Review: His Steady Heart by Nell Iris

Ashley “Buck” Buchanan moved back home to take care of his sick mother when he was 22. That was the first time he met Pippin, the neglected 6-year-old boy next door. Fifteen years later, Buck, a caretaker by nature, offers up his couch for Pippin, who needs a break from his mom and a quiet place to sleep.

Pippin Olander is a ray of sunshine despite his emotionally lacking upbringing and works hard to make a better life for himself. Even though he’s fiercely self-sufficient, he learns to accept help from Buck, his rock and the only steady presence in his life.

Their friendship deepens and grows into something more as they spend time together. But when other people try to throw a wrench in the works, when Pippin’s independence is triggered, can Buck and Pippin trust in the love they’ve found?

Sooooo, super cute. Basically what I’ve come to expect from a Nell Iris story, I got with His Steady Heart.

Ashley and Pippin have known each other for years, Ashley watched Pippin grow up way too fast and has always felt protective of him. I love May-December romances where the MC’s are on equal footing and the dynamic that grew between Ashley and Pippin showed that aspect of their relationship really well.

Because Pippin’s mom has many nights of extracurricular activities with gentleman callers, Pippin begins spending more and more time at Ashley’s house. Ashley works nights and Pippin works two day jobs to save for college. Their interactions consist of them crossing paths at the beginning and ending of work days/nights and I loved their little quiet domestic rituals they fell into.

I think the little “moments” were my favorite parts of the book. Ashley, who isn’t a fan of his own name, goes by Buck to the world. The only one who calls him Ashley is Pippin and that was my first little nugget moment that I thought was just so sweet. All the time they spent together, just living their lives and becoming more intertwined as they shared morning cocoa spoke volumes organically for them. I didn’t have to be told they were falling in love, I could see it in everything they did.

The only thing I found a little off putting was the disconnect between Ashley’s inner dialog and his external speech. In his head he was relatively eloquent and his voice matched what I knew of his personality. When he spoke out loud however, his speech was more ‘sloppy’. Words were run together like “whaddaya” and “wanna”. Every word that ends in “ing” loses the “g” and is just “in’”, like “nothin’” and “sayin’”. It’s distracting and the two distinct voices made it seem like there was a third MC in the relationship sometimes.

There is minimal angst, but just enough conflict to keep the relationship more real and keeps the sugar to an acceptable level. A level of sweetness that works for a book that is based on the welcoming honey goodness of the beginning of a relationship between two people who are meant to be together.

**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**