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 … family’s orchard.
But I know better than to confess.
Now that I’ve joined him at college, I’m seeing a new side of him. This Dylan drinks and has a lot of sex. None of it with me.
Until the moment I foolishly ask him to tutor me in more than algebra…and he actually says yes.
One crazy night sets our friendship on fire. But now my heart lies in ashes, and nothing will ever be the same again.
Heartland is a standalone college romance set in the True North world. Expect: a young, broody farmer, a giant crush, tasty caramels, cute goats and late night confessions.
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Dylan and Chastity’s story is a great slow-burn friend-to-lovers story, and a fine addition to the True North series.
We’ve seen Dylan grow throughout the prior True North books. His upbringing was unorthodox, having spent years growing up in a religious cult. He knows Chastity from that time in his life, and she is experiencing a lot of life for the first time, and now they are together in college.
Chastity has always had feelings for Dylan, but it takes Dylan a while to realize this. Once he does, and they start truly exploring a romantic relationship, it is a sweet young adult romance. This is somewhat different from the other True North books because of their ages, but it is class Sarina Bowen – well written with witty dialog, emotion and depth of character. Truly a great addition to the series and a sweet return to the Shipleys.
As always, I was drawn right into a book with Sarina Bowen’s name on it. Heartland is book 7 in the True North series, but can easily be read as a standalone. Having only read the first few chapters of the series’ first book, Bittersweet, I still fell right into the book seamlessly.
Heartland was a fun read as I took in both Dylan and Chasity finding their way. Dylan’s a player on the campus of the college both he and Chasity go to and he’s not aware of Chasity’s feelings towards him. This plays out as you’d expect with a jealous roommate, a quirky roommate (who I CAN’T wait to know more about), and a snowstorm that changes everything. Throw in some mouthwatering caramel production, a stubborn older brother, and grief that still hasn’t been addressed and you’ve got a great coming of age story.
If you’re a fan of this series or just discovering Bowen’s books, I definitely recommend Heartland!
*I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for honest feedback*
A beautiful and heartfelt friends to lovers romance that is sweet and sexy with lots of feels. Heartland absolutely owned my heart and I loved it!
I adored this story! I loved the relationship between Chastity and Dylan as friends, and how it evolves from there. I enjoyed their banter, their chemistry, and the story itself. I also loved the secondary characters, some of them brand new and how much they add to the story.
Heartland is a fantastic addition in the True North series, and I loved catching up with some of the characters from previous books. The exploration of the relationship between Dylan and his brother, Griff is an unexpected cornerstone of the story. I loved seeing it from Dylan’s POV and again, I thought it was beautifully written. Sarina Bowen wrote an amazing story with this one, and I could feel Dylan and Chastity’s chemistry jump off the pages. I hope these books keep coming. I absolutely love this series!
Still waters run deep, and happy-go-lucky Dylan has some depths that make his soul ache. He made me hurt for him, and he made me laugh with him. His outer exterior isn’t an act, he really is a good guy, but he buries so much in the heart of him. Maybe that is why he isn’t at all self-aware of what his feelings really are for his best friend, Chastity
Chastity is coming out of the shelter and pain that had been her life for her first nineteen years. Raised in a cult, she never did fit in, and her thoughts were always about boys, and that got her in a lot of trouble. Two years has passed, and while she is still fighting the instincts that were repeated into her psyche, she knows one thing, she absolutely wants Dylan. Getting from A to B is as confusing to her as the calculus she struggles with, but if Dylan can help her with that, then maybe?
Two young adults away at school, but still tied to their homes. An undeniable attraction that feels as right in their hearts as it does wrong in their heads. A sweet business venture to join them, and a cast of family and friends to help, or hinder, them out. I loved Dylan and Chastity for their joie du vive, their confusion and determination, and for their simple love of all things of home and heart
Of course, no True North Series book is complete without Griff being his wondrous self, and his glorious wife pointing it out, which she does so perfectly in our epilogue – “Any time, you big grump.” Audrey hugs him from behind. “Now dance with me.” <3
“It was just heat and patience. Those were the only ingredients.”
