By Heart and Compass


Romance - Contemporary
172 Pages
Reviewed on 07/28/2011
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Author Biography

Danielle Thorne freelanced for online and print magazines from 1998 through 2001, adding reviewing and editing to her resume. She has published poetry, short fiction and novels. Danielle is the author of sweet romantic adventure books, both historical and contemporary.

Other work has appeared with Espresso Fiction, Every Day Fiction, Arts and Prose Magazine, Mississippi Crow, The Nantahala Review, StorySouth, Bookideas, The Mid-West Review, and more. She won an Honorable Mention in Writer’s Digest’s 2006 annual writing competition and won the 2008 Awe-Struck Short Novel Contest. In 2009, Danielle won Classic Romance Revival's Work in Progress Contest, which resulted in another contract for her fiction.

Danielle currently writes from south of Atlanta, Georgia. She was the 2009-2010 Co-Chair for the New Voices Competition for young writers, is active with online author groups such as Classic Romance Revival and EPIC, and she moderates for The Sweetest Romance Authors at the Coffee Time Romance boards and Goodreads. Besides contract editing and writing full time, Danielle has four sons with her husband, Rob. Together they enjoy travel and the outdoors.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Lynn Fowlston for Readers' Favorite

Lacey Whitman had one thing she loved in life: riding the high seas with her parents. Traveling to such exotic places like the Caribbean searching for shipwrecks was a great adventure. After the deaths of her parents, Lacey is back home in Georgia, the owner of a three-story restored Victorian Gross home, formally owned by descendents of a Captain Betrand. With an old diary owned by the captain’s wife and the knowledge of genealogy charts, Lacey is ready to hit the high seas again and delve into the life of Capt. Bertrand with the help of Max, a down-and-out beach bum diving instructor. Can these two individuals, who are worlds apart, discover the treasure and legacy of the old ship Privateer?

By Heart and Compass is the first book I have read of Danielle Thorn’s, and I have to say I was deeply involved from the very first page. The little sayings at the beginning of each chapter set the tone for the book. It was easy to become involved in the lives of Max and Lacey as they set out on their challenge. Lacey had to decide what to do with what she finds, and Max had to learn to trust people again. Will they face it together, or will one lose out? If you like contemporary romance and high seas adventure that is cleanly written, then you will enjoy By Heart and Compass. I recommend it for all ages.