A Heart Sufficient

The Penn-Leiths of Thistle Muir, Book 4

By: Nichole Van

Narrated by: Mhairi Morrison

Tristan Gilbert, the autocratic Duke of Kendall, has a clear plan for his future—destroy his father's memory, obliterate his enemies, and become Prime Minister. Fortunately, he can accomplish all three goals by convincing Parliament to prosecute the Scottish Earl of Hadley. Once Hadley is vanquished, surely the Queen will recognize Kendall's readiness for the role of Prime Minister.

But in order to succeed, Kendall must first conquer his own unnerving attraction to Hadley's hoyden of a daughter—Lady Isolde Langston.

Lady Isolde Langston knows impulsivity will be her downfall. Case in point, her heedless actions triggered the Duke of Kendall's current vendetta against her father. Isolde needs to right the wrongs she caused and force the duke to surrender before Hadley ends up jailed. To do this, she decides to torment Kendall at every turn. The arrogant Sassenach will rue the day he crossed her.

But when an unfortunate accident fractures both their lives, Kendall and Isolde unexpectedly face a future neither of them wished. As their romance deepens, can Kendall change his heart sufficiently and Isolde forgive past hurts in order to form a love all their own?

©2024 Nichole Van Valkenburgh (P)2024 Tantor

Heart-breaking Redemption Story

Absolutely stunning story, characters, lessons of forgiveness, redemption, and the narration is perfectly done. Loved this one.

A new all time favorite book!

“A Heart Sufficient” has quickly become my new all-time favorite Historical Romance!

The Duke of Kendall has set a clear path for himself to erase the legacy and memory of his father and become Prime Minister. Part of his path means taking out his enemies, including the Scottish Earl of Hadley, who is Lady Isolde Langston’s father.

After watching the impact of the Duke’s goals on her family, Lady Isolde Langston takes it upon herself to convince the Duke to stop his vengeance towards her father.

The whit and banter of their verbal sparring and “gifts” left for one another had me laughing out loud!

When an unfortunate accident halts both of their efforts, it sends their lives in an unexpected and unwanted direction.

This is a beautiful story of redemption. It’s a story of forgiveness, of opening up your heart to love and learning how to be loved. It’s a story about learning to trust yourself and others.

I was stuck between not wanting to put this book down and not wanting it to ever end. It is pure perfection!!

Grab a cup of tea, cozy up by the fire, and get lost in the pages of “A Heart Sufficient”!

Before you read:
To get the most out of Tristan and Isolde’s story, I highly recommend reading the background of both families by reading the following books by Nichole Van:

Brotherhood of the Black Tartan Series:
Suffering the Scot
Romancing the Rake

The Penn-Leiths of Thistle Muir:
Love Practically
Adjacent but only Just
One Kiss Alone

I listened to the books leading up to A Heart Sufficient on audio. The readers were fantastic!

Pain, Love, Forgiveness

A perfect ending to the series.
What we do with love and pain, along with a generous extending of forgiveness are important themes in this day and age.
This is especially true when we are challenged to forgive those who are close to us, and yet have been the instigators of some of the pain in our lives. Thanks to the author who paints a beautiful picture of what forgiving and seeking restoration with family, as well as those we thought we are our enemies can achieve.

Wonderful!

Captivating, emotional, and love the redemption story, from earlier books in the series. Very good narration with excellent accents.

Touching and Redemptive

Very sweet and engaging story of an emotionally wounded and divisive Duke who unwittingly meets his match in the intelligent, university-educated redhead who crossed his path 10 years prior.

Incredible book and a perfect narration yet again!

An incredible conclusion to the series, although I’ve come to expect as much from Nichole Van. This one was especially rewarding to settle in and read. To see the growth of the characters as their stories unfold is so enjoyable, heart wrenching, tender, satisfying, etc. The voice of the narrator is so perfect for all of the characters I can’t imagine anyone else bringing these books to life. Five stars across the board. Nichole Van is a gifted author who brings absolute joy to readers through the storylines of her characters.

Complex and rewarding

The depth of the characters and the breadth of their hearts- the transformation that is possible because of love and forgiveness are unmatched. This is possibly my favorite romance book of all time.

THIS IS A MUST LISTEN!

Bravo 👏🏾 seriously this is the most passionate story so full of depth. I can say with absolute certainty. This author has a gift. I hope this book will pull you to the other books on this series and makes you curious to the point you cannot help yourself to look into her other collections. To write about the Scots the way she does is so beautiful. I must give thos book 10 stars. I celebrate how emotionally lush this story is. Enjoy!!

Closed door Late Regency Early Victorian Era Romance

Edited to now include the audio review!
The audio has finally arrived. The super talented Mhairi Morrison did another fabulous job of narration! Listening to this was even better than reading it the first time! Please do yourself a favor and read this series! If you can't read the whole series, make sure to read these 4 books:
Suffering the Scot (Brotherhood of the Black Tartan #1)
Romancing the Rake (Brotherhood of the Black Tartan #2)
One Heart Alone (Penn-Leiths of Thistle Muir #3)
A Heart Sufficient (Penn-Leiths of Thistle Muir #4)


I just want to start it over again! The audio cannot come soon enough! Favorite book of the year so far!


Book hangovers do exist.

I am not good with words and could ramble on incessantly about my love for this story. I'll try to be more succinct.

I am very much an audiobook lover, especially when accents are involved, and most ardently when those accents are Scottish. I just don't have the talent to hear them in my head. My goal was to wait patiently for this beloved book to be released in audio format. I went so far as to not request an ARC copy. The author then said it would be about 4 months before the audio came out. I still tried! I avoided all spoilers and didn't read reviews even the book blurb, but I couldn't avoid the huge outpouring of love this book was generating.

I spent part of my time relistening to The Brotherhood of the Black Tartan while introducing a new friend. I also relistened to the Penn-Leiths series. Once I got to the part in Making the Marquess that introduces the female main lead, I knew my resolve to wait for the audio was shot. Having just listened to all those Scottish stories helped me so much. Once I read the prologue, nae, the first page, I knew I'd made the correct choice.

Why am I failing to write a review of the book itself? Because I don't want to spoil one tiny part of it for anyone. Just know that if you've read those other books I mentioned, you will see familiar favorites in the most wonderful of roles. This book is perfection in every way. I wanted to start a reread as soon as I'd finished. And I cannot wait to listen to it in a few more months.

If you haven't read those other books (The Brotherhood of the Black Tartan and Penn-Leiths of Thistle Muir) my strong suggestion is to enjoy those first. They are all wonderful and will really add to the experience of reading this book.

Thank you so much Nichole Van for writing wonderful characters and gripping stories.


Trigger content: peppered with some mild swears, multiple conversations about martial intimacy, vague closed door event between married couple, mild description of prostitution/brothel activities, drinking of alcohol

Outstanding narrator!

This series is one of the best I have experienced. The characters are interesting and likeable and have great depth. The conflicts in the stories are nicely paced without being too long - they have a pleasing ebb and flow. However, the narration was superb and greatly added to the enjoyment of this Scottish Highlands series.