Words Spoken True by Ann H. Gabhart

Back Cover: Adriane Darcy was practically raised in her father's newspaper offices. With ink in her veins, she can't imagine life without the clatter of the press and the push to be the first to write the news that matters. Their Tribute is the leading paper in Louisville in 1855.
 
When Blake Garret, a brash young editor from the North with a controversial new style of reporting, takes over a competing newspaper, the battle for readers gets fierce. After Adriane and Blake meet at a benefit, their surprising mutual attraction is hard to ignore. Still, Blake is the enemy, and Adriane is engaged to the son of a powerful businessman who holds the keys to the Tribune's Future. Blake will stop at nothing to get the story - and the girl.
 
Set against the volatile back drop of political and civil unrest in the 1850s Louisville, this exciting story of love and loyalty will hold you in its grip until the very last page.


Review: Within the first few chapters of this story the fate of the two protagonists is secured and the reader is left with little doubt about how this book will end. While predictable, Ann H Gabhart nonetheless weaves an entertaining story as she leads her characters in a side-stepping dance through the haunty upper class of Louisville's high society, down to the grungy shipping docks, and through the shadowed corridors of the printing shops while throwing in elements of murder, deceit, and treachery to spice up the romance.
 
The book was well written, and the dialogue was believable and often times delightfully witty. Blake Garrett, Adriane's unofficial and inappropriate suitor, is undoubtedly written for the female reader. With his dark good looks, roguish manner, and dramatic heroics he is certainly swoon worthy. Although he is perhaps a little too perfect it is hard not to like the cocky and rather over-confident editor.
 
Adriane, raised by her workaholic father, is a tom-boy who appears to suddenly find herself in a woman's body and faced with a whole new set of expectations that she has no idea how to deal with. Left to her own devices Adriane would live out her days working the printing press, but her undeniable beauty and her father's debts make that impossible. When she meets Blake, Adriane becomes caught between her father's desires and her own. At times her emotional dilemmas are a little hard to follow, but her unearthly beauty aside, she is a relatable character. How can you not like a woman who is capable of meeting Blake word-word in any sort of verbal duel when every other female in the room is swooning in his wake?
  
As much as I found this novel a little more humorous than it was probably intended I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It was light, funny, and entertaining.

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. 
Available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group"