Love Finds You in Mackinac Island Michigan by Melanie Dobson: Kindle Giveaway by Melanie + Book Review & GIVEAWAY by Vera (Winner Chosen in book giveaway)

About the book: As the Gilded Age comes to a close, Elena Bissette's once-wealthy family has nearly lost its fortune. The Bissettes still own a home on fashionable Mackinac Island, where they will spend one last summer in the hope of introducing Elena to a wealthy suitor. But Elena is repulsed by the idea of marrying for money.

Quickly tiring of the extravagant balls, Elena spends most evenings escaping back into Mackinac's rugged forest. There she meets Chase, a handsome laborer who shares her love for the night sky. The two begin to meet in secret at an abandoned lighthouse, where they work together to solve a mystery buried in the pages of a tattered diary.

As Elena falls in love with Chase, her mother relentlessly contrives to introduce her to Chester Darrington, the island's most eligible bachelor. Marriage to the elusive millionaire would solve the Bissettes' financial woes, and Elena is torn between duty and love.

My thoughts:  Get ready for a trip back to the Gilded Age when ladies were ladies and did not deviate from their ordained positions.  Get ready to see the snobbery of monied class amongst themselves and most definitely toward the masses of those not so fortunate as to have expendable fortunes.

Travel back to a time and era when life was gentle, slower, and gracious.  But also journey into a world when marriages were made solely for the purpose of ensuring class and fortune it's rightful place.

Elena is a beautiful, gracious, obedient daughter whose family fortune has nearly completely vanished and who is on the cusp of losing everything.  Elena is an only child and it is up to her to marry into money to save the family. 

Chester is the man of the hour and the eligible bachelor whom every mother is trying to marry their daughter to.  Elena's mother is trying desperately to have Elena and Chester meet in the right circumstances that present Elena as the optimum lady for Chester to marry.

As obedient as Elena is to the plight that she faces in order to save hr family, she is also an entirely different person than anyone seems to know.  Elena loves to escape at night into the beauty of God's creation and enjoy the wonder of Creation - especially the creation of God's stars.

One such evening adventure takes her to her favorite escape hideaway - the lighthouse.  While there, another arrives.  A man named Chase who doesn't frighten her and who is somewhat aloof. You see, he, too enjoys God's creation and especially the stars.  Elena and Chase develop a tentative, innocent relationship that exists only at the lighthouse. 

The beauty and quaint atmosphere of Mackinac Island in Michigan is beautifully described by Dobson as she unfolds the character of the lovely Elena and the pragmatic Chase.

A shattering episode explodes and disrupts it all, each heart breaks, and they go different directions.  Then more sorrow comes Elena's way.  Can it all be resolved?

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BOOK GIVEAWAY ONLY HERE AT CHAT WITH VERA: Litfuse Publicity Group on behalf of the author and publisher will mail 1 of Chat With Vera's readers their very own copy of Love Finds You in Mackinac Island Michigan.  Open for USA only.  Easy entries:  Begins July 18 and ENDS August 8 at 12:00 Noon EDT.

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About the author:  Melanie Dobson has written ten contemporary and historical novels including five releases in Summerside's Love Finds You series. In 2011, two of her releases won Carol Awards: Love Finds You in Homestead, Iowa (for historical romance) and The Silent Order (for romantic suspense).

Melanie received her undergraduate degree in journalism from Liberty University and her master's degree in communication from Regent University. Prior to her writing career, Melanie was the corporate publicity manager at Focus on the Family and a publicist for The Family Channel. She later launched her own public relations company and worked in the fields of publicity and journalism for more than fifteen years.

For more about Melanie Dobson and her books, visit www.melaniedobson.com.

DISCLOSURE:  I was provided a complimentary copy for the purpose of rendering an honest review from the good folks at Litfuse Publicity Group on behalf of the publisher and the author.  Litfuse is also providing a free copy to a reader of Chat With Vera in the giveaway.  I was not reimbursed monetarily for this review.