I work at a theme park and one of our units serves an apple snack. It’s delicious and smells wonderful and every single time I look at one of those bushels of apples I think of two things: the lyrics of A Bushel and A Peck and… Shipley Farms. When I say this series has worked it’s way into my heart and will never leave, I’m not kidding. It’s so firmly in there I look at real apples and think of a fictional apple orchard. But I am absolutely okay with that because book after book, Sarina Bowen continues to remind me why this series is my favorite romance series. The Shipleys are all amazing characters and Dylan is no exception.
I’ll admit, I was a little skeptical at first when I found out this was Dylan’s book. From other characters’ points of view, he wasn’t the most interesting of characters to me, probably because when we first met him in the early books, he was so young and oftentimes a little annoying for my taste. But in Heartland, we got a look inside his head and everything changed. I am a convert, I am in love with Dylan too.
And funny enough, I didn’t love Chastity either when we first met her in Zach’s book. But in true Sarina fashion, it didn’t take long before I was feeling compassion and sympathy, but most of all, true affection for her. She’s such a fascinating character and despite already knowing some of her backstory, discovering all the details didn’t make me feel sad for her, but instead made me believe in her and root for her even harder. Because on the surface, Chastity might be the innocent, awkward girl, but underneath that she’s one of the strongest fighters in the whole True North series and I love her for it.
But I also completely loved them as a couple. The whole “innocent virgin falls for hunky dude who sleeps around” isn’t a new story. It’s been told time and time again, but Heartland breathes new life into a well used trope. Chastity may have been a virgin that only recently escaped a crazy religious cult, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have her own set of needs and desires. She was naive, but she wasn’t dumb and she fought for who and what she wanted and this dynamic made their relationship burn red hot in my eyes.
As with all of the True North series, the setting is a character all on its own and I love that just as much as I love Dylan and Chastity. The story of Dylan and Chastity making goat milk caramels is peak Vermont and I was absolutely here for it. Whether it’s cider or apples or anything Audrey’s made, I want to taste it and experience it, and these caramels were no exception. I loved the thought and knowledge that went in to describing the process and how much of that was relatable to the growth and development of the characters themselves. And the inclusion of this excellent reason for Dylan and Chastity to regularly go back to Tuxbury also led to one of my favorite parts of this book: seeing the arguments between Dylan and Griffin from Dylan’s point of view. Their battle of wills has always been interesting to me, but has also made me not fond of Dylan. Getting to see where Dylan’s coming from and his emotional baggage surrounding the death of their father was eye opening to his character and their family dynamics. It was just one more way Sarina worked her magic in making each book expand on the world of Tuxbury in a way that leaves you desperate for more.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thought and opinions are my own.
One sentence summary: A super sweet friends to lovers college romance with goats, caramel, and the Shipleys!
First thought: I loved this one! Dylan and Chastity’s story was honestly just a sweet read the whole way through.
Why I read it: I’m going to read anything Sarina writes, the moment she releases it!
POV: Alternating M|F, Present Tense
Tropes: Friends to Lovers, Small Town, College Romance, Virgin Heroine
Our Heroine: Chastity. I love her passion and excitement about the world around her. I’m glad Sarina gave us her story and happy ending, since we met her briefly in Keepsake. I was worried I wouldn’t connect with her, but I felt like she and Dylan are some of the most relatable characters I’ve read recently.
Our Hero: Dylan. OMG, a man who loves animals- double swoon. I loved that Dylan felt like a real college student and his story sometimes felt like Sarina’s The Ivy Years series. Visiting a college campus again made me wishing for my own college friends. Who were just as sweet and fun loving- but certainly not as muscly as Dylan is.
Overall thoughts: In my last Sarina Bowen review I commended her for being a world building genius and this book is evidence of interweaving world Sarina has created for us. I constantly think about her characters and what they might be up to. Dylan and Chastity’s story was charming on it’s own, but I loved getting glimpses into other people’s lives as well.
