Dawn Crandall: Enchanting Nicholette

By Kelly Bridgewater

In this captivating novella by Dawn Crandall, Nicholette Everstone is already a widow at the age of twenty-two: her husband was murdered on their wedding day. She has just returned to Boston after two years of mourning in Europe. Although her husband was loving, the marriage was an arranged one, and Nicholette would like to wed again--this time for love...and to someone safe.

As she acclimates to life in Back Bay again, Nicholette meets someone she can't help but fall for. But when she learns of the danger and sacrifices Cal Hawthorne takes on for the safety of others, will her heart be strong enough to keep her fears of "what if" at bay?

From Goodreads

My Thoughts:

I have read all of Dawn Crandall's The Everstone Chronicles series and have loved the majority of them. With each successive addition, Crandall improves her writing craft and shows why she will be in the publishing business for a while. Enchanting Nicholette is a novella, but it reads like a full length historical romance novel. With returning characters and a familiar setting, fans of Crandall's previous four novels will be excited to see returning characters come back into the fold.

Her writing has improved with this novel from the first novel. The novel is still written in first person which allows me to get closer to Nicholette's emotions and feelings all throughout the novel. With any good author, it is hard to tell a novel in first person without wanting to intrude on other characters' point of views, but Crandall does a fabulous job at staying in Nicholette's perspective throughout the entire novel.

The romance moves pretty quickly, but it is a fifty thousand plus novella, so it does have to move quickly. I really enjoyed the first scene in the novel at the bookstore. It captured my attention and set the tone for the romance to follow. Crandall is not too mushy like some contemporary romances can become. Instead she allows the emotions and thoughts to flow naturally.

The plot is different, yet predictable. I enjoyed seeing the element of mystery surrounding the hero, Cal, and learning more about Nicholette's past. Her wounded past transformed into something beautiful by the end of the novel. Even Cal had to transform and change his past to become who Nicholette needed. It was a captivating novel and captured my attention the whole time. I hope Crandall writes more novels. I love  reading her novels in the first person.

One last thing to mention is her element of spirituality. Crandall does a fabulous job at allowing it to flow from the hearts of the characters, not force a theology down the readers' throat. I admire that.

Overall, Enchanting Nicholette by Dawn Crandall is a interesting and captivating historical romance told in the first person. I enjoyed journeying with familiar characters and seeing the transformation of the hero and heroine. Fans of Crandall's previous four novels should definitely buy this novel and add it to their collection. I eagerly await what else Crandall decides to write.

I received a complimentary copy of Enchanting Nicholette by Dawn Crandall from Whitaker House Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

About the Author:

From Amazon

Dawn Crandall's debut Gilded Age Victorian romance, "The Hesitant Heiress," was a 2015 ACFW Carol award finalist in the debut category and received the 2015 Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, the 2015 Write Touch Reader's Choice Award and the 2015 Romancing the Novel Reader's Choice Award. Her follow-up novel, "The Bound Heart," received the 2016 Laurel Award from Clash of the Titles. Dawn earned a BA in Christian Education from Taylor University. She's been balancing books and babies lately as her two sons were both born as the four books of her Everstone Chronicles series were being released from Whitaker House from 2014 to 2016. Dawn lives with her husband and two young sons on a hobby farm in her hometown in northeast Indiana. (Taken from Amazon.)