Review – Endless Heart (Heart #3) by Emma Lang

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Description:

She’s learning to live. He’s forgotten how. Love will be their teacher.

Lettie Brown has lived in the shadow of violence. After escaping her brutal past, she’s finally at home in Forestville, Wyoming, where she would live a normal life—if she knew how. She’s content working at The Blue Plate and printing the town newspaper, if not happy. Then a stranger stumbles into her world and turns everything upside down.

Shane Murphy is a shell of a man, destroyed by the aftermath of the war, his personal tragedies and a penchant for cheap whiskey. When he lands, literally, on Lettie’s feet, his future takes a hard right turn.

As they fumble through a relationship that should not have been, a deep love takes root, one that cannot be denied. Together they discover a bond as unbreakable as steel and as undeniable as life itself—until the past rears its ugly head and threatens the happiness they’ve found in each other.

Product Warnings
Get ready for a deep, intense love story that will leave you crying, cheering, shouting, squirming and sighing. Prepare for a hero who needs to be held, a heroine who needs to be loved, and a story that needs to be told.

I don’t know what it is about an Emma Lang story but I am so glad to read and review the latest in the Heart series. I fell in love with her writing and storytelling after reading the Plum Creek, Devils on Horseback and the new Circle Eight series, so I was happy to read another one. In case you didn’t know Beth Williamson other pen name is Emma Lang. Endless Heart is the third story in the Heart series and it is the story of Lettie Brown finding love for the first time. She was introduced in the first story, Ruthless Heart, when she and Angeline ran for their life, literally, from their husband. It is 1873 in Tolson, Utah where the story begins where there is a community of Latter Day Saints and both Lettie and Angeline are the 2nd and 3rd wife, respectively, of Josiah Brown. They’ve been on the run and think they are away from danger but it comes to find them in a small time in Wyoming. Finally free to live life for herself she vows to do it without a man. She works at the Blue Plate Restaurant as a waitress and part time as the printer for the local newspaper. Getting to the restaurant early one morning she opens the door to have a man stumble at her feet and she now has to help him heal from all his injuries.

Lettie is no different than anyone when it comes to being hurt and rejected by people who are suppose to protect and love you. You shut off your emotions, rely only on yourself and do not expect any form of affection from others. Her childhood was a harsh one and it made my heart ache for her over what she has gone through. She doesn’t mince words, is brutally honest, and cusses. She’s my kind of girl! She’s had to survive on her own for so long until Angeline came into her life and then they saved each other. They have a bond closer than sisters and she counts her as the closest person in her life. Angeline has found love and marriage with Sam Carver and that leaves Lettie feeling a little jealous of what they have. She’s resolved that she will never have that for herself but there is that what if niggling at the back of her mind.

Shane Murphy is a broken man. He’s become a wanderer ever since the war ended and his family was murdered. Guilt is a powerful motivator for keeping Shane drunk and losing himself for weeks at a time. He is taken in by Marta at the restaurant and Lettie is there to watch over him as he recovers. I can’t say that sparks flew with them but there was a connection when he needed assistance getting a bath for the first time. He kissed her and it wasn’t like anything she ever imagined. Being around Shane was making Lettie uncomfortable but not in a bad way. Just not in a way that she was familiar with and it scared her. She was going to have to stay clear of him or leave town in order to protect herself. I found it interesting that she fights her desire and wants to ignore it than have to deal with it. They are both doing fine until they are asked to go to the next town and buy supplies for the restaurant. This trip takes them into danger and a pivotal, definitive moment in Shane’s life that makes him see himself in a whole new light after fighting for his life with Lettie by his side.

The story takes an interesting turn when the sparrow feathers start appearing for both Shane and Lettie. Sam’s mother’s Indian spirit is trying to watch over both these wounded people to get them to heal and see that love can help them move forward and hopefully together. When they each start having erotic dreams of one another and that they are almost identical, it turns a little surreal, but you don’t figure that out until later in the story. I know the mind can turn on fantasy and be so realistic you have a hard time distinguishing what is real and what isn’t. I wasn’t turned off by this development in the story but rather I went with it because the characters themselves drove the story. The author had them struggling with their own thoughts and actions, so I found it to be quite believable. Ms. Lang doesn’t try to change a thing about their demeanors for one another and that works also. What you see is what you get with Shane and Lettie, and when they find love for each other you know that is feels genuine and true for both of them.

The author’s dedication at the beginning nicely sums up the ending of the story because it is important to remember that it is who you are now and not who you use to be that makes Shane want to be with Lettie in the end. I’m so glad that they both got their HEA after a lifetime of pain and disappointment. This morning I was driving into work and I heard Tim McGraw’s new song “I’m Better than I Use to Be” which kind of reminds me of Shane and Lettie’s story. There is one line in particular that goes like this –I’m learning who you’ve been ain’t who you’ve got to be- really hits home for me and this story. I don’t know what it is with me but I somehow listen to songs and think of books and vice versa.

This story is part of a series and I would definitely recommend you read the first two to enhance your understanding and empathy for Lettie and Shane’s story. They are all easy and fast paced reads so you can read them one after the other like I did. On a whim I wrote to Ms. Lang and asked her if this was the end of the series and she said that she plans to write another story and tell Alice’s story called Blue Heart. That sounds good to me and I look forward to it.

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