The captured bride

3.5 stars

This one is a bit hard to review because there were times I was really interested and times I was really not. I felt like the second half was the best part and I had to reread the beginning twice to figure out what was going on and who was related to whom. The part with the bad guys after them was superbly written, so that I could feel the suspense and danger, but I didn't get much about what the leads' careers meant to them...it felt more scene by scene than getting a real sense of their history and futures.

Mostly it felt quite historically accurate, which was enjoyable, except for a scene with a barberry thicket out in the wild...barberry didn't come to the US until the late 1800s and didn't escape into the wild until the 1900s. But then most folks really don't care much about botanical details, and having fallen into barberries before I had great sympathy for the characters.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free reading copy. A favorable review was not required.