About the Book

Book: Dueling Hearts

Author: Vickie McDonough

Genre: Christian Historical Romance

Release Date: November 11, 2025

She blames him for her brother’s death, and he’s determined to make amends. But as family secrets and forbidden longing pull them closer, they must choose between pride and the chance to heal.

Carina Zimmer has spent years hating the Bishops for destroying her family. Now managing Tanglewood Plantation and caring for her bedridden father, she wants nothing to do with Reed Bishop—the man who killed her brother. But when Reed returns from medical school and begins treating the injured and vulnerable, Carina can’t ignore the compassion behind his actions or the growing pull between them.

Reed Bishop came home to start a medical practice and make amends for past mistakes. But when he treats an injured slave at a neighboring plantation, he comes face-to-face with Carina Zimmer—the sister of the man he believes he killed in a duel years ago. He never expected to fall for the fiery woman struggling to keep her family’s plantation alive. Yet every encounter with Carina challenges his guilt and deepens his desire to earn her trust.

As secrets surface and loyalties are tested, Carina and Reed must decide if love is worth risking everything—even the legacy of those they’ve sworn to honor.

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My Thoughts:

This was an enemy to lover's story taking place in the South in a time before the Civil War. Two plantation families blaming, dueling, keeping secrets, and finally loving one another. Though, it was a hard-fought love, Reed and Carina eventually come around to one another.

Carina was a steadfast and stubborn woman who took her family's pride seriously. Though why she felt she should with the kind of father she had, I can only guess it is because of the fact that he is her father. Other than that, I do not think she would have withstood his abuse. However, all of her anger and bitterness was directed at Reed Bishop. She could handle Reed's mother, just not him.

Reed has come back from Scotland as a doctor. He only wants to help others and the duel between Carina's late brother and himself haunts him. But he cannot get Carina out of his mind. She also haunts him for other reasons. She is hard to handle and yet he is drawn to her and is actually falling for her.

Big secrets get revealed that rock both of their worlds and as they find themselves irrevocably drawn to one another, they have many trials to fight through to get to happily ever after.

I was provided a copy of this novel from the publisher. I was not required to post a positive review, and all views and opinions are my own.

About the Author

Vickie McDonough is the CBA, EPCA and Amazon best-selling author of 54 books and novellas. Vickie grew up wanting to marry a rancher, but instead, she married a computer geek who is scared of horses. She now lives out her dreams penning romance stories about ranchers, cowboys, lawmen, and others living in the Old West. Vickie’s books have won numerous awards including the Booksellers Best, OWFI Best Fiction Novel Award, the Inspirational Readers’ Choice awards. When she’s not writing, Vickie enjoys reading, making cards, gardening, and traveling.

More from Vickie

While I was researching ideas for Dueling Hearts, my third book in the Windswept Weddings series, I stumble across some information about dueling in America. I hadn’t read a Christian book that had characters who were in a duel, so I thought that would be an interesting premise. Reed Bishop, my hero in Dueling Hearts, is the grandson of Cooper Reed from Secrets of the Heart. He finds himself forced into a duel on the eve of his leaving for Scotland to become a doctor. I’ll let you read the book to find out what happens.

Dueling in the United States had mostly been outlawed by 1850. The Broderick-Terry duel, fought in California in 1859, is often considered the last notable duel in the United States. U.S. Senator David Broderick and California Supreme Court Chief Justice David S. Terry engaged in a pistol duel near Lake Merced, resulting in Broderick’s death. Sadly, the two were once friends.

Here’s what Dueling Hearts is about:

She blames him for her brother’s death, and he’s determined to make amends. But as family secrets and forbidden longing pull them closer, they must choose between pride and the chance to heal.

Carina Zimmer has spent years hating the Bishops for destroying her family. Now managing Tanglewood Plantation and caring for her bedridden father, she wants nothing to do with Reed Bishop—the man who killed her brother. But when Reed returns from medical school a more mature man and begins treating the injured and vulnerable, Carina can’t ignore the compassion behind his actions or the growing pull between them.

Reed Bishop came home to start a medical practice and make amends for past mistakes. But when he treats an injured slave at a neighboring plantation, he comes face-to-face with Carina Zimmer—the sister of the man he killed in a duel years ago. He never expected to fall for the fiery woman struggling to keep her family’s plantation alive. Yet every encounter with Carina challenges his guilt and deepens his desire to earn her trust.

As secrets surface and loyalties are tested, Carina and Reed must decide if love is worth risking everything—even the legacy of those they’ve sworn to honor