Review: Loved the heroine but the lead is not as heroic.... spolier
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 15, 2014
I usually do not read Christian Fiction romance although there are some very good authors (Francine Rivers) writing some amazing stories.  I have conflicting feelings about this one.  Donna Every’s The Price of Freedom is set in colonial America and the Caribbean and the characters are true to the time.  The Christian message of love and forgiveness are actually well written.  The reader will feel that the Christian message is an important aspect to this novel and it does not overshadow the story but enhances he relationship between the characters.The biggest problem I have with this story is male lead.  The hero is a white man from South Carolina who travels to his Aunt and Uncle’s house in Barbados to learn all about a sugar plantation and how to buy and use slaves.  The man is arrogant and so demanding that I could not stand him.  He falls hard for a slave in his uncle’s house.Deborah is a beautiful person and she years for freedom.  Her hope is that one day her master will free her and her mother.  She has so little say in her life but an opportunity for freedom comes by way of the hero but it comes with a huge price.The leads have a relationship which initially feels forced.  Deborah is a wonderful character with so little options in her life.  I liked her bravado but the reader knows her actions have horrible consequences any time she exerts even an ounce of independence.  Her life is subjected entirely to the whims of others.Spoiler….Her male lead loves Deborah but in actually he does not understand her until very late in this story.  He realizes the error of his ways regarding Deborah and slavery yet I never felt he did enough to show me how much he changed.  The horrors of slavery were around him and even after he saw the light regarding his selfish actions, he did very little to make the world a better place (except in his dealings with Deborah).  He did not become an abolitionist and I wanted him to confront his uncle regarding slavery or at least find a way to start buying his uncle’s slaves and freeing them.  I just wanted him to be more heroic toward not just Deborah (which he is), but I wanted his change of heart to be as bold and daring as the Quakers who preached on the island.