The Heart of the Mountains by Pepper Basham tells the story of Cora and Jeb who find love though they weren’t looking for it.
When Cora goes to the Blue Ridge Mountains, it is to escape an unwanted marriage. What she did not expect to find was a purpose and a man who was perfect for her.
I enjoyed reading Cora and Jeb’s story. Cora was a likeable character that I enjoyed meeting on the page. Initially, she was uncertain about how to act in her new world but was eager to get started. Jeb was a man struggling to overcome his past but he had an inner core of kindness that made you root for him.
Cora and Jeb had a whirlwind romance but it was so evident they were right for each other despite their disparate backgrounds.
The Heart of the Mountains gives the reader an image of life among the simple people of the mountains. Readers will be reminded that God has a plan for their lives and He is capable of redeeming even the worst things in their past to make a bright, purpose-filled future.
I received an advanced reader’s copy from the publisher through NetGalley and Just Read Tours; a positive review was not required.
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About The Heart of the Mountains
To escape marriage, Cora Taylor runs away from her home in England to join her brother in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, but not even her time as a nurse in the Great War prepares her for the hard landscape and even harder lives of the mountain people. With the help of Jeb McAdams, a quiet woodcarver, who carries his own battle scars, she fashions a place for herself among these unique people. But the past refuses to let go, and with dangers from within and without, can hearts bruised by war find healing within the wilds of the mountains?
About Pepper Basham
Pepper Basham is an award-winning author who writes romance peppered with grace and humor with a southern Appalachian flair. Her books have garnered recognition in the Grace Awards, Inpsys, and the ACFW Carol Awards, with The Thorn Healer selected as a 2018 finalist in the RT awards.
Both her contemporary and historical romance novels consistently receive high ratings from Romantic Times, with Just the Way You Are as a Top Pick. Most recently she’s introduced readers to Bath, UK through her novellas, Second Impressions and Jane by the Book, and taken readers into the exciting world of WW2 espionage in her novella, Façade. The second novel in The Pleasant Gap series, When You Look at Me, arrives in October and her contribution to Barbour’s wonderful My Heart Belongs series hits the shelves in January 2019 with My Heart Belongs in the Blue Ridge. Her books are seasoned with her Appalachian heritage and love for family.
She currently resides in the lovely mountains of Asheville, NC where she is the mom of five great kids, a speech-pathologist to about fifty more, and a lover of chocolate, jazz, hats, and Jesus.