This is a falling in love book, not a "catch the guy" or "change the crush-objects mind" book. It is NOT a love triangle. Well, let me clarify. There IS a triangle between loyalty to family and the desire to follow one's heart that is deep in new love, but it is not a triangle with two men and one woman. There is a faith element where humility and sacrificial obedience comes to play, instead of selfish self-centeredness where the main character spouts off about what they deserve. God's provisions are intricately woven through the whole story line... yet you don't necessarily see it until the end (kind of like how life often works). The main characters both come from affluent families of power but they both would be horrible representatives of their social class with their realistic bad habits and natural tendencies for being real instead of being "prim and proper" as their class requires. The book is filled with much action and suspense. Even the last few pages take on a twist of action when I just expected a long "happy ever after narrative." The happy ever after narrative is included, though. :) I also love that it is set in the mid 1850's but is not overburdened with those details. This is a sweet story of two people falling in love, fighting their feelings out of their loyalty to other commitments, fighting tooth and nail for some strong causes, and showing realistic (stubborn) character qualities that many a human in the course of history has had to battle. It is quickly read with cliff hangers nearly at the end of each chapter. The reader knows the obvious is going to happen but loves to feel the sensation of living through the experience with these two great characters and their back up cast.

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