What Matters Most

Worth Keeping

Series: Hearts on Display, Book 5

Written by Kimberly Keagan

Published by Ventana Publishing LLC

Release Date: 09.09.26

Genre: Christian Historical Romance, Gilded Age Historical Romance Fiction

5 Stars!

Max and Eliza just kept getting better the more I got to know them. There is plenty of banter between these two. What made their relationship work so well for me was everything happening underneath it. They are watching each other, learning each other, reconsidering assumptions, and slowly growing into people who are willing to make very different choices than the ones that seemed obvious at first.

That growth was one of my favorite parts of Worth Keeping.

Faith is part of that growth too. When difficult decisions come, prayer comes first. They seek God and then seek wise counsel from people they trust. Their faith actually affects what they do.

That matters so much to me in Christian fiction.

There is also unmistakably Christian truth here. Jesus Christ is named. The cross, salvation, and the work of the Holy Spirit are part of what they believe and how they understand what is happening around them. Their faith was real enough to change what they did. It showed up in prayer, in what they believed, and in the decisions they made when things got hard.

Max and Eliza were wonderful together. Their conversations, the way they studied one another, the moments when one of them saw a little farther beneath the surface than the other expected ... those were some of the scenes I enjoyed most.

The late Victorian setting was another easy win for me. An American businessman in England, a British vicar’s daughter, an old country estate, family and community surrounding them, and two very different futures that suddenly are not quite as simple as they once looked. There is so much warmth in that combination.

Kimberly Keagan also let these characters truly change. Their priorities shifted. Their understanding of themselves and each other deepened. Most importantly, they had to consider what God might be asking of them.

That made the romance mean more to me. So much more.

Worth Keeping was such an enjoyable read. Max and Eliza completely won me over, the faith was clearly Christian, and the character growth gave this story so much heart.

This one absolutely lived up to its title for me.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author and BookSirens. I also preordered it. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.