A Hope Divided

I really enjoyed Alyssa Cole’s An Extraordinary Union, but I LOVED A Hope Divided. A fierce, scientist/doctor heroine and an incredibly intelligent but morally ambiguous hero who I read as autistic. Marlie and Ewan were just… *heart eyes* I loved the slow burn of how their relationship developed, and also the way that they came to understand how each other said “I Love You.” They were both wildly intelligent (hello, competence porn!) and also outsiders in their own families and communities. I can’t wait to pick up the third book in the Loyal League series, An Unconditional Freedom. Happy reading! xoxo

Alyssa Cole is one of the most masterful writers I have ever read. This book was an absolute page turner for me, filled with an incredibly thought provoking cast of characters. Ewan and Marlie’s journey is an emotional and at times heart wrenching one, but so is the time period that is brought to life in the book. There were so many small details that added such depth and richness to the book, highly recommend!

A Union counter-intelligence officer and a member of the Loyal league meet in a Confederate prison and then must work hard against a sadistic evil man who uses his position as leader of the Home Guard to destroy other people. A war fought behind the lines and a personal war fought inside their hearts led to me being riveted once again by the latest Loyal League story.

A Hope Divided is book two of the series. It features the brother to the hero in book one and late in the story brings another character from book one into the mixed, but for the most part, it can be read standalone or out of order.

This book like book one, An Extraordinary Union, told a fantastic historical romantic suspense story set against the backdrop of America’s Civil War. But it was so much more than that. The author dug deep into lesser known historical events and produced a war story set behind Confederate lines and showed how much divisiveness there was in the South beyond their war with the North. She had a big picture and a smaller picture set inside it with the individual stories of her characters. Details were authentic in feel and the plot was well balanced between character and action driven plot.

The war was tearing people apart because of their greatly differing beliefs and forcing smaller fights between Southern abolitionists and anti-war Quakers and militant state sanctioned forces like the Home Guard. And it wasn’t just the south, the Union’s people were just as divided about the war- several were not fighting against slavery and were as bigoted about the blacks as some in the South.

The story is broad in scope, but the focus stays on Marlie and Ewan. She’s a free half-black living with her white relations in comparative comfort and had/has opportunities to an education and career field in studying botany and natural medicine. She’s caught between two worlds and it all comes crashing down on her as she is exposed to the cruelties around her and a deep family secret. Ewan is darker with the work he does in counter-intelligence and self-loathing. He’s brilliant, but tortured. They didn’t label autism back then, but the way the author wrote his character, I felt he might have been on the spectrum.

They were fantastic characters and I loved seeing their tentative friendship and secret longings grow into love and need. Both must struggle with how their pasts shape their thinking and how their present situation will likely push them apart, particularly since they are attempting to bridge the gap between black and white.

I have to say that the author can write some vile, loathsome villains. The leader of the Home Guard and Marlie’s relation by her brother’s marriage, Melanie turned my stomach. I so wanted them both to come to a bad end.

This was another fabulous story in the series and I can’t recommend the Loyal League series enough. The author can see perspective and gets right into the minds of the people of the day while writing a riveting storyline. I’m left with a good story, curiosity about history, and a thought provoking issue that is still true today.

I’ve read all three books in this series now and I have to say these are some of the best characters you are ever going to read in a romance series, hands down. And the series itself is remarkable. More than a week since finishing this series I’m still thinking about it. In each book Ms. Cole gives us exceptionally strong heroines and distinct heroes, and weaves their romance into the raw and ugly realities of the American Civil War.

This book is so much more than mere historical fiction. Alyssa Cole takes us to school on the Civil War mentality and ancient philosophy in general. She takes a look at the broad ideologies at play that make the war possible and neither side escapes her scrutiny.

This is the story of the interracial romance between a free black woman healer and a counterintelligence agent of Scottish heritage. Marli is a self-taught scientist and Ewan is most likely on the autism spectrum. The story explores how their personal philosophies and life experiences color their points of view on the war and on themselves as individuals. There are contradictions between these two characters’ points of view and even within themselves, and this is how the author opens the debate about the many ideologies that lead to war between North and South. Ms. Cole adeptly helps us to ponder things we might not have been aware of or chose not to think about before.

It saddens me that to this day this book is still so relevant. Read it for the wonderful slow burn romance, the relentless suspense, amazing characters and the lesser understood history. It was sheer genius on Ms. Cole’s part to capture the interest of her demographic using her signature genre, all the while shining a light on the social psychology of slave culture. This isn’t a book or a series you’ll soon forget about. These books can be read as standalones but I’m really glad I read them together

This was an amazingly well written and well researched story with a good level of excitement and plenty slow burn romance. I did feel as if there was a huge set up but the actual “run away” was relatively quick and the HEA seemed to be a jump in narrative. One second they were running the next they were living in a cabin. Still a four star read.

The second Loyal League book. Cole is an excellent writer and both her characters and her plot are engaging and convincing. You don’t need to read these in order, but they are probably more satisfying that way. One of the most searing moments in this novel for me is when a relatively sympathetic white relative of the MC spectacularly betrays her racism, but Cole also makes it clear where worse demons can be found. This would be an interesting book for discussion because much of it has to do with how far you should be willing to go for your righteous cause and whether that will damage your own soul.

Clear your calendar and put your phone on airplane mode. Don’t start reading this unless you plan to stay up all night until you finish it.