I first discovered Jill Marie Landis’ mainstream historicals via a used book store when I was in college and I’ve been happy to see her writing historicals again recently. She writes inspirational historicals now, and Heart of Stone, which kicks off a new series, is a pleasant if sometimes uneven read.

The book opens in the Irish immigrant community in New Orleans where a young girl ends up being sold to a brothel by her uncle who cannot afford to feed his brother’s orphaned children. The book then picks up in Texas more than 20 years later as the young woman who has now escaped the brothels and reinvented herself as respectable thirtysomething widow Laura Foster, operates a boardinghouse for women and families in the town of Glory. Laura has come a long way from the life she used to lead and, from the appearance of things, she’s made a very comfortable amount of money to allow her to begin a new life.

The reader can tell right away that Laura receives a certain amount of respect in the community. She wishes to live independently and still struggles with shame over her previous life, as well as the fear that someday the town will learn of her past. She has no wish to marry and shoos away any men who approach her with an eye toward courting her. This includes the local minister, Brand McCormick, who first notices Laura as she defends a child in the general store. He is taken by her beauty and her spirit and shows himself quite determined to spend time with her, even as she shies away.

This would all seem rather stalkery if Brand weren’t such a nice-seeming sort of guy. He’s a widower with two rambunctious children, with whom Laura bonds very quickly. Usually the overly persistent hero irks me, but Brand never struck me as threatening or even as a garden variety jackass. He’s just a really nice, decent guy who could use an occasional smack on the head from the social skills fairy.

Brand and Laura form a friendship that starts to deepen into something more, and that’s where things really get interesting in this story. Laura has built a respectable life for herself, but she has cut herself off from other people emotionally and doesn’t let herself get too close to others. Though she is falling for Brand, she believes she cannot be good enough for him. And without spoiling things, we’ll just say Brand has a few struggles of his own.

So, rather than one character saving the damaged hero/heroine with the power of true love, what we get is actually a very sweet story of two damaged people being saved not only by their love for each other but also by developing and deepening faith. Best of all, the inspirational plotline is shown primarily by characters who work their faith naturally into their lives. What the characters believe is just who they are and they don’t go around spouting lots of theology or holding altar calls in the town square. Brand’s life revolves in many ways around his vocation, but the reader gets to see him live rather than be preached to by him.

My main issue with this story was that, while the lead characters suffered greatly due to their pasts, their major issues seem to resolve themselves a little too quickly. Healing tends to be a process, and things appeared to work unnaturally easily in this book, especially in the final chapters. In addition, rather like her heroine, the author seemed to pull back from exploring the full range of her characters’ emotions. I’ve read enough of Landis’ books to know that she can do this effectively, but the feelings her characters experience felt a little muted somehow as I read this book. This book has some very good moments, but it could have been great if we had been allowed to dig a little deeper.

Still, even with its weak points, this is still an entertaining read. I liked the characters and enjoyed the overall story. I’m also glad to see Jill Marie Landis writing historicals again, and I plan to read the other books in this series so I can learn what happened to Laura’s sisters.