Reviewer's Bookshelf: To Capture Her Heart by Rebecca DeMarino

Book Summary (from Goodreads):

It is 1653 and Heather Flower, a princess of the Montauk tribe, is enjoying her wedding feast when her groom is killed and she is kidnapped by a rival tribe and held for ransom. Though her ransom is paid by an Englishman, she is nonetheless left to die in a Connecticut forest--until she finds herself rescued by handsome Dutch Lieutenant Dirk Van Buren. Torn between her affection for Dirk and her long friendship with family friend Benjamin Horton, Heather Flower must make a difficult choice--stay true to her friend or follow her heart.

My thoughts: 

This is a difficult review for me to write because I wanted to love this book!  The cover and summary had my expectations very high.  I love books that include Native Americans, some of their history, and clean romance.  In some ways this book met those expectations, but in others it fell short.  Let me begin with the positives.

There was a good bit of history that was unknown to me that I did learn about in this novel.  I didn't know much about the relationship between the Dutch and the English in early American history, and this story did offer that.  I also liked that the love story was not completely predictable.  There was a little bit of a twist at the end and I wasn't completely sure what was going to happen.

In the story's defense, it may have been helpful for me to read the first book in the series.  I believe this novel was meant to be stand alone, but there were SO many characters in this story. Maybe if I had some background I could've kept up with all of them.  Unfortunately, I kind of got lost in the references to so many people coming in and out of the storyline that I was often distracted.

Another issue I had with the story is that, for me, it lacked the romantic tension that I was expecting.  The romantic aspect of the story was often in the background, while the everyday going about life for the characters was the focal point.  One character basically proclaimed his love for the heroine after meeting her in the first few pages of the book.  No angst.  I was pretty detached from the love story that was supposed to be happening.  

As a reviewer I feel obligated to give an honest review.  While DeMarino did offer some history and some very clean, short, romantic moments, this story just fell flat for me.  I was expecting an epic love triangle, and it seemed to me like at least half of the story was about the lives of other characters in the novel.  It was a big disconnect.  That's not to say that some of you might like this style and story.

**I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, which I gave.**