The sexy scenes: /5
The best part of the book: I liked the feel of the love story with this one. Dylan and Chastity are just sweet all around, like I needed to hold my kindle to my chest a few times.
What wasn’t working for me: No complaints!
TLDR: A great trip back to Shipley’s Farm. Some one help me come up with another way of describing these two that’s not just sweet!
How I read it: I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Over the past year, I have become a super fan of Sarina Bowen. It’s been three years since I read Him/Us (one of my favorites of all time!!) but this time last year I started True North and fell in love!!
I’m OBSESSED with the Shipley family but I also love the Paradise Ranch escapees’ journeys. There’s something so special about all these people who have escaped a cult and help each other acclimate to the outside world. I can’t believe Dylan is all grown up and Chastity figuring out college and moving on from cult life.
I’m not a fan of the cold but this series seriously has me wanting to move to Vermont (or at least go for a long visit)! Dylan and Chastity’s book had me crying more than once but their love and friendship was so beautiful that it cancelled out all the ugliness of the past. I will never get enough of the True North series and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Daphne!!
In this friends to lovers tale of first love, Dylan Shipley’s helping Chastity, a runaway from Paradise Ranch with her algebra. They are both attending Moo U and working at home on the weekends. Chastity has it bad for Dylan which just about everyone can see, except for Dylan, but maybe that’s because he has other things on his mind — like whether he’s going to help Griff with the family farm or do something else. He’s getting pressured about what he’s doing with his life.
I thought this book really did a wonderful job of showing young, first love. Dylan is so very careful with how it treats Chastity since he knows a lot about her past, but when they finally kiss, all they both want is more. Dylan does spend a lot of his time avoiding his own feelings, and everything comes to a very dramatic climax. And Chastity was just amazing in so many ways, especially how she loves Dylan.
The Shipley family is the cornerstone of this series and Heartland does an amazing job of bringing them into Dylan’s story. The tension between Griff and Dylan is played out so well with the Christmas holiday bringing the situation to a head in a very emotional scene.
There were some things in Heartland that came as a surprise too, and I liked that about it. Dare I hope for Daphne’s story now? And that’s the magic of this series. I was left feeling both satisfied and wanting more!
I adored Dylan and Chastity’s story. It made me remember that “first love” feeling. It’s another great addition to this True North series from Sarina Bowen. Definitely recommended.
Dylan and Chastity…I adore this story…Chastity had such a hard life. Dylan is her safe place. These two have a special friendship. Chastity is the sweetest little thing and you can’t help but fall in love with her. At first you don’t want to love Dylan…but then he makes you fall for him just as hard. I love friends to lover stories and this one is so entertaining and just keeps you wanted to flip the pages and keep reading.
Also picturing that hottie on the cover while reading doesn’t hurt either 😉
#Goats #Caramel
Heartland is the seventh book in Sarina Bowen’s True North series. Through in a friends to lovers story and I am completely SOLD!
Dylan Shipley, is the youngest Shipley brother, and I have been DYING for his story. Chastity ran away from a cult and is still figuring out life outside of it. Dylan is her best friend. However, she has feelings for Dylan. She sees him as more than just a friend.
The more time they spend together and start to get closer to each other. Dylan finally realizes that there is more than just friendship between them. I loved their chemistry from the start. Though, Dylan’s obliviousness was a little frustrating. Chastity didn’t have a normal childhood, but she grew so much through this story. Their friendship was effortless.
Heartland gave us more of the Shipley family, plus Dylan’s roommate Rickie. I hope that there is more of him in the future because I ABSOLUTELY LOVED him. For Truth North lovers this story is perfect or if you haven’t read any of the other books, that is still fine. You can easily fall in love with Dylan and Chastity’s story.
Heartland was my first 5 star book of the year. In this friends-to-lovers slow-burn book, Chastity wore her heart on her sleeve when it came to Dylan and he was the only one oblivious to it.
