Heartland by Sarina Bowen
Series: True North #7
Publisher: Tuxbury Publishing LLC
Publication Date: January 28, 2020
Date Read: January 25, 2020
Length: 329 pages
Source: Author/Publicist
★★★★☆
An emotional friends to lovers romance full of risky secrets and late-night lessons in seduction.
Dylan is my best friend, and the only person in my life who understands me. He doesn’t mind my social awkwardness or my weird history. The only glitch? He doesn’t know that I’ve been hopelessly, desperately in love with him since the first day we picked apples together in his family’s orchard.
But I know better than to confess.Now that we’re both in college together, I’m seeing a new side of him. College Dylan drinks and has a lot of sex. None of it with me.
Until the night I foolishly ask him to tutor me in more than algebra…and he actually says yes.
But the cool morning light shows me how badly I’ve endangered our friendship. And I don’t know if anything will be the same again.
What a great read! I really have enjoyed every Sarina Bowen book that I have read so far so I was pretty eager to read this book. This is the seventh book in the True North series and like the other books in the series, it reads as a stand-alone story. I didn’t want to put this book down once I started reading because I was so invested in Dylan and Chastity’s story. I really enjoyed the time that I spent with this incredible story.
Chastity has a very interesting past. I am always looking for something different so I really liked how unique her story was. She grew up inside a religious cult where the women were not treated very well. She didn’t go to school and only escaped in her late teens. She is a freshman in college even though she is twenty-one and she needs some extra help in some areas to keep up. She gets weekly help from her friend and neighbor, Dylan, who she might have a giant crush on.
Dylan spends his weeks at school, juggling classes, a girlfriend, and some fun, but he spends his weekends back at the Shipley farm helping out and taking care of the animals, including his pair of goats. He has a hard time seeing Chastity as anything but innocent but he is very protective of her and likes spending time around her. When they decide to try to make some money making caramels out of goat milk, he is dedicated to the endeavor.
I loved Chastity and Dylan. They were both great characters and once they got together, I thought that they made a great pair. They did feel younger to me than characters in the other books in this series and I guess they were. Dylan is twenty and while Chastity is twenty-one she felt younger because of her limited experiences. A lot of the book is set at college where there were some pretty interesting characters that I grew to appreciate over the course of the story. I thought that Dylan and Chastity had great chemistry and it was fun to watch the progression of their relationship.
I would recommend this book to fans of contemporary romance. This was a great romance with great characters, a believable romance, and a few pretty touching scenes. This is a series that you do not want to miss!
I received a digital review copy of this book from the author/publicist.
Book #6 – Fireworks – My Review
Book #7 – Heartland – Now Available!
About the AuthorSarina Bowen is the RITA® Award winning author of over two dozen contemporary and LGTB romance novels. She most recently hit the USA Today bestseller’s list in February, with Brooklynaire. Formerly a derivatives trader on Wall Street, Sarina holds a BA in economics from Yale University.
Sarina Bowen is a New Englander whose Vermont ancestors cut timber and farmed the north country since the 1760s. Sarina is grateful for the invention of indoor plumbing and wi-fi during the intervening 250 years. On a few wooded acres, she lives with her husband, two boys, and an ungodly amount of ski and hockey gear.
Sarina’s books are published in a dozen languages on four continents. In 2016, The Romance Writers of America honored HIM by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy with a RITA award for Best Contemporary Romance, Mid-Length.
I really want to try this author one day
I think you would like her work!
I could read this
The audiobooks for this series are great. Just saying.
Now that's a nice cover. I have a thing for arms and he has some nice arms. lol This sounds really good.
It was a great story, Mary!
I really loved this one, too, Carole. Chastity definitely had a unique background and that added an interesting twist to her character and her outlook. And I couldn't help but love Dylan. 🙂
Dylan was great! I do love it when an author can create a situation that I haven't read before as was the case with Chastity in this book.
well, i keep trying to find one specific thing to comment on about your post…and i keep going back to that cover. i wish authors would do something other than half naked guys…but it does seem to catch my attention. lol
sherry @ fundinmental
I am not always a bit fan of shirtless men on book covers but this one is pretty eye-catching. I don't guess it matters too much when I am reading on my kindle.
Chastity and Dylan sound they would a couple I could root for. I might just have to give this series a try. I'm off to check my library.
I have loved every book that I have read in this series, Jenea!
I only have read one of her books so far I think, but own a few more and plan to read more of them. I like the sound of this series. It sounds like a good romance and I like of the farm too. Great review!
I do like the farming atmosphere. It's not often that goats make an appearance in a romance.
I love friends to lovers and this one sounds awesome. I definitely need to read it (and many other books by Bowen) at some point soon!
She is one of my favorite authors, Nicci! I hope you get the chance to give her books a try.
I have also enjoyed every Bowen books I have read, and I am kind of excited to leave the farm a bit and see Dylan and Chasity out on the college campus. I like that Bowen is letting us know the rest of the Shipley's better, because I adore this family
I was thrilled to see Griff again. I do still need to read books 2 and 3 so I am not totally caught up but I agree that this is a great family.
I love Sarina Bowen's writing and I've read the first in this series, but never got back to it. This sounds like a great installment! I'll have to read this one for sure! Fab review, Carole! 🙂
All the books in this series work as stand alones, Rachel. I still need to read books 2 and 3.
I have read a few of her books and really enjoyed them. I haven't read this series yet. Fantastic review!
Anne – Books of My Heart
The first book that I read of hers was in this series and I have loved it ever since.