Oh gosh what a good book, especially following the previous book in the series. Exciting and satisfying right to the end. Josie is an engineer, which women couldn't be at that time. Eli's grandfather forced an engagement for him and a Zahn girl. He was determined to be an innovative ship designer. An excellent telling of intertwined love, faith, talents and interference in a competitive business, high society families and subterfuge.

I received this book free from the author, publisher and CelebrateLit book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

#TheEngineeredEngagement #EricaVetsch #BooksYouCanFeelGoodAbout #CelebrateLit #ChristianHistorcalRomance #WildHeartBooks

About the Book

Book: The Engineered Engagement

Author: Erica Vetsch

Genre: Christian Historical Romance

Release Date: July 8, 2025

A hidden genius, an ambitious shipbuilder, and a daring deception—can she prove her worth without losing her heart?

Eli Kennebrae plans to revolutionize cargo transportation on the Great Lakes. But his grandfather’s meddling obligates him to an arranged engagement. Though Josie Zahn is kindhearted and strikes his interest, Eli needs an engineer for his ship, not a fiancée.

Josie has admired Eli for years, but to him, she’s just “one of the Zahn girls.” Worse, society expects her to marry, not pursue her passion for mathematics and engineering. If she could only get Eli’s attention, she could help him achieve his goals.

Then “Professor Josephson,” a brilliant mathematical mind, provides the analyses to make Eli’s ship design a reality. As Eli finds unexpected kinship in the professor’s work, he remains unaware of the truth—Josie is the genius behind the numbers. When deception and ambition collide, will Eli see Josie for who she truly is before it’s too late?

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About the Author

Best-selling, award-winning author of The Debutante’s Code, first in the Thorndike & Swann Regency Mystery Series, Erica Vetsch loves Jesus, history, romance, and sports. When she’s not writing fiction, she’s planning her next trip to a history museum.

More from Erica

One of the most frequently asked questions an author gets is “Where do your ideas come from?” The truth is…all over! But for me, the main place that story ideas start is in a museum. I see an artifact or object or hear a story as I wander a museum, and I begin to wonder about the people who used the object or survived the events that led to their story being in a museum.

The Engineered Engagement was inspired by a tour of the Great Lakes cargo ship the Meteor. The Meteor is a whaleback and is on display in Superior, WI, just across the harbor from Duluth, MN where the story is set.

I first toured the Meteor when I was eleven years old…awhile ago now. But many years later my husband and I took our kids to tour this amazing piece of engineering. The design, which is characterized by low rounded hulls, decks, and deckhouses looks decidedly odd and different from other ships. This design minimized the wind and water resistance encountered in more traditional hull shapes. The creator/design engineer of the whaleback was a Scotsman named Alexander McDougall who was a ship master and seaman on the Great Lakes.

The first whaleback hit the lakes in 1887, and over the next 11 years, 43 more joined her. One of the largest whalebacks was the steamer named the Frank Rockefeller. This ship was later renamed the SS Meteor. The Meteor hauled iron ore and sand for much of her career, and she is the only whaleback that remains.

As I toured the ship, learning nautical terms and all but feeling the rolling of the deck beneath my feet, I couldn’t help but admire Alexander McDougall for ignoring the critics, the snide remarks, and the jeers that always accompany a design pioneer and creating anyway. Looking for a better way to make something or do a task should be admired. He was tenacious, and I wanted to imbue my characters, Eli Kennebrae and Josie Zahn, with that same tenacity.

The Engineered Engagement involves ship building and hydrodynamics. Now, I know nothing about either of these disciplines, but I did glean some information, hopefully enough to make my characters, Eli and Josie, sound like they do. Ah, the joys of writing fiction! And while Eli and Josie are loaded with brains and tenacity, I also wanted them to have real emotions, to care about each other. One of the joys of writing fiction is getting to live through the eyes/hearts of your characters and feel what they feel. The Engineered Engagement was a joy to write.

If you are interested in Great Lakes shipping, I highly recommend the Duluth Canal Camera, https://www.duluthharborcam.com/p/canal-park-cams.html

And if you are interested in learning more about the SS Meteor, I recommend this site: https://superiorpublicmuseums.org/ss-meteor/