Review of The Widow’s Heart

[Emily Meadows]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Widow’s Heart" by Nicole W. Barnes.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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The Widow’s Heart by Nicole W. Barnes is a romance novel about a woman named Natalie Whitaker. Natalie is a young widow whose husband, John, a police officer, died in the line of duty, leaving his wife and young daughter behind. The details of her husband’s death are murky; Natalie is only told that he was killed by the suspect during an altercation. The news coverage and the police department all categorize the incident as “investigation pending.”

Three years later, Natalie is reunited with an old friend, Lucas Sutton. Lucas has come back to the town where his grandparents lived in the hopes of buying their old property. He meets Natalie at her place of employment, the real estate office, and she agrees to show him the property. As they walk around Lucas’s grandparents' old home, Lucas and Natalie realize they met when they were younger. Their shared memories give them a foundation on which to build a friendship. Nicole is resistant at first; she is still healing from her husband’s death and their complicated marriage. Lucas appreciates the easy friendship he finds with Natalie, and he is willing to wait for more.

I enjoyed reading this book. The author took what could have been a simple story of building friendship and romance between Natalie and Lucas and added complexity through subplots involving other characters. This made the story feel original. For example, some members of the police force where Natalie’s husband worked are corrupt and are actively trying to suppress the details of his death. Or, the relationship between Natalie and her mother-in-law, where there is a lot of anger, blame, and tension. I also appreciated the author’s attention to detail about the small town where the characters lived and the grieving process that Natalie and the other characters experienced.

I was surprised by the number of references to God in the book. The author kept the religious undertones relatively religion-agnostic; however, readers should note that God is mentioned eight times in the book. For example, Natalie’s ability to forgive was grounded in her faith in God. She used her faith to forgive her deceased husband and her mother-in-law. As someone who is not religious, I found this to be enough of a theme to stand out as something the author might want to mention in her summary of the book. That way, readers are aware and can choose to read the book (or not).

I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars. It was very good. This book is number one in a series, and I will read the next book when it comes out. There were a lot of twists and turns in the plot, and the author left a few things dangling that she will hopefully resolve in the next book. That said, this is a stand-alone book as is. The book had quite a few errors in the text that were slightly distracting to me. For that reason, I didn’t give it 5 stars.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading romance novels with a bit of suspense and complexity in them.

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The Widow’s Heart
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[Joshua Kameta]

I'm quite intrigued by the romance exploration as your review suggests. Thanks for such an honest review. I'll find time to read it

[Giovana Arévalo]

This seems like a heartwarming and compelling story, yet with some mystery surrounding Natalie's husband's death. Thank you for this review!

[Chinex2_]

Indeed, this is a true moral compelling and heart touching story, for this story contains a tragic flaws that leads to the bad mood to Natalie of which it's the results of her widowhood according to your review, For including the reunite of Natalie and her old friend.thank you for this is a great review.

[Hazel Mae Bagarinao]

I'd like to know how Natalie handles her healing process. I like romance novel and this book is what I want to consider reading. Thanks for your wonderful review!

[Emily Meadows]

This seems like a heartwarming and compelling story, yet with some mystery surrounding Natalie's husband's death. Thank you for this review!

It was a great book to read! Highly recommend.

[Victor Ayub Migos]

I'm glad that Natalie was willing to give romance and love another chance even though it would take a lot of time. Most widows crawl up and hide in grief which might eventually lead to depression and on worst case scenario, some end up commiting suicide.