CHANGE OF HEART

Author: Fran Shaff ISBN: 0973726164 6/2005 HISTORICAL Publisher: CHAMPAGNE BOOKS
Time Period: Victorian 1850's

Marietta Randolf has come to the Nebraska territory from Chicago to collect her orphaned nephew Zack. She intends to return to the city with the boy as soon as possible. When the weather delays her trip, she finds herself confined to a dreary land she despises with a man she cannot resist. Jase Kent, one of the West’s first ranchers, has been taking care of Zack since his parents were killed. He expects to feel resentment toward Marietta when she takes away a boy he's grown to love. Instead, he finds himself hopelessly in love with the fine lady from the city. Jase and Marietta belong to two different worlds, but they share one great love. If they are to remain together, one of them must have a CHANGE OF HEART and choose to live in another world.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

CHANGE OF HEART is a delightful and fairly short novel. It is the late 1850's, and Marietta Randolf has traveled from Chicago to Nebraska Territory to retrieve her late sister's son, Zack, and take him back to Chicago. Jase Kent lives happily in Nebraska Territory and was a friend of Marietta's sister, Kathy, and her husband, Clint. Jase has been taking care of Zack since the loss of the boy's parents. Marietta is devastated over the loss of her sister and can find nothing redeeming about Nebraska Territory, until she gets to know Jase. There is a growing attraction between them, but how can it work when Jase's home is Nebraska and Marietta's is Chicago?

Fran Shaff does a fine job describing the loss felt by Marietta and Zack. Such despair is hard to put into words, but Shaff succeeds. Shaff also describes the isolation of settlers in this area at this time well. I was anxious to find out how the story between Jase and Marietta would play out, and I was pleased with Shaff's resolution for them. I would enjoy a follow-up novel to this one to find out if things worked out as Marietta and Jase planned.

Carrye Syma