To Wager Her Heart by Tamera Alexander

From the publisher:

Sylas Rutledge, the new owner of the Northeast Line Railroad, invests everything he has into this venture, partly for the sake of the challenge. But mostly to clear his father's name. One man holds the key to Sy's success--General William Giles Harding of Nashville's Belle Meade Plantation. But Harding is champagne and thoroughbreds, and Sy Rutledge is beer and bullocks. 

    

Seeking justice . . . 

   

Sy needs someone to help him maneuver his way through Nashville's society, and when he meets Alexandra Jamison, he quickly decides he's found his tutor. Only, he soon discovers that the very train accident his father is blamed for causing is what killed Alexandra Jamison's fiancé--and has shattered her world. 

   

Struggling to restore honor . . . 

   

Spurning an arranged marriage by her father, Alexandra instead pursues her passion for teaching at Fisk University, the first freedmen's university in the United States. But family--and Nashville society--do not approve, and she soon finds herself cast out from both.

   

Through connections with the Harding family, Alexandra and Sy become unlikely allies. And despite her first impressions, Alexandra gradually finds herself coming to respect, and even care for this man. But how can she, when her heart is still spoken for? And when Sy's roguish qualities and adventuresome spirit smack more of recklessness than responsibility and honor? 

   

Sylas Rutledge will risk everything to win over the woman he loves. What he doesn't count on is having to wager her heart to do it. 

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I recently moved from near Nashville.  I was able to visit Belle Meade Plantation and I love how Tamera Alexander weaves the real life people into this novel.  The history of Nashville and Belle Meade Plantation is fascinating -- and if you have read her other books based in Belle Meade Plantation, each book shares a different part of history.

Nashville comes alive in this book and what is really amazing is the way she brings to life the education of freed slaves after the civil war.  The strength, determination of these brave warrior souls is beautiful.  It also shows how we c an easily forget all that our country has gone through. 

I love the history of the railroad in the book as well as the Jubilee Singers and Fisk University.  This was such a great historical lesson for me. 

I love the way Tamera Alexander writes. She writes a romantic love story but doesn't pretend that all things are perfect. She doesn't make everything turn our the way the characters want and that allows the reader to feel the the novel is more true to life. 

I received this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.