As the War of 1812 rages across the newly formed United States, another war rages in Fiona Lanier’s heart–one that threatens to tear her family apart.
Fiona can scarcely take in the news of her brother’s capture and imprisonment by the British Navy. It is almost as unbelievable as the half-drowned British sailor who is washed ashore on the beach of Navy Cove.
Charlie Kincaid claims to have no memory of his life before being discovered by Fiona, but in a world that seems saturated with treachery, she cannot be sure he is telling the truth.
As Charlie’s memory returns in agonizing jags and crashes, he and Fiona discover that falling in love may be as inevitable as the tide. But when political allegiances collide, they’ll each have to decide where their true loyalty lies.
What I Loved: This was my first Beth White novel and I found myself really enjoying it. The twists and turns kept coming all the way until the very end. One of the things I love most about war fiction is when you have people falling in love from opposing sides. The drama is naturally kicked up a notch when everything is set against the young lovers.
I enjoyed delving into the War of 1812. It’s the first novel that I’ve read on the subject so the information was completely new to me.
What I Didn’t Love: I had a hard time following parts of the story. I hadn’t read the first two books in this series so I’ll take some of the blame on myself here. I felt like she was constantly trying to remind me of characters and situations from previous books. While I enjoyed learning about a new war, I had a hard time following some of the information she kept weaving into the story. There were large portions of the war that was discussed in the parlors and I found these conversations over my head. As mentioned, I’ll accept some of the blame for having not read the previous books but I also felt that some of the information dumps weren’t necessary and only muddied an otherwise terrific story.
Rating and Recommendation: Inspite feeling lost from time to time, The Magnolia Duchess was fantastic. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys Christian Historic Fiction or War Fiction. But I recommend grabbing the books in order first. 😉
~I received a copy from Revell in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.
Christian Author: A.M. Heath 