My Heart Belongs on Mackinac Island -- Review by Andrea Stephens

My Heart Belongs on Mackinac Island: Maude's Mooring by Carrie Fancett Pagels

My Heart Belongs on Mackinac Island: Maude's Mooring 
by Carrie Fancett Pagels
Review by Andrea Stephens

I absolutely loved this book! This is by far my favorite book by author Carrie Fancett Pagels, and I've read them all.

The intrigue of the secret identities, the neighborly, family-like love between the islanders and how they look out for each other, the impish little brother Jack, Maude, and the stranger who has unwittingly captured her heart. All come together to create one of the best books I've read in a long time.

Maude is more upset than heartbroken when she meets her supposed fiance and his new wife on the docks as they return to the island.  Maude literally plows into Ben as she is leaving the wharf in angry tears. Though there is no introduction between the two the compassion showed by Ben was memorable. Maude finds herself thinking about him more than Greyson and Ben thinks of her too.
Without a husband her father won't let Maude run the family inn by herself, she doesn't understand why.  He threatens to sell The Winds of Mackinac Inn that has been in her mother's family for generations, the inn she believed she would inherit. It is her life, her home, her very breath, she cannot leave.  Maude has to prove to him she can do it on her own. She secretly gets a job as a maid at the posh Grand Hotel. Her friend Sadie says “Aren't you pushing this a little too far, Maude? You have no idea what you are in for working as a maid.”

I felt Maude's job at the Grand Hotel was very important to the story, as she learned some valuable lessons about herself and how she relates to other people. Friedrich, aka Ben, finds out the story he was sent to work on has changed, he's not entirely comfortable with the new direction. In the meantime, he can't stop thinking of Maude and searches her out.  Introductions are made and after his act of heroism, the two become closer.  I enjoyed this little romance as it was something unexpected by Maude, an islander and him a temporary visitor.
There is so much I want to say here about the story and other characters but I fear it would spoil it for others so I will not.  It is something you MUST read for yourself. The book is fast paced, filled with mystery and secrets that abound at every turn. The romance is heartwarming and real.
I so very much enjoyed this visit to the “Pristine Beauty” of Mackinac Island in the summer of 1895. I could feel the sights and sounds of life on the island as a visitor and as a resident.

I will finish this review with a quote from the book that was meaningful to me and I hope it will be meaningful to you too: 

 “...sometimes God has to put us in a place where He can mold us and ready us for something new. And sometimes He puts friends around us to help us, doesn't He?”

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book. After, my first reading, I ordered it for my Kindle so I could read this again, wherever I am.

Links to purchase:

Links to purchase My Heart Belongs on Mackinac Island: Maude’s Mooring (Barbour Publishing, July 2017)

Barbour Publishing 

Barnes & Noble 

Amazon 

CBD 

Book Depository 

Target 

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