A Heart Set Free

By: Janet S. Grunst

Narrated by: Cecily White

2017 Selah Awards Winner for Historical Romance

In 1770, Heather Douglas is desperate to escape a brewing scandal in her native Scotland. Penniless and hoping for a fresh start far away, she signs a seven-year indenture and boards a British merchant vessel headed to Virginia.

Widowed planter Matthew Stewart needs someone to help raise his two young children. The tall blond standing on the Alexandria quay doesn't look like much after her harrowing sea voyage, but there's a refinement about her that her filthy clothing cannot hide. Could God be leading him to take this unknown indentured servant as his wife?

When Matthew purchases Heather's indenture, marries her, and takes her to his farm, she is faced with new and constant challenges. And Matthew wonders if they can ever bridge their differences and make a life together.

But in the Virginia countryside, Heather begins her greatest journey, one of self-discovery and of maturing faith. Here, she discovers that her emotional and spiritual scars bind her far more than her indenture...and love will finally set her heart free.

Inspirational content (I): Content of an inspirational/religious nature. May also contain some violence (V) or references to human sexuality (S) certain listeners may deem objectionable.

©2016 Janet S. Grunst (P)2018 Janet S. Grunst

This audiobook is a joy to listen to.

Heart warming story. Well written and read. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good story.

Compelling Christian historical women's fiction

The audiobook description seems to indicate that this book is a romance since it won a historical romance award. While the format is that of a romance (third person perspective with separate chapters for the primary female and male characters), there is only a small amount of romantic content. If you've heard of slow burn, this is almost no burn, even while the characters are technically married. Instead, I think this audiobook is a very good example of Christian historical women’s fiction. If you start the audiobook with that genre in mind, then you won’t be disappointed. There is a happy ending, and I was consistently captivated by the story and the narration. I am not particularly religious, but the praying and religious content we’re not too pervasive for me.

The first few chapters of the audiobook immediately captured my attention with the harrowing situation of the likable Scottish heroine. It is circa 1770 Edinburgh, Scotland, and Heather Douglas has sold her freedom for 7 years of indenture so that a ship will take her away from some mysterious scandal that happened to her in her hometown of Perth. The ship is bound for Alexandria, Virginia, to a hopefully new start. However, the long, torturous journey in the hold of the ship is filled with sickness for everyone and the deaths of many of her fellow travelers. This realistic slice of life gave me a vivid experience of what my ancestors must have faced in their 18th-century journey to South Carolina and how they survived on their farmsteads. The author has a true gift for characterization, atmosphere, and bringing places to life.

Cecily White did a great job on the narration. Her Scottish brogue accent for Heather is lovely and perfect. Her smoothly sexy tenor in an English accent is a great voice for Matthew Stewart. The narrator’s children’s voices and all the rest are very believable. Her pacing is wonderful, and the beautiful narration enhances the very good writing.

My only minor gripe about this 8.5-hour audiobook is how stupidly dense Heather is! I understand that Heather had trust issues for good reason, but she dwells so much on how people hurt her back in Scotland. I got rather frustrated with her and silently yelled “Spit it out! Tell someone about it!” Her character development stalled for quite a while, but I remained glued to the audiobook, and my patience was rewarded. I recommend this audiobook to anyone who likes Christian historical fiction or Christian women’s fiction.

I requested and received a free audiobook copy via #AudiobookObsession, and I voluntarily wrote this honest review.
#AudiobookObsession Reviewer

.Historical romance.

This is the first book I've read from this author. It was a pleasure to listen to and I would recommend it to anyone who prefers to read Christian related books but also for anyone as it is a historical romance novel as well. The story is well written and all of the narration was great - except the voice for Heathar, which was jarring compared to the rest of the narration - but that did not change my recommendation. This book was easy to listen to and it kept my attention so that I 'read' it in one day.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Historical romance

This is a sweet heartwarming Story about coming to America in the 1770's. Heather was running away from a scandal and becoming an indentured servant. She finds solace in turning to God throughout her journey and the decisions that are made for her. I enjoyed how the writer incorporated how she had to learn basic farm chores, gardening, milking a cow. gathering eggs. Plucking her first chicken was hilarious.
Janice S. Grunst was very descriptive in the historical details of this story.
Cecily white narration was very good, from her Scottish accent to the voices of the other characters were spot on
🎧audiobookobsessionreview🎧

Great story

Great story but a little convoluted at times in the way the story unfolded. All in all I really liked it. Narrator did a great job distinguishing the different voices and accents.