Book Review: Window of Opportunity by Heather Greer

Posted January 26, 2023 by meezcarrie in Christian, Heather Greer, historical, romance / 3 Comments

WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY by Heather Greer
SERIES: The Stained Glass Legacy #1
GENRE: Inspirational Historical Romance
PUBLISHER: Scrivenings Press
RELEASE DATE: January 10, 2023
PAGES: 281

Faith and duty drive Evangeline Moore to protect her father’s pristine image as a judge in Harrisburg, Illinois. Her resolve’s biggest test? Dot, her childhood friend. With Evangeline beside her, Dot’s desire for the Roaring Twenties’ glitz and glamor leads the pair into questionable situations.
Born into a Chicago mob family, Brendan Dunne understands duty, but faith puts him at odds with his father’s demands. Even when his brother James’s propensity for trouble lands them in Harrisburg, the truth is undeniable. To their father, the lines he won’t cross mean Brendan will never measure up.
When circumstances push Brendan and Evangeline together, unexpected events create opportunity to break free of family expectations. Will they be brave enough to forge their own path before the window closes on their chance to change?

Mob rivalries, family drama, strained friendships, sweet romance, even a newfangled snack called the potato chip, Window of Opportunity has plenty of adventure to appeal to a variety of readers. When a gangster’s son (who wants no part of the family business) falls in love with a judge’s virtuous daughter, you know sparks are going to fly but this story is far from that predictable. In fact, a couple of events in the first half of the story took me completely by surprise and kept me invested in turning the pages, waiting to see how it was all going to play out.

With some of my roots being in Southern Illinois, I was immediately drawn to this historical romance set there during the Roaring 20s. It made the based-on-fact events that formed the backdrop for the first half of the story even more interesting to me, knowing that my maternal great-grandparents may have experienced them in real time, or at the very least read about them in the daily newspaper. Even just knowing that my maternal grandparents were small children in this area during the time period of this novel helped me relate to the history on the pages on a different level.

Brendan & Evangeline each endeared themselves quickly to me – separately and together – and I was rooting for them from start to finish. Brendan is the odd man out in his family, not at all interested in living a mobster’s lifestyle or doing his father’s business. He’ll try to keep his brother out of trouble (an impossible task) at Dad’s request, but that’s the extent of his participation in their dealings. Evangeline’s family has raised her to love the Lord and follow His principles (and she also can be a little sassy, which I loved lol), but her best friend Dot is another story – drawn by the glitz and glamour of the era without heeding the emptiness or the consequences of its snares, much like Brendan’s brother. This juxtaposition of the two couples only gets sharper the more time they spend together, and I really appreciated the layers that the author gave these characters. Any one (or more) of the four could have easily become a stereotypical, or cardboard, character for the time period, but Greer wisely weaves enough deeper dimension to keep that from happening for each of them.

The slow-burn romance between Evangeline and Brendan was super sweet and swoony, and I have so much more I want to say about it but I’m trying to be so careful about potential spoilers lol. I so loved the way Brendan loved Evangeline – respecting her and protecting her the best he knew how. This runs deeper the farther we get into the story, and I found myself completely smitten by the scene involving the installation of a certain stained glass window and how beautifully the author related it to their relationship.

Bottom Line: Window of Opportunity by Heather Greer is a sweet romance with intriguing layers and a touching faith thread. Readers will appreciate the history of the Roaring 20s and the ways the author brings it to life on the pages and in the characters. Brendan and Evangeline are very likable protagonists, and I genuinely enjoyed getting to know them and following their journey. I’m very intrigued about where the series will go from here, and I look forward to finding out!

(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I read via Kindle Unlimited. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.)

My Rating: 4 stars / enjoyed it!

KissingBook Level: 3 / may forget to breathe on occasion

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Heather Greer loves growing in her relationship with God and helping others do the same. While she’s served in ministries dealing with toddlers through adults, her focus is on encouraging and challenging teen and adult believers to go further in their faith. She is blessed to be able to use her God-given passion for writing to do this, both in her books and blog.

Heather is a pastor’s kid from southern Illinois. While she never intended to marry a pastor, she became a pastor’s wife when her husband answered the call to preach five years into their marriage. Now that three of her four kids have flown the nest, Heather enjoys more time for reading and writing and writing about reading. And when she’s not doing any of those things, you’ll probably find her in the kitchen baking for her friends and family.

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