Review: An enjoyable romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 27, 2012
The author weaves an interesting piece of historical fiction with many a nod to real people and events. Not being from the USA - and having left school in the UK before we touched on anything relating to non-European history (except Ancient Egypt) (and French history lessons were only interested in their own colonies) - I am only vaguely aware of these parts of American history. In fact, most of my knowledge about this period comes from documentaries / films (and who knows how historically accurate those are!) that I've seen over the years.With Kentucky Green, the author gives a glimpse of what life could have been like for the colonials when neither the Americans nor the British were at their moral best. The British because they were fairly double-crossing the Indians and the Americans because they were pretty much invaders stealing the land from the native inhabitants.I particularly appreciated that the author didn't shy away from some of the more historically accurate points, choosing political correctness over historical truth. She wasn't afraid to include a racist side to this story. All too often these days you see authors who are pretty much walking on eggshells in order to avoid such controversial topics. But that's not how it was back in those days. Racism was a part of the norm and this story embraces that, working with it rather than skirting around it. I think that the book is that much the better for it; it wouldn't have felt as authentic without it.This is the classic tale of boy meets girl, boy pisses off girl (and vice versa), boy is required to spend significant amount of time in girl's company, boy ends up developing feelings for girl that he tries to ignore (and vice versa), boy can no longer ignore said feelings, some form of drama befalls boy and girl - can they come out on top? It's a tried and true formula, and obviously it works.My one... not qualm but thing I want to comment on I guess... is that April is a young widow. It soon emerges that she was merely given the position of wife in order to protect her after the deaths of both of her parents. She is never touched by her husband. This keeps the character "unspoiled" for the "love of her life" that is to come in the form of the hero of the story but I personally would have preferred a different approach here. I've never understood the appeal of having a window character with no sexual experience. As a widow she should be able to match the hero for his knowledge rather than still being cast in the role of swooning heroine. Maybe that's just me?