The Test of Gold
(Hearts of Gold, Book 1)
By Renee Yancy
Raised in the shadow of a mother who defied convention, but won’t allow her own daughter the right to make the same choices, heiress Evangeline Lindenmayer has been groomed since childhood to marry into the British aristocracy.
When Lindy challenges her mother’s long-laid plans by falling in love with a poor seminary student, the explosion is bigger than the Brooklyn Bridge fireworks on Independence Day.
Publication Date: 15 March 2021
Publisher: Vinspire Publishing
Page Length: 335 pages
Genre: Historical Romance
MY THOUGHTS
Oh Lindy, the things this young heroine has to go through until she is free to marry the man she loves brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion. Having met Jack Winthrop in the library of her father's house (her father allowed Jack to use the library to help with his studies), Lindy inexplicably knows that life will never be the same again. As the two continue to meet clandestine, their friendship quickly turns into love, despite knowing that they could never have a future together.
Jack is a character that I instantly adored. He is so very caring and just plain loveable. His mother is dying of consumption, and the only family he has, beside his mother, is his uncle. Jack's relationship with his uncle really fascinated me, and it isn't until Jack's mother becomes progressively worse that the two of them can find common ground. Regarding Lindy, Jack knows he could never marry her, for she is out of his league, but he cannot stop his feelings and nor does he want to. He loves her—it is that simple, and unfortunately, that complicated.
Lindy's plight was absolutely desperate. Vera, Lindy's mother, is not content with her social standing and considerable wealth. She wants her daughter to marry into the British aristocracy, and then her obsessive ambitions will be fulfilled. But as she tries to manipulate and bend her daughter to her will, she soon realises that Lindy is beginning to have a mind of her own and unfortunately what Lindy wants and what her mother demands are two very different things.
At times this book made for some distressing reading. Vera is incredibly abusive to not only her daughter but also her husband and the staff. She is always right, and everyone else is wrong. Lindy has no say in anything, including what she wears. Vera is overcritical, finds fault with everything and is just horrid. If Vera was a living person rather than fictional and was alive now, then I think she would have ended up in prison because some of the things she does is really deploring. Vera will stop at nothing to get what she desires.
I thought Lindy's Aunt Gertrude brought a sense of balance to this novel. Gertrude does not give a hoot to what society thinks of her. She is certainly a breath of fresh air and is perhaps the only character in this novel who is not intimidated by Vera. Aunt Gertrude brings some welcomed relief to this story.
Although the young lovers are apart for most of this novel, which makes it remarkably different from other historical romances, their love and their fight to be together made their relationship very real in the telling.
I thought this story portrayed the era wonderfully, and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this novel.
Renee Yancy
Renee Yancy is a history and archaeology nut who writes the kind of historical fiction she loves to read – stories filled with historical detail that immerse you in another place and time. When she isn't writing historical fiction or traveling to see the places her characters have lived, she can be found in the wilds of Kentucky with her husband and two rescue mutts named Ellie and Charlie.
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