Dangerous Illusions

Hearts of Hays, Book 1

By: Barbara Goss

Narrated by: Kandi Peppers

When Kate arrives in Hays, Kansas to teach in a one-room schoolhouse, she learns she will be "boarding around". She is alarmed to learn she'd have to board at the home of Josh Redfield. Could she live in the home of a man thought to have killed his wife? Rumors and gossip plague the town and the results could be dangerous.

©2015 Barbara Goss (P)2017 Barbara Goss

Interesting Read

I have to say that even though I’m not a Christian I really enjoyed this book. The lessons within the book can be relatable to all religions and nationalities. This book delivers on a love story as well. I enjoyed the characters of Kate, Margo, and Jeffrey. This was a very chaste book. The romance was not hot and heavy but very mild. The narrator was OK.

Enjoyable Read for Romance and Mystery Lovers

Kate travels to Hays Kansas eager to start her new job as a schoolteacher. When she arrives she's surprised to learn that she's expected to board around and live with a different family each month. She quickly becomes friends with the first family she stays with, but she hears gossip about the other families in the neighborhood that makes her hesitant to move on.

Soon Kate hears the worst of the gossip traveling through the town, that quiet Josh Redfield has killed his wife and her lover. Josh's five year old daughter Anna is one of Kate's favorite students, and Kate determines to lighten Anna's sorrow at her mother's disappearance. When a bout of measles strikes the town and Kate is forced to move into the Redfield home, she finds more clues to Josh's wife's disappearance and vows to solve the mystery.

I enjoyed all the characters in this one! Kate was a dramatic thing, burying herself in books and turning real life into drama. Josh was steady, and little Anna a delight. The secondary characters were a pleasure as well, especially friendly Lydia and her housekeeping woes. The mystery at the heart of the matter was a melodrama worthy of one of Kate's classics.

The Christian message in this story was the dangers of gossip and making snap judgments without getting to know someone personally. It was done well and not too heavy. This was a clean romance and would be perfect for romance or mystery lovers.

The narrator was great, her voice was pleasant. Some of the characters in the story are from England, and she performed their accents well during the speaking parts. I thought it was a good performance.

I received a copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The best of Christian Romance!

This book was a great listen from start to finish. Kate came to Hays to teach at a one-room school house but finds herself involved in more than just teaching, including helping at the bakery, choosing the site for the school, and getting to know the townspeople and their children. As in all small towns, Kate heard rumors about different townspeople, especially Josh, the father of one of her pupils whose wife had recently disappeared. Kate sees the affect this has on little Anna and works to get to the bottom of the rumors. When she does, she learns secrets that she never expected to hear. Themes of friendship, caring and honesty are woven throughout.
I loved the plot and characters as well as the narration. Kandi Peppers delivers a flawless narration of the story, hitting the characters, emotions and pacing just right.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.

Good

I love stories with morals that teach us how to be human to each other. This story was how gossip and deceit can destroy people. Josh and his sister lost their mother to a drunk driver, their father turned bitter and hated the driver's family. Many things happened after this but most of all the townspeople spread gossip that caused the new shool teacher to look unfavorably on Josh. Most of these townspeople were purported to be good Christians but it took one woman who kept telling people that gossip was wrong to help people heal. There were several subplots in this story and it made for an interesting listen. The narrator was very good and kept the story going. I got this book via audiobook boom. I highly recommend it if you want a good romance without all of the explicit sex. This is well worth listening to. Love can be portrayed in a clean story and this one did a good job.

great book

this book is a lesson in never believing everything you hear about someone, and the love between two people can withstand just about everything. the narration is very good. if you haven't listened to this book, I highly recommend it.