by Shelley Shepard Gray
- Series: A Lone Star Hero’s Love Story
- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Zondervan (October 10, 2017)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0310345472
- ISBN-13: 978-0310345473
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After the War Between the States, a Confederate officer longs to heal the heart of a beautiful woman—but first he’ll have to right the wrongs that were done to her.
Major Ethan Kelly has never been able to absolve himself of the guilt he feels for raiding a woman’s home shortly before he was taken prisoner during the Civil War. He is struggling to get through each day until he once again crosses paths with Lizbeth Barclay—the very woman he is trying to forget.
Life after the war is not much different for former Captain Devin Monroe until he meets Julianne VanFleet. He knows she is the woman he’s been waiting for, but he struggles to come to terms with the sacrifices she made to survive the war.
When Ethan and Devin discover that their former colonel, Adam Bushnell, is responsible for both Lizbeth’s and Julianne’s pain, they call on their former fellow soldiers to hunt him down. As the men band together to earn the trust of the women they love, Lizbeth and Julianne seek the justice they deserve in a country longing to heal.
I had mixed feelings about this book. I found it to have too many points of views and story-lines. I would have enjoyed it more if the focus had been on Major Kelly and Lizbeth’s story.
Lizbeth provides the only good example. She is strong and tries to put her past behind her which includes not seeking vengeance. She also helps others even when it is hard on her. Ethan has a mixed sense of obligation. He is hung up on revenge but also wants to protect Lizbeth due to their past.
Julianne kept justifying her sin saying it was something she had to do instead of repenting. I don’t have a problem when someone repents of their sin and is turning their life to God, but they aren’t seeing it as a sin and she is not repenting. Devin falls in love with Julianne and wants to marry her when the only real conversation he had with her was about the fact she was a mistress and wasn’t ashamed of it.
The pace of the majority of the book was slow and the story-lines were not progressing. They seemed stuck in a loop.
Just about everyone is obsessed with revenge and murder when vengeance is the Lord’s. ““Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.” -Romans 12:-19
My favorite part of the book was Lizbeth and Ethan’s storyline and the flashbacks. While things were retold from the first and second book, I feel the reader would benefit from having read the first two before reading this one.
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