Dusk’s Darkest Shores Book Review

About the Book

How can a meek wallflower help a returning war hero whose dreams are plunged into darkness?

Mary Bloomfield has no illusions. Her chances for matrimony have long since passed her by. Still, her circumstances are pleasant enough, especially now that she has found purpose in assisting her father with his medical practice in England’s beautiful Lake District. Even without love, it’s a peaceful life.

That is until Adam Edgerton returns to the sleepy district. This decorated war hero did not arrive home to acclaim and rest, but to a new battle against the repercussions of an insidious disease. Mary’s caring nature cannot stand to see someone suffer–but how can she help this man see any brightness in his future when he’s plunged into melancholic darkness, his dreams laid waste by his condition?

Adam wants no charity, but he’s also no coward. If this gentle woman can work hard, how can he do less? Together they struggle to find a way forward for him. Frustration and antipathy slowly develop into friendship and esteem. Then a summer storm atop a mountain peak leads to scandal–and both Mary and Adam must search the depths of their closed hearts for answers if they hope to find any future path with happiness at its end.

Best-selling author Carolyn Miller is back with a fresh series that will not only thrill readers eager for more of her work, but bring in new fans looking for beautiful writing, fascinating research, deftly woven love stories, and real faith lived out in the Regency period.

My Thoughts

I realized long ago that I was never going to be the target audience to read Regency romances. Granted, I looove watching every adaptation ever made of Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, etc., but my attention span for reading this era never seems to be long enough. Upon starting Dusk’s Darkest Shores, I was afraid those assumptions would continue to be true. Well, here I am. . .eating those words.

Oh, the story was simply glorious, due in large part to the audiobook narrator. She took her time telling this story so eloquently and with such emotion. The wit and charm between Mary and Adam was so enjoyable to hear, and I daresay, would not have come across quite as well had I read it instead.

I appreciated Mary, an older heroine destined for spinsterhood, as being well-suited to Adam. He needed someone with Mary’s quiet patience and understanding, someone he had overlooked many years ago. This author did an amazing job creating him as a hero who did not wish to be pitied. Mary did not pity him, nor did I. Instead, I longed to witness him overcome this new, life-altering blindness and for him to see Mary in a new way. Their frequent conversations and long walks exploded with romantic tension that was some of the best I’ve read – ever.

My reading days may soon become filled with more Regency fiction…or at least, they will be as soon as the second and third books in this series are released. This will not be my last time reading this author, I can promise you that!

5 Stars

**This book is currently available on Scribd in audio format. Use my referral link to get your first 60 days free to read this and thousands of other Christian fiction titles!

**I have a couple of jewelry designs in mind for this book, too! Excited to see what those possibilities will be. 🙂