Reviewer's Bookshelf: The Cautious Maiden by Dawn Crandall

Book Summary (Amazon): Violet Hawthorne is beyond mortified when her brother Ezra turns their deceased parents' New England country inn into a brothel to accommodate the nearby lumberjacks but when Violet's own reputation is compromised, the inn becomes the least of her worries. In an effort to salvage her good name, Violet is forced into an engagement with a taciturn acquaintance, Vance Everstone.

As she prepares for a society wedding, Violet learns that her brother had staked her hand in marriage in a heated poker game with the unsavory Rowen Steele, and Ezra had lost. Now Rowen is determined to cash in on his IOU.

With danger stalking her and a new fiancé who hides both his emotion and his past, Violet must decide who to trust, and who to leave behind.

My thoughts....

The Cautious Maiden is the fourth book in Dawn Crandall's Everstone Chronicles. I thoroughly enjoyed the first books in this series and this book was equally exciting and fun to read. 

In this novel, Violet is definitely a victim of her brother's bad choices. She is wounded, particularly in an emotional sense. I had a somewhat negative impression of Vance Everstone from a previous novel in the series, in which he was quite a scoundrel. I was curious to see how his redemption would play into Violet's story.

The fact that Dawn Crandall writes in first person really adds an interesting aspect to her novels. You really get to see a depth to the central character that you may not typically get in third person storytelling. As I was reading this novel, there were times that Violet's thought processes kind of frustrated me. She excused some of Vance's behavior that I wished she would call him out on more...or feel differently about. But on the flip side, that is what I appreciated about the novel as well. Even though Violet is a fictional character, she represents how a real person might respond. She is not perfect...and I'm kind of glad she's not. It creates the tension in the novel, makes Violet more relate-able, and develops her character. The first person aspect allows Violet to tell her story, flaws and all, and as the reader I felt that it was ok if it wasn't all in a neat package. The lovely little romantic scenes and the building of romantic tension that are always so well written in Dawn's novels were another highlight to the story.

I always look forward to reading a novel by Dawn Crandall. She has a gift in writing first person, stirring your heart with the struggles faced by her characters, and including clean romantic scenes that are just the icing on the cake!

And there's more!
Dawn is having a Rafflecopter giveaway!  Go here for Giveaway 1  for some fun goodies!! 

If you're in Indiana, Dawn Crandall and Denise Hunter are doing a book signing. How fun!

If you haven't read Dawn's previous books I would definitely recommend them!

Happy reading!

**I received a free copy of this novel from the publisher in order to give an honest review, which I did.**