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It is the late 1900s, and Hazel has just turned eighteen. She is a talented musician and an independent young woman, but her parents, strict Methodists, exert considerable control over Hazel’s life. Additionally, Hazel has always had a severely curved spine and one short leg. When the opportunity arrives for her to travel alone to a town in Texas from Oklahoma to partake of a possible mineral springs cure, she jumps at the chance for independence. The water doesn’t do anything for her ailments, but she meets a man, Charlie, fifteen years her senior, and he helps encourage her to blaze her own trail.
Hazel follows that advice and gets a job playing piano to accompany the films in the local theater. She is extremely good at it and gains local recognition. Not only does she tell her father that she is not going back to Oklahoma, but she is also already engaged. Holding tight to her Bible, Hazel searches for a way to balance her independence, her role in a relationship, and the hardships that come her way.
This first book in the author's Inherited Treasures series establishes Hazel as the main character and firmly places the book as a Christian historical romance. Parson’s writing is strong, easy to read, and excels at establishing the setting. The themes in the novel are clearly established and revealed to the reader. The characters are more thematic archetypes than well-rounded, but this is somewhat typical of the genre. Parsons’ book will surely please avid historical romance readers, and fans of this novel will undoubtedly look forward to the second book in the series.