With many men (over 3.000.000) going to fight for the Union or the Confederates, lots of thing became a women’s job and newly defined the dynamics between men and women. Also, women wanted to fight for their cause. Over 400 women (both sides) fought in this civil war, disguised as men. Imagine looking over the shoulder of a woman fighting in this war: meet Elizabeth (EJ)!
EJ goes to the war in a surprising way, also for herself. When it happened I was constantly saying: don’t do it, don’t, don’t… But she did… I must confess that I didn’t like the war parts in this book. That is not the authors fault, this part was well described and not too graphic, so no worries there. Real war just seems to get to me, apparently also when it’s been a long time ago.
“Luckily” EJ gets to go home, read the book to know why I put the “” there ;). She struggles with her sexual orientation, her father, aunt and herself in many ways. Naive as she is her train of thought sometimes is very funny too. The love blossoming between Charlie and EJ is very sweetly described. There are love scenes in this book, but they are not graphic or make you feel like you can’t read them in public. So go ahead and take this book with you on your commute or read while on a lunch break.
Both MC’s are likable and also the secondary are mostly likable. A lot is happening in this book, though the pace doesn’t seem rushed. You’ll get to read from the point of view both Charlie and EJ. I would have appreciated a more in-dept experience in the feelings of both MC’s, but did have a nice time with this book. This book has indirectly thought me about the civil war and this era in American history, I can always appreciate that.
Overall good feelings linger after reading and at the end I felt that Mathews created a possibility for a second book while closing this story in a happy way. If it happens, I would want to read it.
This book will be published on August 15, check it out over here.
I received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.
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