The fifth book in the Milford-Haven novels series, When Hearts Heal, returns newlywed artist Miranda Jones to the spotlight as she settles into married small-town life with her “very amazing and still quite new husband.” After their Alaska honeymoon, they are returning to their Milford-Haven home and living together at last.
Though their journey will attract prior readers of the series, the conjoined lives of sister Meredith and Zach, who are attempting to replicate such happiness in their own dating and choices, and long-time enemies Samantha and Jack, who have fought so long that anything else feels unfamiliar, also unfold against the backdrop of both the small town and Miranda’s success.
Perspectives shift between Miranda, Zack, and other characters to add a full-bodied feel to the story. Conflicts and hearts at odds evolve in different ways, which also lends a feel of authenticity to the story as characters attempt to identify and resolve flaws and fall in love in different ways.
Zack’s reflections, as a result of a difficult recovery from the Bends during a diving accident and self-examination after an epic failure of communication, are just one example linking character efforts to understand and grow with the impact and choices this portends for the world around them:
He reexamined his sense of honesty and began to realize authenticity was the inner strength he was now finding, working it like a newly discovered muscle.
As he navigates ex Cynthia, a possible future with Meredith against all odds, and his own tendencies towards self-destruction, Zack grows in new directions. So do the other characters of Milford-Haven as each heal from different circumstances to discover new pathways towards resolution, love, and life.
Mara Purl cultivates a hopeful atmosphere in her story that keeps an uplifting tone to the obstacles each character faces in their growth and in their interpersonal relationships. This creates an atmosphere of promise as it delves into different forms of healing and growth.
Women interested in romance, family secrets and ties, and small-town community backdrops will relish how all these elements come together in different lives that both dovetail nicely with the other Milford-Haven stories and create new threads of subplot and discovery in When Hearts Heal.
Librarians looking for romance novels that both stand nicely alone and compliment other books in a series will find When Hearts Heal a fine acquisition. It can be recommended to leisure readers, but comes with the added bonus of enlightenment and thought-provoking developments that grow not only disparate characters, but readers who become involved in their lives, dilemmas, and transformations.
