Hearts of Steel by Elizabeth Camden

Hearts of Steel
by Elizabeth Camden

ISBN-13: 9780764238451
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Released: January 17th 2023

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Maggie Molinaro survived a hardscrabble childhood in the downtrodden streets of Manhattan to become a successful businesswoman. After a decade of sacrifice, she now owns a celebrated ice cream company, but when she offends a corrupt banker, she unwittingly sets off a series of calamities that threaten to destroy her life's work.

Liam Blackstone was once a common laborer but is now on the board of US Steel, committed to overhauling factory conditions for the steelworkers of America. Standing in his way is the same villain determined to ruin Maggie. What begins as a practical alliance to defeat a common enemy soon evolves into a romance between two wounded people determined to beat the odds.

A spiraling circle of treachery grows increasingly dangerous as Liam and Maggie risk their positions for the good of the city. It will require all their wit and ingenuity to navigate the dangerous waters ahead, and their crusade could cost them everything.


My Review:
Hearts of Steel is a romance set in 1902 in America. I keep reading this author's novels because she brings the time period alive in my imagination. The historical details were woven into the story and events from that time impact and motivate those in the story. It's very suspenseful, too. However, I felt so frustrated with the main characters. While they were complex and realistic, they didn't really grow as people.

I loved Maggie's strength of character to keep on working to recover when facing setbacks and her willingness to stand against an evil, powerful man and to sacrifice for the betterment of others. However, Maggie was careful with money to the point of being very frugal. Money made her feel secure. Money and how it's spent became a source of conflict in Maggie and Liam's relationship. Liam assumed she was interested in him because of his money, so she's careful not to ask money from him even when he offered that help. But it's also a pride issue. Look at what SHE did through her own hard work! At the end, she finally accepted some money offered as a gift, but she just couldn't enjoy what that money bought so she demanded that the person allow her to pay it back as a loan. Frankly, I assume Maggie and Liam will be fighting over each other's spending habits for the rest of their lives.

You don't need to read the previous novels to understand this one, but they'd help you to understand Liam. I liked Liam better in the previous two books, where he made a real effort to do what it took to gain his goal of helping others even when it was hard for him to make changes. In this book, he's single-minded in his desire to get revenge on his rival. Helping others was done mainly so he could look better than his rival. He used other people (including Maggie). He demanded things be on his terms even to the point of pushing Maggie to eat expensive food when she had good reason to not want to. He never did learn to tame his quick temper and even admitted that he didn't want to (despite the potential consequences) because it felt good. In the end, he only stopped pursuing his vengeance because family members forced him to stop.

Maggie sometimes prayed the rosary. Liam didn't believe in God but started reading his father's Bible. Liam had a moment when he realized that he did good things for the wrong reasons and liked how he felt when bullying his enemies. Maggie immediately told him that "You need to stop thinking of yourself as a bad person....you've been trying to do the right thing....Sometimes you will stumble, but you always pick yourself up and try again, and that's all God asks of you." No mention of Jesus or of confessing sin to God or of asking God for help. There was no sex or bad language.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.