On the surface, Dylan came across as simplistic, caring only about girls, partying and sex. He has so much more depth than that, still playing a roll on his family’s farm despite being away at college, helping Chastity with her class project, raising two mischievous goats.
What I loved about Chastity is that she owned where she came from, she never hid the fact that she grew up in a cult. While she may have been inexperienced, she knew exactly what she wanted with respect to her body and the chemistry between her and Dylan while they explored that, while he “tutored” her in more than algebra, was off the charts.
Sarina is one of the few authors that could make me laugh, cry and laugh again within the span of a chapter.
I’ve read every one of the books in this series. From Grumpy Griff, to Dylan’s book.
Such a change in heroes. From eldest in the family, to the youngest. Dylan is a college student, coming home to work on the Shipley farm on the weekends. I found myself getting irritated with Dylan’s immaturity and man-whoring ways. Of course he falls for the most conniving of young women-nope not Chastity. Dylan has to get his head out of his ass first. I had to keep telling myself- he’s young. I also realize, Dylan-in the first half of this book, is so typical of many guys his age.
I loved Chastity from the get go. She really had to keep quiet about her feelings for Dylan. What could she do? She didn’t want to force him to reciprocate. The double whammy- Dylan and Chastity are best friends. Chastity doesn’t seem to catch a break. School is really hard for her. She puts in so much more effort than the average student- including Dylan. Chastity is very sweet and sometimes becomes a target for the bitches (Kaitlyn, grrr) and assholes.
Older brother Griffin is constantly riding Dylan to make a commitment to working full time on the farm. Dylan is torn. He loves his time away from the farm. He does gradually have an ah ha moment or two or three.
There is an ow. I was frustrated. Dammit. Dylan! But…. again, it seemed normal for a guy Dylan’s age-away at college. The friendship between Dylan and Chastity grows so gradually into more, but they don’t even realize it’s happening. I love the business project that Chastity starts and how well she and Dylan work together.
I loved how the Shipley family held together. They didn’t just have smooth times. There was a lot hard work by each member of the family. Griff continues to ride Dylan about his family responsibilities. Dylan feels the loss of his dad-he was so young and feels guilty about where he was when his dad died.
Griff needs to understand what Dylan has been going through. Dylan doesn’t feel like he’s been considered at all.
Where is his heart? The farm, or moving away to have a career of his own. I loved, loved the last 1/3 of this book.
I liked the supporting characters- all the Shipleys, Dylan’s friends: Keith and Rickie (kind of a wacky dude), and Chastity’s friend Ellie.
I would have preferred less ow and more Chastity and Dylan. I hope there more True North stories to come. I want to catch up on everyone & see what’s next! 4.25 caramel stars.
Head back to Vermont in Heartland by Sarina Bowen! This friends to lovers story will hit you in the feels for sure. First, I love characters who escape from a cult. Chastity is one of those characters and I loved her. She is awkward and unsure about the world around her.
Dylan is clueless about Chastity’s feelings. He is also kind of a manwhore who has horrible taste. But, he is sweet to Chastity. They start this caramel business together and they spend a lot of time together. The romance is slow burn; I think this was perfect for their story! Dylan needed some time to mature a bit from a narcissistic person to one who was honest and real with his feelings. Dylan has to tread carefully with Chastity due to her past. My heart hurt for Chastity at times because she wanted Dylan so badly and he was kind of oblivious. Also, Kaitlyn is a horrible person. However, I do know that girls like her exist at college and they seem to get self affirmation from tearing others down. I loved Chastity so much I wanted to throat punch Kaitlyn. Repeatedly.
If you like the slow burn of a friends to lovers romance, Heartland will be your catnip! Bowen writes such wonderful characters that you feel they are your friends. I love this series and each story brings you something special.
