Once a month, whether you like it or not. That’s about how often I’m doing this blog but at least I’m doing it so whatevs! 🙂 I kind of get caught up in day to day life: my kids started school, getting the new schedule sorted and the mom-taxi up and running again…  fuck it, I’m going to stop making excuses and just get to the point. I finally got to read this book that has been sitting idle in my queue for the longest, and it was really good!

From Amazon:

A love affair tests a new nation’s revolutionary ideals.

In 1770s Boston, a prosperous merchant’s daughter, Eliza Boylston, lives a charmed life—until war breaches the walls of the family estate and forces her to live in a world in which wealth can no longer protect her.

As the chaos of the Revolutionary War tears her family apart, Eliza finds herself drawn to her uncle’s slave, John Watkins. Their love leads to her exile in Braintree, Massachusetts, home to radicals John and Abigail Adams and Eliza’s midwife sister-in-law, Lizzie Boylston. But even as the uprising takes hold, Eliza can’t help but wonder whether a rebel victory will grant her and John the most basic of American rights.

My Take:

As I said above, really good read! I was not the most attentive in American history class but some of this rang a bell. It was that kind of book, where I felt the emotions of the characters, from Eliza’s hidden feelings for John Watkins to her companionable relationships with Cassie, Lizzie, and Abigail Adams. They were women struggling against the tide of slavery, wishing and working for the freedoms of those that were without.

Eliza was not a product of her parents, especially her mother, who was so caught up in societal obligations and niceties that she often forgot how to be civilized to those around her. I was so happy to see Eliza speak up and out for those whose voices weren’t heard during those terrible times. Not to mention, Eliza’s relationship with John Watkins! How amazing that she did not let the common ideals of the era infiltrate her feelings for another human being and was able to find love (and a baby!).

The history was secondary to the love story for me but still completely engrossing, and I don’t really like romance novels as a general rule. I also didn’t realize this was a three part series, though it says it on the Amazon website. Duh. With that said, it didn’t seem like I needed to read the first to enjoy the second but kind of wish I had.

**Full Disclosure: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.