On tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club - The Test of Gold (Hearts of Gold, Book 1) by Renee Yancy #BookReview #HistoricalRomance

 

I am delighted to be taking part in another virtual blog tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club! And it is with eager anticipation that I introduce you to historical romance author, Renee Yancy and her fabulous book The Test Of Gold. 

The Test of Gold

(Hearts of Gold, Book 1)

By Renee Yancy

Raised in the shadow of a mother who defied convention, but won’t allow her own daughter the right to make the same choices, heiress Evangeline Lindenmayer has been groomed since childhood to marry into the British aristocracy. 

When Lindy challenges her mother’s long-laid plans by falling in love with a poor seminary student, the explosion is bigger than the Brooklyn Bridge fireworks on Independence Day.

I was expecting this novel to be an emotionally explosive read from the blurb, but the number of times I was reaching for the tissues did surprise me.  

Lindy was a character that I grew to love. She is not blinded, like her mother is, to the plight of the poor, and she feels a terrible sense of guilt at the thought that she has so much when others have so little. This very caring, very empathetic nature makes Lindy all the more susceptible to her mother's cruel games. Lindy is treated throughout this novel as a commodity. She will be sold to the highest bidder. My heart repeatedly broke as Lindy is threatened and then forced to comply with her mother's demands. The fact that her father stood by and did nothing made Lindy's plight all the more moving. Jack's desperate attempt to save the woman he loves is thwarted over and over again. But he is the shining light of hope that perhaps there is a way to escape the torment she is being forced to endure.

Jack is a quiet, calming presence in this novel. Young, he may be, but he holds the world upon his shoulders, for his mother is dying of consumption. When he accidentally meets Lindy in her father's library (you will have to read the book if you want to know why he was in her father's library), he instantly recognises a kindred spirit. And despite their social differents, Jack is determined to make him his wife. Thankfully, Lindy is of the same mind—she really wants to be his wife. Needless to say, her mother is less than keen - it is an English Duke, and anything short of that is a disaster.

This story really centres upon the abuse Lindy is forced to endure at the hands of her mother, with the romance being somewhat in the background, which is a little unusual for a romance novel. But I will say this. If anyone reading this book is going through a similar experience to Lindy, this novel will give them hope. There is a way out. You can escape. So thank you, Renee Yancy, for the depiction of Lindy. A truly inspirational character.

I was given a complementary copy of this book from The Coffee Pot Book Club, but you can grab your copy from Amazon UK, Amazon US and Barnes & Noble.

Renee Yancy is a history and archaeology nut who writes the kind of historical fiction she loves to read – stories filled with historical detail that immerse you in another place and time. When she isn't writing historical fiction or traveling to see the places her characters have lived, she can be found in the wilds of Kentucky with her husband and two rescue mutts named Ellie and Charlie. 

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