Treasure Me - Christine Nolfi

Treasure Me
The Liberty Series #2


by Christine Nolfi

Kindle Edition & Paper Available




Product Description (From Amazon)

Petty thief Birdie Kaminsky has arrived in Liberty, Ohio to steal a treasure hidden since the Civil War. She’s in possession of a charming clue passed down in her family for generations: Liberty safeguards the cherished heart.

The beautiful thief wants to go straight. She secretly admires the clue’s author, freedwoman Justice Postell, who rose above the horrors of slavery to build a new life in Ohio. According to family lore, Justice left South Carolina at the dawn of the Civil War. Heavy with child, she carried untold riches on her journey north. As Birdie searches for the treasure, she begins to believe a questionable part of the story: a tale of love between Justice and Lucas Postell, the French plantation owner who was Birdie’s ancestor.

If the stories are true, Justice bore a child with Lucas. Some of those black relatives might still live in town. Birdie can’t help but wonder if she’s found one—Liberty’s feisty matriarch, Theodora Hendricks, who packs a pistol and heartwarming stories about Justice. Birdie doesn’t know that an investigative reporter who has arrived in town will trip her up—as will her conscience when she begins to wonder if it’s possible to start a new life with stolen riches. Yet with each new clue she unearths, Birdie begins to discover a family history more precious than gems, a tradition of love richer than she could imagine.

About the Author (from book page on Amazon)
Christine owned a small public relations firm in Cleveland, Ohio. Her articles and
press releases have appeared regionally in The Plain Dealer, The Akron Beacon Journal, Cleveland Magazine and other media outlets. Her short story,
Night Hour, appeared in Working Mother magazine.

Christine closed the firm fifteen years ago after she traveled to the Philippines and
adopted a sibling group of four children. She has been writing novels fulltime since 2004.

Contact her at
christinenolfibooks.blogspot.com/
and christinenolfi@gmail.com

Christine's other books:  The Tree of Everlasting Knowledge
O.Scarlett! REVIEW by Tenya

I found this novel a charmer because it's cleverly written! I really enjoyd the author's writing style. Ms. Nolfi has talent with words that pushed my eyes down the page. This was an easy read, but the plot kept my interest. Honestly, I did not feel it started slowly as she built the backgrounds for her characters. Because my favorite stories (of any kind) show how broken people can be mended, I was pulled in by the main protagonists. I really wanted to see them find wholeness.

Beautiful Birdie is a thief with a jaded, hurtful past which is shrouded in mystery, even to herself.  Hugh is a reporter with his own secrets, which he keeps for good reason.  The story follows many of the formulas for traditional romance fiction, but with enough twists and turns to carry this book beyond the ordinary.  Lives woven together, although unknown to the protagonists, is a knot the reader must unravel before putting the book down.

As contemporary romances go, this is a good write and a pleasant read. Shrouded in a bit of mystery, there's enough attraction and breaks between the scenes of the main characters to keep urging one toward the next chapter. I rated this five stars on Amazon because within its genre, Treasure Me is a very worth-while piece of fiction.

The descriptions of the little town of Liberty and its cast of homespun inhabitants returned me to my own roots of growing up in a small, snowy town filled with people so unique one would believe they could only exist in books. Yes, it made me homesick, and I'm glad for it. It's the reason I enjoyed the book so much!

Notes:  My greatest disappointment with this book was that I found the cover art to be very misleading.  I picked this up, expecting a period romance, but got a contemporary one instead.  This did not bother me because I did enjoy the story; however, I always had that Victorian woman in the back of my mind.  The art does relate to the story, just not directly.

If you get hung up on conservative morality, this book probably is not for you as the story is about characters who have been casual about their sexual relationships outside of marriage.  Some of the characters are a bit course and there's a little language and some sensual/sexual description.

Genre/Theme: Contemporary Romance
Reading Level: Mature Teen to Adult
Profanity: Low with a few instances of swearing
Sexuality: Obvious but not overly explicit - only two small scenes I can remember
Other:  This is a secular romance.  Illicit sexual relationships and adultery are hinted at and carry a large part of the plot.