reviews

Surrendered Heart, A (The Broadmoor Legacy)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A Surrendered Heart by Tracie Peterson and Judith Miller is published by Bethany House. It is the third book in the The Broadmoor Legacy series. The three cousins each come to find out how they will respond when they are forced by circumstances to choose love or money. The family fortune has been compromised by Jonas Broadmoor and he tries to devise a way to hide what he has done with the family wealth. When his daughter Amanda becomes ill during a cholera epidemic while volunteering at the Home for the Friendless she is quarantined and Jonas takes advantage of the situation by attempting to send his nieces off to Thousand Islands.

Fanny and Sophie reluctantly leave for Thousand Islands but just before they do Fanny learns that her inheritance has been compromised by her uncle and she must decide how for herself what is best for her and how to protect the family home. Sophie finds herself angered by having to leave her husband to go to the Island. She must decide how she will respond to being sent away. By the time Amanda recovers the family finances are in dire straits and Amanda's father arranges a marriage to a man who is determined to destroy all of them. What she decides is based on what she feels is best for her family.

I thought the book was well written but due to the arranged marriage to an abusive and destructive man I would be careful who I recommended this book to. While I saw that Amanda was a woman who was seeking God's will I had a little trouble with her decision to marry an unbeliever. On the other hand, there were parts of this book that kept me reading, like the dilemma Fanny found herself in and how she handled it. I wish I could say I liked it more but for the Tracie Peterson, Judith Miller fans I am sure that they will enjoy it.

I found this story an interesting addition to this series. Amanda longing to be a doctor and being thwarted by her fathers devious ways, but still is volunteering and gets cholera in the beginning of this book. Sophie is having marriage troubles and Fanny is struggling with proof of her uncle's devious ways. Her uncle, this truly wicked man , causes much pain not only to his niece, but to his own daughter. Without revealing too much about the story, I was truly disappointed in the way the decision surrounded the marriage was handled, which why this book could only be a three star book for me! While it would be wonderful for salvation to come in the way it is written in this book for most wives of abusive husbands, it is not frequent and I wish it had been spoken of differently in the book.

When I was given the opportunity to review another book by Tracie Peterson, I jumped at the chance. I remembered enjoying her detailed story telling and engaging plots when I had the chance to review her book "A Dream to Call My Own" back in June.

This book, co-authored with Judith Miller, did not disappoint. Once again, I found myself lost in the story, anxious to turn the page to reveal more of the plot. I found myself lost in the characters, hoping and wishing alongside each of them.

I couldn't wait to see how the story would end. As I came closer and closer to the end of the book, I sat on the edge of my seat in anticipation. Would the story end "happily ever after" or would evil prevail? Would Amanda be stuck in a loveless and abusive marriage? Would she find a way out?

If you are a lover of historical fiction and love a good romance with a Christian theme mixed throughout just right, you will fall in love with this book.

This book is the third in "The Broadmore Legacy" series these two ladies have co-authored. I can't wait to read the first two and many other books by these ladies.

This novel was very disappointing, nearly unreadable. The ending was deplorable. I looked forward to reading A Surrendered Heart for a few reasons; the cholera epidemic chosen for the background of the story, Amanda's desire to become a doctor at a period in history when it was frowned upon for women to be involved in the medical profession, let alone as a physician and not simply as a nurse and I also looked forward to reading this book because it is an inspirational novel, something clean, yet entertaining, designed to lift one's faith.

At the beginning of the story Amanda, the main character, seemed strong and determined enough to become a doctor even though it was unconventional for the times. Her strength came from her reliance on God and the conviction that she was doing something right. When Amanda's degenerate father tells her that she must marry a horrible, evil man to save the family fortune, the writing went downhill immediately. Amanda's character didn't even seem like the same person. Instead of calling on God, as she had done in the first few pages, she nearly quit praying altogether and just accepted her lot. This from a young woman who'd had enough gumption to stand up to her father and conventional society to become a doctor? It made no sense. Where was the Amanda I'd been introduced to in the opening pages? Was she really going to just give in to her father's orders to marry a violent, abusive non-believer? Why didn't she pray more during this terrible situation? Why did she turn down every offer of help from loved ones? Did she really think this was God's will? Unsuitable writing for inspirational fiction. I'm surprised that Bethany House was willing to publish this book at all.

I also had a big problem with the way the authors chose to end the book. The character of Ellert Jackson, Amanda's evil fiancee was completely one dimensional, purely evil with not even one single virtue, a cartoonish Snidely Whiplash sort of a guy. Lazy, poor writing. I don't want to spoil the ending for those who choose to read this pitiful novel but I was dumbfounded. Like, really? Was that the best you could do? Was the manuscript due to the publisher the next day and so you had to throw the last few pages together. Oh, man! Sooooo disappointing.

I had not read the first two Broadmore Legacy books, but to the authors' credit, I didn't feel like it was necessary in order to understand Book 3. I did question the use of the word legacy though, because from what I could tell from A Surrendered Heart, it was a very poor legacy.

