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Courted by Time
Courted by Time
In Hyacinth, Book 7
With her courting year over and no men on the horizon, DeLynn Straynar decides to do something different with her life and signs up to attend college in Longdale an hour away. Her first day there, she runs into Zachary Styles, the school’s single chaplain and feels attracted, but quickly tries to convince herself she feels nothing for him. Until they meet again and again. With school taking up so much of her attention, she tries to focus just on it, but ignoring the gorgeous brown-eyed man is difficult and she’s not sure she wants to.
Zachary is twenty-five and working toward his doctorate in divinity. While aware of Hyacinth, he never imagined he would physically discipline anyone, until falling for DeLynn. She thinks getting courted will be the hardest part, but their courting year turns out to be fraught with trouble. From her best friend running away from home, to trying to figure out who she is in an environment so unlike the one she grew up in, the entire year is filled with stress. She keeps hoping that in time, everything will work itself out.
Unfortunately, time can only fix so much and as her anxiety goes through the roof and she finds herself in a manic mode she cannot stop, it doesn’t take long before she realizes that while sometimes she needs to figure things out on her own, there are also times she needs to hand the reins over to someone else.
In Hyacinth, Book 7
With her courting year over and no men on the horizon, DeLynn Straynar decides to do something different with her life and signs up to attend college in Longdale an hour away. Her first day there, she runs into Zachary Styles, the school’s single chaplain and feels attracted, but quickly tries to convince herself she feels nothing for him. Until they meet again and again. With school taking up so much of her attention, she tries to focus just on it, but ignoring the gorgeous brown-eyed man is difficult and she’s not sure she wants to.
Zachary is twenty-five and working toward his doctorate in divinity. While aware of Hyacinth, he never imagined he would physically discipline anyone, until falling for DeLynn. She thinks getting courted will be the hardest part, but their courting year turns out to be fraught with trouble. From her best friend running away from home, to trying to figure out who she is in an environment so unlike the one she grew up in, the entire year is filled with stress. She keeps hoping that in time, everything will work itself out.
Unfortunately, time can only fix so much and as her anxiety goes through the roof and she finds herself in a manic mode she cannot stop, it doesn’t take long before she realizes that while sometimes she needs to figure things out on her own, there are also times she needs to hand the reins over to someone else.
- GenresContemporary Romance
162 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 20, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 4, 2015
Ms. Cariad just seems to be getting better and better as this series progresses. I enjoyed the first three books in the series and considered them all 4-star reads. The second set of three books were better and I considered them all 5-star reads as they were each re-readable books for me for various reasons. That said, I found Courted by Time to be even more enjoyable than its predecessors. Part of my enjoyment was in seeing how Deeka’s father Barrett had become such an integral part of the Straynar household and provided DeLynn and her siblings paternal support without “taking over” as the entire family’s Head of Household. But most of my enjoyment came from watching DeLynn blossom and come into her own over the course of the book.
As we have learned from previous books in the series, once a girl in Hyacinth turns 19 and has not entered into a courting, she considers her chances of being courted to be pretty much nonexistent. When DeLynn’s expected courting request failed to materialize in Courted by a Knight, we got a chance to see firsthand how hard it was for a girl and her friends to balance being happy for a friend who is being courted with being supportive of one who is not – and yet these girls often manage to do it and remain close friends. The friendship that DeLynn has with Deeka proves to be invaluable as Deeka’s plans to attend the local community college despite her marriage to Curtis encourages DeLynn to pursue her own education. As her friendship with Deeka has put her under the watchful eye of Barrett for years, he is very supportive of her request to enroll in college for the upcoming term and not only goes to bat for her with her mother, he also helps her with choosing courses, providing transportation on days that carpooling is not an option, and encouraging her to meet her goals.
Because of this, Ms. Cariad is able to take the series outside of Hyacinth and give readers the opportunity to see how a girl raised in a Domestic Discipline oriented community fares in a world that does not understand it. That DeLynn is naturally shy makes the transition a bit tougher socially, but she is there to learn and takes pride in her classes and studies hard. Yet when she meets Zachary, the school’s chaplain, she finds herself interested in a man and curious as to whether or not a relationship with someone who does not prescribe to DD would work. But being pathologically shy makes this a non-issue and DeLynn relegates her interactions with Zachary to school-based activities. As someone who preferred studying to partying in college, I sympathized with DeLynn’s situation and was thankful when Mother Nature took charge of the situation and gave Zachary the chance to come to her rescue (even if that situation was scary as heck at the time).
If you have read any of the books in the series (or are a romance reader in general), that Courted by Time ends happily is not a spoiler. But it’s the journey to DeLynn’s happy ending that made the book for me. I loved watching DeLynn come into her own. While she will likely always be shy, she found an inner strength and confidence she did not possess prior to this book and one I’m not sure she would have found had she not gone to college – or at least not to the same level. I appreciated that Zachary had already been attracted to the DD lifestyle and had made his decision to move to Hyacinth before meeting DeLynn; this meant that while DeLynn may have hastened his entrance into DD, it was not the sole cause of it. The relationship that DeLynn developed with Barrett was beautiful to see because he provided her the paternal guidance she had been missing since her father’s death and only implemented DD when she needed it and at her request. I found that scene particularly emotional for reasons I won’t go into because it was pivotal to the story in so many ways. The author added another layer to the book with Chrissa’s story – one I’m torn between wanting to read and not wanting to read – and as much as I hated that DeLynn felt the sting of Chrissa’s selfishness early in the book, I liked how she was able to take the situation and forge something positive out of it. And I really, really, really, really, really liked what her friendship with Jonah may foreshadow about the future of the series. Courted by Time is an excellent addition to the In Hyacinth series and is now my favorite of them. I cannot wait to see what happens next.
