****3.5 Stars****
I liked One Heart to Win but it did make me roll my eyes a few times. The characters were a little shallow, the storyline a wee bit OTT and the love story was more of a... she's handy, he's handy... let's get it on. The narrator does a great job, though, which made it still a decent listen.
Warning - This next part of my review is a little spoilerish.
Funny story...I was listening and mostly paying attention when I came to this part of the story (not a word-for-word recounting, just what I remembered happening)
...forced proximity forces the hero and heroine to sleep in a barn together. The heroine, up until this point, had been rejecting the heroes advances. While the hero sleeps, she looks over to him, acknowledges his good looks and takes a thorough perusal of his body. While her eyes are wondering, a certain part of his anatomy changes. She knows all about it from her mother's explanations of what goes on in the marriage bed. His arousal gives her lusty, lusty thoughts and she practically jumps him. Kisses happen...then he separates himself from her.
Hmmm...I know this is an audio and sometimes my mind can wander and I can miss things but I had to listen to the above scene THREE times to work out whether they had done the deed or not.
This is a historical romance...where was all the -
- "How will you fit?"
- "The excruciating pain, I'm not sure I'll survive..."
- "I felt a tear as he pushed through my virginal barrier..."
- "Why would women do this more than once?"
- "Dear me, I could fall pregnant!!"
I guess this was probably more accurate than most *maidenheads being breached by thrusting manhoods* accountings but it was over too quickly. He was supposed to cradle her in his arms apologising for the pain he couldn't help but cause. She was supposed to reassure him that she'd be ok in a year or two...or alternately...berate him, and scream like a banshee *THAT SHE WOULD NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!!*
Anyways, in the end it was all good. Everyone is happy, love is in the air, the mystery is solved and peace to all... hopefully I haven't done permanent damage with all my eye-rollings.
I'm not sure I will be back for more. One day I might have a hankering for a cowboy...