Dylan Shipley is thus one of the last members of the Shipley family we still have to fully discover. He has a twin sister Daphne but it is more particularly with his brother Griffin that he maintains tensed relationships. I must admit that at times, the hero of Bittersweet, got on my nerves. Even if we know how serious and rigorous he is in his work, I found him cold, hard and unfair with Dylan. If in his love life, Dylan is absolutely not serious, his investment in the family farm is undoubtable. He comes back every weekend to give a hand on the farm and dealing with both his studies, and this rigorous work can’t be taken lightly. So when Griffin reproached him, sometimes in an unjustified way, I didn’t like this aspect of his personality but that didn’t make him hate either. He is under pressure but in doing so, he puts in its turn pressure on a young man who still doesn’t know what he will do in his future career. Will he continue his studies? Will he do it in an area likely to be helpful to the farm? Will he also take over the family farm? So many questions but a total blur and the continual reproaches of his brothers won’t help him see more clearly. However, we feel he is invested and his idea to use the extra goat’s milk shows that he isn’t that stupid.
In his love life, we can say that Dylan has been very faithful and that his current girlfriend seems to be perfect for sex but not for love. We feel that our hero doesn’t want to invest himself emotionally and we will understand the origin of this issue a bit later by diving back into his personal story. It must also be said that Kaitlin is such a painful girl. If Griffin annoyed me, this young lady made me want to murder her. We don’t understand how this young man decided to stop his flings to be with her. Everyone sees that she isn’t great for him but he is the only one to be blinded by their fulfilling sexual intercourses. She will be very cruel to our heroine but also very haughty and selfish towards her boyfriend. She can’t accept to be forgotten by our hero and the modest origins of Dylan won’t be an asset in her eyes. She will reproach him to be away on weekends but he can’t be both working at the farm and hanging out with his girlfriend. Dylan is also a very good friend to Chastity and he will be able to help her with her studies. I loved his friend Ritchie so much and I will be so happy if a next book is dedicated to him because this future psychologist will always have the right words to help our hero. Hopefully he will open his eyes before it is too late because he could miss a great story.
Chastity Campbell is a 21 years old young woman who has discovered the modern world for only two years. She suffered like Isaac and Leah from the sect she was born into and we know that she was marked by her years there. She was marked literally as well as figuratively and she is in need of reference. She developed a truly sincere friendship with Dylan and our heart suffers by her side when we see that she seems to be only seen as a sistero by our young hero. She knows how he behaves with women and yet, she seems to see him from a different perspective than the others. Unfortunately, she will be Kaitlin’s roommate and she will be hurts by her mean words. She has no self confidence and words will hurt her more than a simple slap in the face. She has already suffered physical violence but the wordly violence will be even more terrible. She fled from a world that had pinned her as a slut and she is still trying to fond out who she really is
One thing is for sure, she wants to give herself the means to succeed in her career and she is not going to spare her efforts. Her studies will therefore be very engaging and sometimes very difficult. Fortunately, she can rely on Dylan to help her when math problems are too difficult to be solved. If he could also help her with her heart problems, it would be great, but he doesn’t see her that way. I liked the relationship she will build with Ellie, in which she can find herself. Indeed, the latter doesn’t look like anybody else because at only 17 years old, she is brilliant and is about to finish her university studies. A bit like Chastity, her social life is non existent and they will therefore be present for each other, even in shipwreck situations. We hope that Chastity will dare telling Dylan how she feels and have an open heart discussion with him because she seems to be the only one to read him as in an open book.
Thus, once again, I enjoyed so much my reading of Sarina’s new novel This book allowed me to have some news from some former characters while discovering new very interesting ones. If the theme that unites our two heroes is something that we have already read in romance, that does not prevent us from melting with these two heroes who could be happy together if they only dare opening their heart
Over the past month I have made it my mission to read all of the True North books. My life was leading to this moment when I would get to learn more about Dylan Shipley and the girl who would steal his heart. When I realized it was Chastity, a family friend who escaped from Paradise ranch (the cult that other characters in Sarina’s universe, including Zachariah have experienced) I was a little hesitant, I didn’t have the fondest memory of her from her initial introduction in Keepsake. Boy was I wrong, Chastity might have been inexperienced and at times naive, but she was also smart, driven and passionate.
