A review by english_lady03
Holding the Line by Jennifer Delamere

4.0

Confession time: I liked this series a lot more than Mrs Delamere’s first series. I don’t know what it is that made me like it more, perhaps it was the non-traditional approach: emphasizing the fact that love is not all sunshine and roses. People hurt and get hurt, and that impacts relationships in the future. The woman (and men) in the series have very realistic concerns about getting married which aren’t normally reflected in this genre.

With this last instalment, I also liked the fact the protagonist was similar in age to me. Older protagonists tend to get discounted and side-lined, and I don’t think that should be the case. Rose had much more experience and was more sensible and level-headed than many of the other heroines in the series. We need more like her. Rose’s concerns about her charge are legitimate, but the theme is realistic as well. All too often we’re concerned about people’s reactions and what they do as a result of our advice, but at the end of the day we can’t *force* people to do the right thing or take the wise course of action and we’re not responsible if they don’t.

I got a bit lost towards the end of the novel, so I might give it a re-read (hopefully the publisher will put the eBook on sale soon), but it was well worth the read. I would recommend starting this series at the beginning though and not diving straight in with this one, as there’s some important context missed otherwise.

Thanks to Bethany House for approving my request for an ARC of this title via Netgalley. This did not influence my review and all opinions expressed are my own.