Jagears Delivers a Wonderfully Romantic Read with a Hero and Heroine to Cheer For Evelyn Wisely has a heart for the orphans of Teaville and works at a local mansion that rescues children out of the town’s red-light district and gives them a place to live. But her desire to help isn’t limited to orphans. The owner of the mansion, Nicholas Lowe, is willing to help her try to get the women working … the women working in prostitution out of the district as well–if she can gain the cooperation and support of local businessmen to go against the rest of the community.
David Kingsman has recently arrived in Teaville from Kansas City to help with one of his father’s companies in town. While he plans on staying only long enough to prove his business merit to his father, he’s shown interest in Evelyn’s work and is intrigued enough by her to lend his support to her cause.
They begin with the best of intentions, but soon the complications pile up and Evelyn and David’s dreams look more unattainable every day. When the revelation of a long-held secret creates a seemingly insurmountable rift between them, can they trust God still has a good plan for them despite all that is stacked against them?
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A Love So True is my favorite Melissa Jagears novel to date. While the first book, A Heart Most Certain, is a lovely read as well, I just loved the characters so much in this story. The main characters as well as the secondary characters are more fleshed out and vibrant in a way that I didn’t quite feel in the first book. Evelyn is a selfless heroine, albeit a bit prickly, and David is such a genuine, endearing guy. I get tired of stories with the aloof, borderline mean, male lead. David is just himself, and that was my favorite thing about him. He’s adorably charming and kind, yet completely unassuming about it.
I always like to see what characters from the previous story are up to, and I was delighted to find that they actually played quite a large role in Evelyn’s story. They weren’t just on the periphery, where Evelyn just says “hello” a couple of times, but rather played key parts in the story. So in addition to experiencing the new story, the reader also gets a satisfying look at the lives of Lydia and Nicholas after A Heart Most Certain.
While I didn’t understand Evelyn’s cool demeanor completely in the beginning, I was pleased that her secret was actually something intriguing and not something that would really end up being nothing. Well, it kind of does end up being that way, but not in the way that the reader might expect in the beginning. And I won’t say much more about that except that I thought it was a great, unexpected twist. She turns out to be a very warm character, and I loved her interactions with David.
In addition to endearing characters and engaging scenes, the story’s focus on the plight of prostitutes and orphans is fascinating and tugged on my heart. It’s impossible not to be appalled at the double standards and unfairness of how women were treated back then. There were so many misconceptions back then, and Jagears highlights them well without being completely grim or gratuitous in those scenes. Evelyn’s determination to make improvement in her community is inspiring. She was doing what she could where she was and didn’t back down from a challenge.
And I declare, Melissa Jagears writes some of the most swoon-worthy, pent-up-emotion revealing, culminating awesomeness of kissing scenes ever. She makes you wait for it, but then delivers in the best way possible, and the scene here is no exception. I do think though, that readers who don’t want a lot of romance in their books could still be happy with this one, because it’s not full of scenes like that, and because it’s not, it makes the ending even more poignant.
I just really connected to this story. The plot kept me engaged, the characters were pleasing and the romance, satisfying. If I hadn’t been in public when I finished it, I probably would have hugged the book to my chest and given a loud sigh. As it was, I just held it in my lap and tried to hold back the warm fuzzies and tone down the big, happy smile on my face. I’m really looking forward to book three, which is about Mercy McClain, a character that definitely intrigues me. I look forward to reading her story and also to seeing my friends back in Teaville!
I received a complimentary copy of this novel, which I happily chose to review. This is my honest opinion.
So I liked the story a lot. It was interesting to see how David and Evelyn fell in love. But at times David almost seemed too perfect, too forgiving. I loved his character and he was wonderful for it, but I’m not sure if he was realistic or not. The background historical side of the book was fascinating.
A Binge-Worthy Series! The Teaville Moral Society series is so wonderfully historically accurate, with characters that walk right into your heart and pull you right into their lives and the difficulties that are bringing about their Spiritual growth. A Love So True is another beautiful love story that is as much about the love of God that draws us closer as it is about the characters falling in love. Speaking of beautiful, the covers that you see on the Kindle versions do not give full justice to the gorgeous covers on the actual books. I was given a paperback copy of A Love So True. The cover seriously entices you right into the book.
This series is surprisingly good. Not at all what I usually read but I really enjoy this author so I thought what the heck I’ll give them a try. I thought that both Evelyn and David were full of themselves at first but as the story continued they started showing their true selves. I got misty eyed at the end and I thought it was the best ending.
Wonderful, thought provoking, and definitely worth the read.
I loved the first book of the Teaville Moral Society series, A Heart Most Certain, and I couldn’t wait to read this second installment. First off, I did not guess Evelyn’s secret at all! That was quite the plot twist. David was completely endearing, and even though Evelyn was a bit prickly, I liked how selfless she was. This novel had such great lessons on forgiving yourself and standing by your convictions. And it was so well written, I didn’t want to put it down. If life hadn’t gotten in the way, I would’ve finished it in a day. I can’t wait to read the next one. Melissa Jagears doesn’t disappoint!
A Love So True is filled with so much great character development! I love it when an author really takes me on a journey of getting to know the characters she has created and following along as she takes me past the surface of each character and lets me really discover them and their joys and their struggles.
Evelyn—I loved Evelyn’s compassion without condescension as she reached out to those so often overlooked or looked down upon. Evelyn’s character came across so warmhearted towards those she was helping, but when David came along, her attitude seemed to do an about-face. She appears to be a bit judgmental towards David, but as the book goes on, you begin to realize that her attitude toward him is really her desperate attempt to keep up the walls she’s put in place to protect herself and not exactly in the way you expect. As Evelyn’s struggles are revealed, you can relate to the place she’s put herself in—that place of so easily sharing with others how much God loves them and all that He wants to do for them, but not so easily accepting that same love and grace and redemption for yourself. I think that can be a very real struggle—thinking we messed up too “big” for God to fix or redeem the mess we created for ourselves, that our situation or life is beyond repair and sometimes even punishing ourselves rather than letting Him show us the amazing ability He has to make beauty from ashes. How often do we punish ourselves for our failures instead of letting God handle the delivering of our consequences in a way that is redemptive rather than destructive, instead of trusting the power and heart of God to redeem our mistakes and missteps?
David—There was so much to love about David, and I particularly enjoyed the first meeting or two between Evelyn and David, knowing that David wasn’t going to be so easily deterred as Evelyn would have preferred and that there was going to be a lot more to David than she expected. David’s love and compassion for others is evident from the beginning, but he has his own set of struggles that he must overcome throughout the book. I loved the growth and change that takes place in his heart as he begins to fall for Evelyn and witnesses her determination in pursuing things that many others fight against. I adored David’s patience with Evelyn, how he didn’t push her, but proved himself by steadily and consistently being there for her over time. He showed himself to be just the kind of man she needed and that God wanted for her even when she didn’t believe it was possible to have that for herself.
In A Love So True, Ms. Jagears has created some truly human characters, and like any real human beings, both Evelyn and David have some flaws and some struggles to deal with and overcome. This reality woven into the book only serves to make the book and the characters so much better, deeper, and relatable. This is not a book to miss out on! And I hope there’s more coming in this series because I have no doubt they will be just as wonderfully written!
P.S.—I am a huge fan of epilogues and A Love So True has the perfect one for it’s story! My heart just about melted reading it!
**I received a copy of this book from the publisher and have chosen to review it. My opinions are my own.