Shelley Shepard Gray: Love Held Captive

By Kelly Bridgewater

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

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My Thoughts:

I am not a fan of Civil War stories, expect Tamera Alexander's writing. This is the second book in this series that I have read. From the beginning, I was confused on who the women were. There were two sets of women and men, and I had a hard time telling them apart until about a third of the way in. My mind thought they were the same people. Until my mind wrapped around that they were two sets, the story was a little confusing. As for the plot, it takes place in one week. In that one week, both Ethan Kelly and Devin Monroe decide they love these tarnished women and want to marry them. The whole story centers around learning the back story of all four characters and how they would work past their past. I wanted the final showdown to be something big, but it took until about 95 percent into the book to get there, and it was over in one shot. Disappointing. While I had issues with the plot, Gray does do a great job at her research. The story did fit the time period and felt like a Civil War era novel. I'm truly gratetful when an author does that for a book. Makes me admire them a little more. Overall, with a confusing beginning and a lackluster plot, I don't think I would have picked this book up on my own.

I received a complimentary copy of Love Held Captive by Shelley Shepard Gray from Zondervan Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars