BOOK BY: Rachel Scott McDaniel
What an excellent second installment to the Doors to the Past series by Barbour Publishing! Rachel Scott McDaniel seamlessly weaves the roaring twenties with present day into two parallel stories readers will enjoy.
The Belle is a steamboat that has a lot of history and is shrouded in a bit of a mystery. The boat connects present day wedding planner Devyn Asbury to Hattie Louis, the adopted daughter of the steamboat captain in the twenties. Readers are immersed in the time when rumrunners roamed the Ohio River, when money and power took precedence over family. Hattie Louis, as far as she knows, is an orphan nobody wanted. Yet there’s a darker secret she’s about to discover.
Devyn Asbury experienced the ultimate humiliation for all the world to see and finds solace in her job as the wedding coordinator for The Belle. When a major bridal magazine holds a contest for best historical wedding venue, Devyn is eager to compete. Yet while she dreams of first place, she’s met with a handsome stranger who holds secrets of his own.
The pages are filled with likeable characters, especially secondary ones who make life interesting and colorful for the heroines.
This story was a light, enjoyable read. There is some intrigue that keeps the readers guessing who Hattie really is, and who Devyn’s mysterious stranger will turn out to be.
I received an ecopy from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.