Dylan is everything I hoped he would be and more. He’s a quintessential player, who is afraid to commit to anything or anyone. It is so much fun to watch them realize they might not be an afraid of commitment as they think.
My biggest problem with this book is that it ended. I wasn’t ready for the story to end! I have so many more questions, I want so much more from these two! Along with the new insight into Dylan’s life, we also get to see a little more of his twin Daphne, and get to visit with the rest of the Shipley crew.
This story made me laugh and cry and I couldn’t put it down.
I received an arc of this book and I voluntarily give my review.
Heartland is a story that will tug at your heartstrings!
I felt like I could keep on reading and never want it to end.
Having escaped a cult, Chastity is at university and learning how to live her life differently.
She has her best friend Dylan to help her, especially with algebra.
What I loved about this book was the amazing friendships, the way Chastity came out of her shell and the way Dylan kept an eye on her.
It was beautiful to see them both become closer with a novel idea to help Dylan’s family farm.
This story is just beautiful! I really don’t want to say much more, but it’s certainly a well written best friends to lovers story and an amazing addition to the True North series.
I discovered Sarina Bowen’s books years ago with The Ivy Years series, then moved on to the Brooklyn Bruisers series because I discovered Sarina writes awesome hockey romance. I moved on to the True North series, and was thrilled to discover that Sarina just writes wonderful romance novels, regardless of the setting.
I’ve been waiting for Dylan’s story, and was very happy with this book. Dylan was the youngest brother, who grew up loving the farm, but was considered wild and unreliable. This story finds him a junior in college, working hard to keep his grades up, while helping at the farm on weekends. Yet Dylan is still finding plenty of time to party often, and enjoy a lot of sex with a lot of women. As the book opens Dylan had recently started a shallow relationship with rich, snobby Kaitlyn.
Dylan is also helping his close friend from home, Chastity, acclimate to college life. Chastity came from the same religious cult as Keepsake’s Zach. She had escaped and lived with a Shipley neighbor, trying to scrape by and adapt to life in the real world. Its not hard to love Chastity, she is so sincere, and is working so hard to adapt and survive in college. Sadly, she is stuck with unfriendly Kaitlyn as a roommate, which further complicates Chastity’s adjustment to life at college. As the story progresses Chastity and Dylan realize their love for each other, and pursue a real relationship together, with more than a few bumps along the way.
I really enjoyed meeting many of the supporting characters in this book. Rickie, who owns the house where Dylan lives, is a great friend to both Dylan and Chastity, and has a mysterious back story that I’m looking forward to learning more about. Then there’s Ellie, who is young, but like Chastity is raring to experience college life. She becomes a much needed friend to Chastity, and I hope we see more of her in future books.
I love that we get to see so much of other characters from the True North series, especially the Shipley family. The author uses conflicts between the family members to resolve past issues, and allow the family to grow and mature, especially Dylan and Griffin.
I’m looking forward to the next True North story, where we’ll hopefully see a lot more of Daphne, Rickie, and even Ellie!
I would rate this book 4.5 stars, and I highly recommend it to romance lovers everywhere!
I have always adored this series and Heartland was no different. Granted I will day it took me a couple chapters to really get a grasp on who Dylan is. He seems like and average college playboy, but he really has a huge heart. I absolutely loved Chastity from the start. She has a complicated past from being in a cult and she is pretty well adjusted, but she was trained to not have the kinds of feelings she has for Dylan. They have a really good friendship and I was definitely digging the unrequited love and friends to lovers dynamics going on. There was a fantastic amount of angst and emotions going on between these two and I was obsessed with how it was going to end. Their story is cute, sexy, sweet, fun and beautiful. I love how powerful of a bond they have and they just make such a perfect couple. I love what they are able to do to bring out the best in each other and make each other stronger. I absolutely adored this book!!!
True North series will always be one of my favorites! I love the Shipley family so much. At this point, every time a new book comes out, it’s like coming home.
