I was so excited when this came out because I rarely have the opportunity to read novels written by people I have actually met. But favoritism aside, this book had an original plot with unique character arcs that you don’t tend to see in common regency romances. Let’s dive in!
Summary
This proper regency romance follows a young woman named Hannah who has been plagued with a malady that she feels has separated herself from the rest of society. However, a young merchant named Jonathan helps her rediscover the confidence she has been recently lacking, allowing her to face her trials with a renewed sense of self.
Likes
- Unique conflict. Without giving too much away about what the protagonist’s disability is, the author does a great job introducing it, by giving subtle hints and “Easter eggs” of description of it in the first chapter. Only after the first chapter ends is it revealed, and I think this was an effective creative choice of the author.
- Believable characters. Sometimes in settings that may not be that familiar to us, we get caught up in making one-dimensional characters, but that is not the case with this novel. The author gave me characters to root for and to hate to my very core.
“For a fleeting moment, I wondered if a relationship like that would ever happen for me…Unbidden, Jonathan came to mind…”
— Hannah
- Setting. Clearly, the author did her research without info-dumping. She assumes that the readers know a bit about the period, which works in the reader’s favor.
- POV. The author switches between the point of view of the protagonist as well as the love-interest, which helps the story move forward…especially given the limitation of description that may result through Hannah’s malady.
“She exhibited independence and intelligence and a desire to help others. All of these memories served to strengthen my resolve.”
— Jonathan
Dislikes
- Location of the conflict’s peak. It seemed like the height of the main conflict occurred right at the end of the story, so the resolution seemed a bit rushed. It is still an effective method of telling the story, I just expected it a little earlier than was shown. But at least she planted the seeds of conflict early on.
- Lack of communication b/w characters. (This is just a personal reaction I had and is not a reflection on the author’s writing). I like dramatic tension, but sometimes I just wanted to groan because the love-interests would not communicate with one another their feelings as often as I wanted them to (which I knew them doing so would come back to bite them later). While this did help drive the plot, I still felt some frustration when these moments occurred.
Author
I met Rachel at this year’s Storymakers Conference, and she is a part of my local creative writing group. What are the odds that I would meet someone from my hometown at a regional writer’s conference in a whole other state? This is her debut novel.
Recommendation
I recommend this book to audiences who love stories set in the regency era, who enjoy proper romances, and who enjoy a captivating story about character realization and growth. You may learn more about or order the novel here.
