AUTHOR: JoAnn Durgin
DATE: March 2015
STARS: *****
Caroline wants to grab hold of the future. Seth can’t let go of the past.
Recent Wellesley College graduate Caroline Prescott’s future is set in stone. After Harvard Law School, she’ll step into place beside her two brothers in their father’s legendary Boston law firm. Caroline secretly longs for the quiet, peaceful life and a career designing jewelry with precious gemstones instead of life as a hotshot Boston attorney.
On a hiking trip with her two best friends weeks before entering law school, Caroline meets Seth Barnes in charming Evergreen, Maine. A mineralogist and part-time college professor, Seth drives a truck sporting an I DIG ROCKS license plate, lives in hiking clothes, flannel shirts and jeans, and loves Jesus.
Two years later, when they meet again, Caroline and Seth confront both the promise of possibility and the pain of past heartaches. What’s a girl to do when the man she secretly loves has a serious girlfriend and seems determined to hold her at arm’s length? And what’s a guy to do when he can’t stay away from a certain irresistible woman no matter how hard he tries? Does the Lord have His own design for their hearts?
Heart’s Design, a love story filled with love, friendship, family, and the power of forgiveness.
Appearances can be deceptive. Seth Barnes and Caroline Prescott are from different worlds and headed toward very different futures. Or so it seemed.
One weekend, that’s all they had. But before they part, Seth says to Caroline, “I don’t want to be a small world story to you, Caroline…I don’t want to be the guy you see in some random place years down the road and say, ‘Oh, yes, our paths crossed once, but that’s all it was.’”
Now I’m a mature, happily married woman, but I have to admit, I swooned just a bit at that. And many more times as the hero bares his soul in often quirky ways.
But like Romeo and Juliet, family issues tear at the fabric of their fragile relationship. I loved their journeys toward reconciliation to one another, their parents, and their pasts.
Author JoAnn Durgin has penned another delightful romance populated with intriguing and realistic characters. I love the town of Evergreen, Maine, and its residents. I could feel the small-town warmth embrace me, and I didn’t want to leave. Heart’s Design earns five stars. Highly recommended.