by Stella Riley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
5 stars well deserved, I really loved it, it's an amazing historical adventure romance !!!
I finished the book this morning and I already miss it... I miss the characters, I desperately want to keep being with them!
Definitely the best book I've read in recent years (according to my parameters of course).
This book totally involved me from the very first page to the last one, I'm not exaggerating saying that, indeed there wasn't a single moment that made me feel bored, I couldn't put it down and I neglected many other hobbies of mine because I was so engaged by this book!
I will begin by saying that it is a historical novel, with 2 invented main characters and many side characters who really existed during the civil war in England (1642-1651).
It's a story that talks about war and love, but contrary to what one might think it's not exactly a romance novel, where everything revolves around love and you read hot sex scenes, which really doesn't fit into my genre reading ( like Diana Gabaldon or similar ).
The love story begins slowly and develops very slowly against the backdrop of battles, sieges, heroic and petty deeds, political compromises, the limits of the bigoted world of those times and the courage to assert one's ideas.
There are likable characters, with a good sense of humor who cheer us up in several scenes and there are narrow-minded evil characters who really make your skin crawl.
The hero and heroine are Justine and Abbie, they belong to 2 different sides of this war: he is a Royalist officer holding Banbury castle under siege, while Abbie is the sister of a local shopkeeper, a puritan, a fanatic and despot who makes life impossible to her.
WARNING TO THOSE LOOKING ONLY FOR ROMANCE : Our 2 characters meet only a few times in the first half of the book and this could be disappointing for those purely looking for a romance novel.
We actually see war events unfold, which I promise are never boring, but described in such an interesting and enthralling way that I also passionate about those moments ( you can believe me, battles usually bore me to death, but not in this book ! )
In the first half of the book we can see the 2 main characters lives, learning to get fond of them, savoring every little moment in which they meet and in which they gradually begin to get to know each other and develop a strong feeling of affection.
Justine is a fascinating young man, not only aesthetically, but also in his winking ways, in his smile, in his raised eyebrow looks, in his ironic and joking jokes with the other officers who are also his good friends and with Abigail, in his sarcastic jokes with despicable people.
Justin is brave and despite being young is used to fend for himself from the age of 16, we don't know his past until 3 quarters of the book, but we sense that he has wounds that are hard to heal.
Justin is brilliant and successful with women, but he is not a profiteering libertine, he is a man of honor, who respects others and honors his promises and for this reason he is respected and well liked by many.
Abigail is only 18 at the beginning of the book, she lives with her family, subjugated by her brother-master, she knows nothing of the world and she is not allowed any joy, not even a small one.
She has a one year younger brother who is also her good friend and accomplice, who will also be involved in the events of the war albeit in a different way from that of a soldier.
Given her background, it is obvious that initially Abigail is an insecure and fearful girl, but still with a great desire to live and to know more about life and Justin will open the doors to a new world for her where she can sing and dance without feeling blasphemous, where having beautiful hair or admiring a dress is not a sin, where there are also kind gestures and not just blows and prayers for forgiveness.
But from the caterpillar a butterfly will be born, with an ever strong character and more aware of what it wants and ready to fight, until the end, to get it.
A great love will blossom from mutual esteem and affection, not without difficulties and anguish ___ WARNING: SPOILER[ and I admit that every now and then I was afraid that there was no happy ending... but even when I realized it was going to end well, I had a beautiful final surprise and I really wasn't expecting it. ]____SPOILER END _____
Despite the difficulties and the tragic nature of the war, the atmosphere of the book is pleasant, as I have already said, there are dialogues in which the humor will make you smile several times.
The characters, even all those around the 2 protagonists, are all so well described, we manage to guess their way of being, we can imagine their faces while they talk from the tone of the dialogues.
The author is really very good both in describing historical part, both in making the reader immerse himself in the story, in the same rooms as those people.
I was able to see everything like in a film, I was able to feel myself inside that film, as if I were living there with all of them.
The slowness with which the love story develops doesn't take away anything beautiful from the book, on the contrary, it makes everything more sensual and when at the end we have a couple of sex scenes, everything is described in an intuitive, but delicate way, not at all a vulgar one.
***
This is one of those times I wish I was good at writing and conveying my feelings, it's a great book, but words just can't put it right.
-----> English is not my native language and that certainly makes my review even worse... Sorry
***
I hope I haven't said too much to take away the pleasure of reading, but it was also right to warn those who prefer more explicit romance novels, where the 2 characters would like to jump on each other from the beginning to the end of the book and where the historical context is only mentioned. Not so here.
Being Italian I don't know English history, I only knew that there was a civil war and a short republic between Charles I and Charles II, however I never found myself confused or lost in these facts, indeed it was nice to learn historical facts for unknown to me and then expand them with some web research.
Every now and then I find a book that I really like, which I'm sure I will reread and which I give 5 stars...
but no one has enraptured me like this one and if my favorites so far have had 5 stars I virtually give this one 10 stars.
It was my first Stella Riley book... I'll probably try others, but not right away, because the magic hardly repeats itself twice. :-)
The only problem is that now, any forthcoming reads won't hold a candle to it.
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BOOK AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH EDITION ONLY
You can find kindle edition or paperback here, click on the image :
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