Her Heart for the Asking

Promises made...secrets kept...

Mandy Morgan swore she’d never step foot in Texas again after Beau Gentry left her for life on the rodeo circuit eight years before. He once promised he'd love her forever. But he'd abandoned their love for the rodeo and she hadn't seen him since. Now she's back in Texas. Her uncle’s heart is failing and Mandy has to convince him that surgery will save his life. She never dreamed the first thing she’d see when she stepped off the plane would be her biggest nightmare...the one man she’d never stopped loving.

Beau Gentry had the fever for two things: the rodeo and Mandy Morgan. But for Beau, loving Mandy was complicated by his father’s vendetta against her uncle and a promise he'd made to an old friend. Hank Promise, Mandy's uncle, was more like a father to Beau than his old man had been. The hardest thing Beau had ever done was leave Mandy behind for the rodeo. He can still see the bitterness and hurt on her face. It has killed him all these years to think Mandy had forgotten him...maybe even in the arms of another man. But now they’re both back in Texas, and Beau's going to do all he can to win back her love.

*May Contain Spoilers*

Lisa Mondello reveals the truth behind the secrets of love in her novel, Her Heart for the Asking. After Mandy returns to Texas neither she nor her old flame, Beau, waste any time in rekindling old feelings. Though the main reason she returned isn't for him, but for her Uncle whose heart is running out of time. 

Mandy is the main character and the book is mainly told in her point of view. She's a very loving character, though wary about her feelings. She often flips back and forth between uncertainty and security when it comes to Beau. Readers will bond with Mandy because of her naive past and ideal first love memories. The bond will strengthen when readers realize that she's grown into a stronger woman who needs a strong man. 

Beau Gentry is the love interest, one of the main characters, and also shares the narrative with Mandy. However, it isn't quite easy to tell when they've switched. At certain points, it took me over a paragraph to realize that the POV had changed characters. Though Beau did lie to and hurt Mandy in the past, the reader learns that there's much more to the story. Readers will connect with Beau based on his reasoning and his love for Mandy. 

The plot is interesting, but flies by! The novel is only 182 pages, but it seems much shorter than that. I really wanted to see more of the surgery and how it affects the main characters. That part of the novel was little more than a single page. Though it was entertaining, I didn't feel the book was long enough as a whole to create a convincing love story.

Not that I won't consider the next books in the Texas Hearts series. =) Recommended for a short, light, fun read. 

Rating: 3/5 Cups

Her Heart for the Asking