REVIEW: Freedom’s Touch (Legacy of the Celtic Brooch Book 2) by Sarita Leone
Dear Ms Leone,
Most American Civil War books I’ve read are set in the South so finding that takes place in Pennsylvania is a treat, especially when it deals with the Underground Railroad.
As the Civil War rages, Kay Lane does what most women do–she works to keep her country home intact, struggles to manage her family’s small shop and waits for word that the chaos that’s invaded their lives will soon come to an end. She hopes, too, for word of the man who has claimed her heart. Marsh was one of the first to volunteer for duty, and now that he’s gone Kay wishes they had married before he left. But regrets won’t win a war, and as Marsh fights his battles, Kay wages her own crusade for freedom. She becomes a conductor for the Underground Railroad, using her ancestral brooch to signal the arrival of new fugitives. But will Kay and Marsh’s shared love and unerring belief that freedom belongs to all be enough to shelter them through the next big battle? Gettysburg looms and the hands and hearts that hold the brooch will be forced to endure new trials. Only time will tell if freedom’s touch will unite–or separate–them.
The blurb sounded wonderful but I didn’t realize how short the story was until after I’d bought it. And when I started to read it, I found that about 1/5 of the story was a rehash of book one in the series. I was not happy about that. But once this story got started, I found it has a good plot and characters. A good feeling for time and place and manners. But alas, it was too short and tended to get a little preachy, IMO. I’d love to see you tackle something longer and be able to flesh out the characters and develop the plot. Also, I found the epilogue part to be of the “as you know, Bob” style of writing where characters tell each other things that they ought to know in order to actually tell us, the readers what’s happened. I would be willing to read something else by you but this effort gets a C+.
~Jayne
This book can be purchased from Wild Rose Press.
