Illuminations of the Heart

by Joyce DiPastena

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She has spent her life illuminating pages with gold and light. But lighting the darkness of a widower’s heart will be her greatest challenge yet.

After her brother’s death, Siriol de Calendri leaves their beloved workshop in Venice and journeys to Poitou to become the ward of his friend, Triston de Brielle. But she does not intend to stay that way. She is determined to find new employment as an illuminator and reclaim the happy life she left behind. But Triston is not the guardian she expected. His wildly handsome looks take her breath away, while his quiet honor and courage quickly steal her heart.

Triston’s guilt for the death of his wife has left him hesitant to love again. It feels a betrayal to nourish the sweet stirrings Siri’s merry laughter and twinkling eyes bring to life in him. It would be safer for his peace of mind to see her wed to another, especially when a vengeful neighbor seeks to use Siri as a pawn in a dangerous rivalry between the king’s sons.But Siri is not the biddable ward he hopes for. Her fiery spirit is maddening, her contrariness exasperating, and her vivacious beauty makes his blood run entirely too hot.

With treachery rising around them, Siri fights not only for her future but for the man who guards his wounded heart too closely. Can her vibrant spirit finally illuminate the shadows in Triston’s soul and lead them both to love?

Poitevin Hearts, Book 3: Men and women living and loving amidst the political intrigues of medieval Poitou, a region of France once ruled by the Kings of England.

lluminations of the Heart is a PG-13 rated historical romance.

The Poitevin Hearts romance series is linked together by recurring characters, but each title is written as a stand-alone novel. They can be read and enjoyed in any order.

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Book Details

Genre

Historical Romance

Subgenre

Action/Adventure, Christian, Inspirational, Medieval

Series

Poitevin Hearts • Book 3

Audience

Adult

Bell Peppers

🫑🫑

Profanity

2 Mild

Violence

3 Moderate

Drugs, Alcohol, Tobacco

2 Mild

Publication Date

February 28, 2014

Language Versions

English

Fiction Form

Novel

Sensitive Themes

Abuse (physical, emotional, or verbal), Child abuse/endangerment, Grief or loss of a loved one, Self-harm or suicide

Representation

Single-parent or widowed-parent protagonist

Not one of her best

I normally love Joyce DiPastena's books, but this one wasn't my favorite. It went on too long and was too complicated. There were a lot of details that weren't necessary to the storyline, and only succeeded in confusing me and caused me to skim over quite a bit of it
Didn't really like the fact that every man who ever met Siri wanted to ravage her simply because she was so beautiful, it was a little overdone and took up to much of the book. I'll still read Joyce's books in the future because I have enjoyed her others, but this one just wasn't my cup of tea.

Really good

Just FYI: for all intents and purposes, this is book 2 following Loyalty's Web and involves characters from that book. I am not sure why it is not listed as such, so I have a question pending on Goodreads with the author....

I enjoyed this clean love story set in medieval times. The author keeps the plotw moving right along, with nary a lag in the pacing. The author also writes very well--her words just seem to flow along. I enjoy the descriptions of the people, places, and things of the time. I think the only thing that kept this from being five stars for me was that I read this so close on the heels of Loyalty's Web that there were a few similarities in the book that stood out to me. Had some time passed between reading each of them, the simiarities would have had an "old friend" familiarity rather than a "hey, didn't I just read that" feel.

Wow!

Wow! This clean historical romance accurately portrayed life in the Middle Ages! There was some violence, but nothing descriptive… and the romance was so sweet! Some of the conversations were a bit long, but the story itself was very well written, and I’m excited to find out who will be the main character in the next book of this series!

Illuminations of the Heart

The book was good but not good enough for me to go into book 3. I found it hard to follow at times. I am glad everyone was okay in the e d

Another hit

This is the second book I read by this author. She is observant and meticulous to detail in her story and accurate. The story is fun to read and pulls the heart strings at one moment and dashes them the next. I loved it and I think you will too.