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Reviewed by Angela at Crystal's Many Reviewers!
As we have learned from previous books in the series, once a girl in Hyacinth turns 19 and has not entered into a courting, she considers her chances of being courted to be pretty much nonexistent. When DeLynn’s expected courting request failed to materialize in Courted by a Knight, we got a chance to see firsthand how hard it was for a girl and her friends to balance being happy for a friend who is being courted with being supportive of one who is not – and yet these girls often manage to do it and remain close friends. The friendship that DeLynn has with Deeka proves to be invaluable as Deeka’s plans to attend the local community college despite her marriage to Curtis encourages DeLynn to pursue her own education. As her friendship with Deeka has put her under the watchful eye of Barrett for years, he is very supportive of her request to enroll in college for the upcoming term and not only goes to bat for her with her mother, he also helps her with choosing courses, providing transportation on days that carpooling is not an option, and encouraging her to meet her goals.
Because of this, Ms. Cariad is able to take the series outside of Hyacinth and give readers the opportunity to see how a girl raised in a Domestic Discipline oriented community fares in a world that does not understand it. That DeLynn is naturally shy makes the transition a bit tougher socially, but she is there to learn and takes pride in her classes and studies hard. Yet when she meets Zachary, the school’s chaplain, she finds herself interested in a man and curious as to whether or not a relationship with someone who does not prescribe to DD would work. But being pathologically shy makes this a non-issue and DeLynn relegates her interactions with Zachary to school-based activities. As someone who preferred studying to partying in college, I sympathized with DeLynn’s situation and was thankful when Mother Nature took charge of the situation and gave Zachary the chance to come to her rescue (even if that situation was scary as heck at the time).
If you have read any of the books in the series (or are a romance reader in general), that Courted by Time ends happily is not a spoiler. But it’s the journey to DeLynn’s happy ending that made the book for me. I loved watching DeLynn come into her own. While she will likely always be shy, she found an inner strength and confidence she did not possess prior to this book and one I’m not sure she would have found had she not gone to college – or at least not to the same level. I appreciated that Zachary had already been attracted to the DD lifestyle and had made his decision to move to Hyacinth before meeting DeLynn; this meant that while DeLynn may have hastened his entrance into DD, it was not the sole cause of it. The relationship that DeLynn developed with Barrett was beautiful to see because he provided her the paternal guidance she had been missing since her father’s death and only implemented DD when she needed it and at her request. I found that scene particularly emotional for reasons I won’t go into because it was pivotal to the story in so many ways. The author added another layer to the book with Chrissa’s story – one I’m torn between wanting to read and not wanting to read – and as much as I hated that DeLynn felt the sting of Chrissa’s selfishness early in the book, I liked how she was able to take the situation and forge something positive out of it. And I really, really, really, really, really liked what her friendship with Jonah may foreshadow about the future of the series. Courted by Time is an excellent addition to the In Hyacinth series and is now my favorite of them. I cannot wait to see what happens next.
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Reviewed by Angela at Crystal's Many Reviewers!
July 25, 2015
FINDING YOUR SOUL MATE
What a great addition to this series, with charming characters, real-life difficult situations, learning new cultures, finding a new niche that helps others and gaining knowledge and understanding of life. The dialog is open, honest and heartwarming. I love this series, they never get old, always a new and wonderful story. The nice thing about the In Hyacinth books, they each read as a standalone, and could be read out of order, but would be best if read in the order they are written. You will see people from previous books too. The town of Hyacinth has specific rules to follow in their courting rituals but are also open to outsiders who wish to join their community, also as long as they adhere to the town councils guidelines. The stories do share various corporal punishments, given in a loving manner. There are no sex scenes, only implied in the story.
DeLynn Straynar went through her first year of eligibility to court without success and decides to ask her mother and stepfather permission to attend Longdale Community College and take classes. She meets the LCC Chaplain, Zachary Styles when she goes to check out the college. DeLynn and Zach become friends and then she learns he is planning to move to Hyacinth. He believes in the Hyacinth way and starts courting DeLynn. So many issues besides their courting are brought out in this story. When a childhood friend runs away, then becomes pregnant and her father refuses to allow her to return. Meeting new people outside of her community and learning about lifestyles she hasn't been brought up with, but she is curious, not judgmental.
What a great addition to this series, with charming characters, real-life difficult situations, learning new cultures, finding a new niche that helps others and gaining knowledge and understanding of life. The dialog is open, honest and heartwarming. I love this series, they never get old, always a new and wonderful story. The nice thing about the In Hyacinth books, they each read as a standalone, and could be read out of order, but would be best if read in the order they are written. You will see people from previous books too. The town of Hyacinth has specific rules to follow in their courting rituals but are also open to outsiders who wish to join their community, also as long as they adhere to the town councils guidelines. The stories do share various corporal punishments, given in a loving manner. There are no sex scenes, only implied in the story.
DeLynn Straynar went through her first year of eligibility to court without success and decides to ask her mother and stepfather permission to attend Longdale Community College and take classes. She meets the LCC Chaplain, Zachary Styles when she goes to check out the college. DeLynn and Zach become friends and then she learns he is planning to move to Hyacinth. He believes in the Hyacinth way and starts courting DeLynn. So many issues besides their courting are brought out in this story. When a childhood friend runs away, then becomes pregnant and her father refuses to allow her to return. Meeting new people outside of her community and learning about lifestyles she hasn't been brought up with, but she is curious, not judgmental.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews