For fans of Liane Moriarty, Elin Hildebrand and Jojo Moyes.
Where would you go if you were lonely, displaced and desperately unhappy? Into the arms of the first man that offers to hold you?Newly married to her dreamy Navy Officer husband, Kaisa’s happiness is shattered when she discovers her hard-fought degree from Finland is less than useless in Britain. She’s faced with a lonely life in the … her hard-fought degree from Finland is less than useless in Britain. She’s faced with a lonely life in the shadow of Peter’s brilliant career, which takes him away to sea, unreachable during his long submarine patrols.
Enter rich, charming and clever Duncan, who seems to have all the answers to Kaisa’s problems. With Peter away, can the lonely and bored Kaisa resist Duncan’s advances?
Can Kaisa and Peter’s love stay on course?
A standalone read, The Faithful Heart is the second novel in The Nordic Heart series, the bittersweet love story between Finnish-born Kaisa and British Navy officer, Peter.
Read this dramatic Nordic story of a young Navy marriage today!
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The Young Heart – My first book by this author and I have conflicting thoughts after reading all five books sequentially. I usually chain read as many books by one author as possible, but I had to pick up other books to take a break from Kaisa. This is introduction to Kaisa the main character and several supporting characters of the Nordic Series. Kaisa is a 14-year-old female. Her thought processes, or lack of, her experiences with her family members and her friends-to-lovers relationship with a 21-year-old man. I was fortunate to read this book before I read the other four books in the series and found the foundation set in this story explained some of her decisions she made in the other books. But it is not a must read to understand the other books.
This is an in-depth story about Kaisa and Matti’s relationship, so it may be good to read first, or not. While the book was well edited, thank you Ms. Halme, and I understood the Nordic and Russian cultures from history books and personal experience, I just didn’t care too much for Kaisa, but she is a child in many ways. This book stops and The English Heart picks the story up. There’s infrequent vulgar language and the sex is not explicit. 3*
The Nordic Heart series: I bought this set, else I would not have read the next four books. I bought the set before I read the prequel The Young Heart. Simplistic in writing, which is OK, and well edited, which is great, but I was disappointed in what could have been a great set of books. I’ve been aware of The Englishman and Helena Halme for over a year and was really looking forward to an interesting and entertaining series. I understand cross-cultures (been there, done that), alienation, abuse and misunderstandings, but her use of alcohol and promiscuous behavior along with her mindset is unsettling in how Kaisa handles life and problems. There are interesting descriptions of the different locations and the characters develop more with each book, except Kaisa she remains Kaisa, although in the last book, she does better with Peter. There’s infrequent vulgar language and the sex is not explicit. Each book continues with my review. I’m not sure which was a better deal, this boxed set or a cuppa of English coffee as described. 3*
The English Heart #1 (aka The Englishman) – Well edited and easily read with a simplistic, choppy writing style, and interesting descriptions of Sweden and Finland and some good main and supporting characters. There’s a lot of music references that don’t do anything for the story but give a timeline, if you know when the music first played. The movies help explain some of her mindset.
Picking up where the prequel The Young Heart ended, Kaisa mets her Englishman, a likable but dumb young man and begins the start of their long distance relationship. By the time I finished this book I really disliked Kaisa. She’s immature, self centered and very selfish, and doesn’t want to learn from her mistakes. She knows what not to do, yet goes full-bore and repeats her mistakes again and again. She uses everyone without regard, doesn’t consider the consequences of her actions and is about as social as a rock. 3*
The Faithful Heart #2 (The Navy Wife) – They’re married now. Kaisa thinks she a feminist so she doesn’t support her husband or her marriage. She thinks she’s being a “navy wife” if she cooks his breakfast before he leaves in the morning; she wants to sleep late and she doesn’t have a job. She won’t work on her marriage and expects Peter to do everything. Instead of communicating with her husband, she screams and rages. Instead of working out solutions to her problems, real and otherwise, she remains the immature, selfish and anti-social idiot increasing her alienation from everyone. I really, really dislike Kaisa and feel sorry for dumb Peter for falling in love with this moron. Unfortunately, he gives in to her anger, instead of telling her to grow up. 3*
The Good Heart #3 (The Good Officer) – Kaisa abandons Peter right when he needs her most. Typical behavior from her, it’s always about her. Her actions causes Peter to face a court martial, which affects his career in the Navy. Rose plays a large part in this story by helping and mentoring Kaisa with her career and life choices. Kaisa still ignores Peter’s family. 3*
The True Heart #4 – Together but still with problems, Kaisa still isn’t a likable character. She does do better with supporting Peter in his career. The past comes back to bite her hard, but she does better handling things than she did in the other books. She’s 30, she should have learned something from all her mistakes. This is probably the best of the books but only the last 50 percent. She’s still selfish, but others are supporting her. She still doesn’t interact much with Peter’s family. 3*