I got hooked on 'The Broadmoor Legacy' series after receiving the first book for free on Kindle.

The books are addictive...page turners! I read the entire series in about a weeks time, lots of late nights, but I couldn't help myself. You know it's a good book when you're up till 3am reading!

The third book has me with mixed reviews. I loved the first and second book. However, the third book was a bit heavy and you so hoped for the best for the three cousins, but this one as some nice twists and turns the other two didn't.

I did appreciate the author tying up all the loose ends of some of the major issues in the other books; however, the ending is a bit far fetched, but I did find myself cheering them all on for the best outcome.

I will definitely add these authors to my "favorite" lists after reading this series!

Amanda Broadmoor has only ever wanted to be a doctor, but when her application to medical school is denied she must settle for helping Dr. Blake Carstead at the Home for the Friendless. But when Cholera strikes New York and the home becomes quarantined, Blake Carstead's esteemed opinion of Amanda rises to the surface. If only cholera were the only danger to the Broadmoor family. Amanda's father has gotten himself in financial trouble and the only way out is a loan from the detestable Ellert Jackson. But now that money too is gone and Ellert has come to collect, the only thing Jonas can bargain is his only daughter. Amanda must choose to step up to save her family from financial ruin and social destruction, even if it means a loveless marriage. But how can she leave behind the man who has professed his love for her already?
This novel has so many plot ins and outs that it becomes hard to pin point the main plot and characters. This is the third book in The Broadmoor Legacy and though reading the previous novels isn't necessary to understand A Surrendered Heart, I found in more than a few places that it would have been helpful. Particularly in the relationship of the cousins. This novel is Amanda's story, it is her time to find love, and the reader is invited in her thoughts, needs, concerns. However, Sophie gets a piece of the novel to show her married life to Paul, and how she is learning to cope as a new mother and dutiful wife. Meanwhile, Fanny becomes a piece of Amanda and Jonas's financial struggles and finds a new strength in herself as an adult. At times it feels like the subplots and parallel story lines get too far away from the main plot - Amanda's impending marriage to a man she doesn't love. Even though Fanny's story is a part of Amanda's or more of Jonas's, neither Fanny's nor Sophie's story lines end up as a completely necessary point of the story.
The characters are interesting enough. Ellert Jackson as the scoundrel of the story is a formulaic character with all the typical lines, and thoughts of a evil man in a Christian novel. That being said, he manages to remain a formidable villain and creates the right amount of anxiety for the sake of Amanda. Admittedly I was prepared for the worst when it came to the end both for Amanda and myself as a reader, but was pleasantly surprised with the twists and turns that the writers allowed.
Overall, this is a good read whether or not you have read the previous books in the series. The romance is sweet and engaging, the characters are relatable, and the stress on Amanda and her family is heavy. Generally entertaining.

Amanda Broadmoor's medical training comes to a halt with the outbreak of cholera. Then because of her father's unwise business dealings, she finds herself contemplating marriage to a rich and cruel man many years older than her even though she has fallen in love with someone else. Amanda's cousins Sophie and Fanny try to find some way to free Amanda from her predicament. Fanny is also waiting the return of Michael so they can be married and Sophie is struggling with her marriage, missing her social life. What really made this book stand out for me was the way that Fanny and Amanda responded to Jonas and the message of forgiveness. I also liked the fact that Sophie and Paul's marriage isn't perfect-the way some marriages are portrayed in other Christian fiction. What I did not like was the way Amanda seemed to calmly accept (or be resigned to) the possibility of having to marry an abusive man. Overall I really enjoyed this final title in the Broadmoor Legacy series.

I loved this book and found it hard to put down. Would highly recommend this book and whole series.

This book is the third one of The Broadmoor Series and had some awesome twist and turns. Tracie Peterson is an awesome author and I recommend any books written by this author.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, but it did take me about 200 pages to really get hooked. A novel about high-society life in the 1900's, this book would definitely appeal to readers who prefer books that center around the characters in the story more than plot. Not that there wasn't plot involved. With Amanda's family facing financial ruin, her healthy threatened by cholera, her family in upheaval as they try to escape this deadly epidemic, Amanda's desire to follow her life-long dreams of medicine, her deep love for a man who doesn't appear to share her feelings, and her tragic betrothal to a violent, uncaring and abusive man who is old enough to be her father, there is plenty of conflict to keep the reader engaged, however, through out the conflict, the emphasis is more on the characters and their relationships to one another. As a "character-driven" novel, the characters in this book are complex, dynamic and believable. I have read some of the other reviews regarding the abusive relationships presented in this book, and can understand how disconcerting this issue can be. However, I believe the novel and its characters were very realistic considering the setting. I would suspect that arranged (in the sense as presented in the book) were more frequent in the late eighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds than we might think, and many, many women suffered because of it. At this time, women felt extremely obligated to do "what was best and proper", even if this went against everything they knew to be true.

Reviewed by Jennifer Slattery, author of the Jagged Edge of Broken Glass