We were introduced to Chastity in Keepsake as the girl who had kissed a boy and got punished for it. Because of this, no man in the compound wanted her. Thankfully, she was able to escape and made her way to Isaac and Leah’s farm, neighbors to the Shipley family.
This is where she meets Dylan, who later becomes her best friend. What Dylan doesn’t know is that Chastity likes him and it pains her to know the Dylan at college (very different to the Dylan at home). This college Dylan is all about the partying, girls, weed, booze, etc. And unfortunately, he sees her as a little girl who needs protecting from the world.
This friends-to-lovers story was so sweet! Being able to see Chastity slowly develop throughout the story was endearing. I loved that she came out of her shell and befriended quite a few people. I loved her determination to keep moving forward with her college classes, especially math.
Dylan was so oblivious when it came Chastity. Honestly, it was almost right there under his nose and he wouldn’t pick it up. I wanted to kill him for his choice in the girl he was dating, because he could see how badly she treated Chastity and he still dated her. He needed a good smacking up the head.
Dylan was a character that despite his flaws, I loved. His devotion to his family is wonderful and his devotion to his goats is silly, but so cute and adorable!
Even though we know Chastity and Dylan are friends, I loved how the author introduced even more of their friendship to the story. We weren’t just told they were friends, we were shown, and it was probably one of my favorite things of the story.
They decided to start a business together making caramel candy, and it’s through this that they grow even closer together. Their friendship and business hit a bump, a very hot and sexy bump, but the way they resolved things was great. I do wish the ending hadn’t been so rushed, or at least that’s how it felt like to me.
The romance between Dylan and Chastity flowed smoothly, which I was grateful for. It’s during this that we see how much Dylan truly cares for Chastity, how loving and caring he is towards her.
Overall, Heartland is a very sweet and swoony romance and a great addition to this amazing series!
Sometimes I finish a book and when I go to review I stare at the blank screen for hours if not days. It’s hard to express all the emotions that book stirs up into something resembling a coherent statement. This is one of those books for me. I want to say more than just “Wow” but as I’m not an author of Bowen’s caliber, all I can say is … Wow.
The author’s writing is always something I look forward to, and has been consistently good over the years. In this book we return to the Shipley family, with Dylan away at school and carrying on his drink/drugs/sex method of dealing with personal stresses.
While I understood Dylan’s behaviours and where they were coming from, I’m over the manwhore trope. I also had trouble with his reasoning for dating Kaitlyn. With his charm and good looks he didn’t have to agree, he could have moved on to someone else easily. (This was obviously just set-up for adding conflict and drama.) However, unlike some college students who like to party like it’s 1999, Dylan maintained good grades and continued to help out on the family farm. He was able to escape without losing himself, which proved that he wasn’t the slacker that some older brothers made him out to be.
I loved Chastity and her sinful innocence. I’m sure she’s not the first religious person to be sexual contrary to preaching, and she sure as heck won’t be the last. I liked the way we were able to learn more about her life before she ran away, even if that life was painful to hear about. Chastity has a strength and intelligence that many abuse survivors do, and I loved the way she was able to explore the world at her own pace and find people who accepted her and her “quirks”. She has come so far in only two years (almost four if you count the time she was working outside of the compound), but she still has a ways to go. I’m glad she’s got such a great support system to help her continue to learn and grow.
I thought Dylan’s confrontation with Griffin was a long time coming. While I understand Griffin’s still seeing his younger brother as a little boy in Spider-Man pajamas, his always treating Dylan as an employee rather than a partner created a lot of resentment and hard feelings on both sides. Dylan held in his anger as long as he could before it, coupled with his guilt over the death of the Shipley patriarch, exploded. I only wish there had been more of a discussion with Ruth to completely clear the air around his mistaken beliefs. (Disclaimer: I’ve never been Team Griffin. Yeah, I said it.)
It was fun catching up with the Shipley family and friends. And I loved meeting Rickie (his back story is going to be AMAZING) and Ellie (so much fun!), and the set-up for Daphne’s book. Summer at the Shipley farm is going to be So. Much. Fun.