Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Jane Reviews: Heart Land by Kimberly Stuart

Genre: Women's Fiction
Publisher: Howard Books
Releases: July 17, 2018
320 pages
About the Book:
A story of reconnection, lost love, and the power of faith, Heart Land follows a struggling fashion designer back to her small Iowa hometown as she tries to follow her dreams of success and finding true love.

Grace Klaren has finally made her dream of living in the Big Apple and working in the fashion industry a reality. But when she’s unexpectedly fired and can’t afford the next month’s rent, Grace does something she never thought she’d do: she moves back home.

Back in Silver Creek, Iowa, Grace is determined to hate it. She rails against the quiet of her small town, where everything closes early, where there’s no nightlife, where everyone knows each other. She’s saving her pennies and plotting her return to New York when she almost runs over a man who’s not paying attention at a crosswalk. It turns out to be Tucker, her high school sweetheart whose heart she broke when she left ten years ago. They reconnect, and Grace remembers why she fell for him in the first place.

And her career begins to turn around when she finds a gorgeous but tattered vintage dress at a flea market. She buys it, rips it apart seam by seam, and re-creates it with new fabric, updating the look with some of her own design ideas. She snaps a picture and lists the dress online, and within a day, it sells for nearly $200. Suddenly, Grace has her ticket out of here.

But Grace can’t fight her growing feelings for Tucker. Sometimes when they’re together, Tucker paints a picture of what their future could be like, and it feels so real. And when she finally gains the funding to move her new business back to New York, Grace must decide where home really is—will she chase her long-held New York dream, or find a new dream here in the heartland?


Heart Land Quote 1

My Rating & Thoughts:    🌟 🌟 🌟 ðŸŒŸ    (4 stars)

Releases July 17th! 

Grace has spent years working hard to fulfill her dream of becoming a fashion designer in New York City and finally a promotion looks promising. However things don’t go as hoped and Grace is forced to move back home. She is now back in the small town of Iowa she grew up in and comes face to face with her first love, Tucker. Things are awkward between them at first but after a couple encounters they agree to be friends, it doesn’t take long for them to realize there are still romantic feelings between them and they decide to give a relationship a second chance. Things are looking up on the relationship side for Grace, but she still has her dream. With inspiration from her grandma she begins a new journey in the world of fashion. Can she succeed and find love or will she be torn between the two?

The characters were what really drew me into the story. When I first met Grace I did wonder if I would be able to connect with her but it didn’t take me long to start to care. The further I got into the story she began to grow on me, however there were a couple times that I did find myself annoyed with her wishing she would smarten up and make the decision I wanted her to make instead of the one that she was making. I loved Tucker, he is kind and generous, always putting other first. There were a couple of things he did for Grace made me melt. I hurt for him when he was going through pain because of Grace’s actions. I absolutely loved the relationship between Grace and Gigi (her grandmother). Gigi gives guidance to Grace while still allowing her to make her own decisions. All the other grannies included were entertaining and made me laugh so much.

I enjoyed following Grace through her journey of reaching for her dreams and discovering what is really important to her. She grows over the course of the book and ends up not only reconnecting with her past, but reconnecting with God in the process. Even though I found the conclusion to be a little rushed I was satisfied with the ending. 
 
Heart Land Quote 2

(I received an complimentary copy of this book from Howard Books through NetGalley.
Opinions expressed in this review are my honest opinion and completely my own.)
JaneReads

No comments:

Post a Comment