Whenever I pick up a Mary Crawford book it is like coming home and taking a satisfying rest - I have become so attached to the wonderful sets of intertwined characters she has created for both her Hidden Heart series and her Hidden Beauty series. There is something almost nurturing about coming back to these characters, whose lives are so intricately entwined. Each book focuses on a different couple in the group of friends and relatives, but each story brings something new to the table and the supporting characters also reveal more about themselves than they did in the story that was dedicated to them.
Regular readers of my reviews will know I sort of fell into Mary Crawford's world by accident, but I couldn't be happier about it now. Hearts Set Free is yet another, sweet and romantic adventure with two lonely individuals, each tormented by a violent event in their past that robbed them of their happiness and they believe their futures. Crawford skillfully brings these two long-time friends together and helps them to realise that there is hope for the future and for love - that hope, perhaps, residing in each other. Darya, a Police Detective, with an eight and a half year old daughter and Stuart, a veterinarian couldn't be more different in many ways, but the shared experience of having violently lost a loved one is what draws them together and will hold them there, as long as they can both let go of the past.
The whole two series of Crawford's are simply superb. They are not pretentious or exceptionally clever, with intricate plot twists, but what they are is an examination of the human condition and the need we all have to love and to be loved, despite out many flaws and/or disabilities. It is the simplicity of the stories and their endearing characters that continues to bring me back to Crawford's work. She is a master storyteller in this genre and I look forward to each and every one of her new works, wondering perhaps, like she does, who is the next pair in this cast to have their lives exposed on Crawford's pages.
Keep up the great work Mary - this reader loves your stories
Regular readers of my reviews will know I sort of fell into Mary Crawford's world by accident, but I couldn't be happier about it now. Hearts Set Free is yet another, sweet and romantic adventure with two lonely individuals, each tormented by a violent event in their past that robbed them of their happiness and they believe their futures. Crawford skillfully brings these two long-time friends together and helps them to realise that there is hope for the future and for love - that hope, perhaps, residing in each other. Darya, a Police Detective, with an eight and a half year old daughter and Stuart, a veterinarian couldn't be more different in many ways, but the shared experience of having violently lost a loved one is what draws them together and will hold them there, as long as they can both let go of the past.
The whole two series of Crawford's are simply superb. They are not pretentious or exceptionally clever, with intricate plot twists, but what they are is an examination of the human condition and the need we all have to love and to be loved, despite out many flaws and/or disabilities. It is the simplicity of the stories and their endearing characters that continues to bring me back to Crawford's work. She is a master storyteller in this genre and I look forward to each and every one of her new works, wondering perhaps, like she does, who is the next pair in this cast to have their lives exposed on Crawford's pages.
Keep up the great work Mary - this reader loves your stories
Please, absolutely do pop on over to Amazon and check out Hearts Set Free, plus the full selection of Mary Crawfor'd's "Hidden Hearts" and "Hidden Beauty" series. They are all wonderful.
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