Captured by Love Review

 

by

Jody Hedlund

 

 

     The British army has taken control of Michilimackinac Island and its fort, forcing the Americans to swear an oath of loyalty to the crown in order to retain their land. Pierre Durant is a fur trader who returns after being away from the island for years, only to find the family farm a shambles and those he cares about starving and at the mercy of the British invaders.

    Torn between the adventurous life of fur trading and guilt over neglecting his defenseless mother, Pierre is drawn deeper into the fight against the British-- and into a relationship with Angelique MacKenzie, a childhood friend who's grown into a beautiful woman. She now finds herself trapped by circumstances o war and poverty, and the cruelty of her guardian, Ebenezer Whiley.

   As tensions mount and the violence rages on, Pierre and Angelique must decide where their loyalties lie and how much they'll risk for love.

 

 ~*~*~*~*~

 

   To be honest, the first thing that attracted me to this book was the fact that the story takes place on Mackinac Island, which is the location of one of my favorite films. Also, I haven't read a lot of books that take place in America in the early 1800s, so I thought it might be a nice change from the usual cheesy westerns and Victorian romances that one usually sees on the Christian fiction market these days.

 

   I don't want to say that this book is a complete dud, because it's really not. It does have potential, but for me it was a disappointment. However, I don't think it was so much that the book on its own is boring that made me decide to not finish it. I think I'm just plain sick of the Christian romance genre in general. I read a lot of Christian fiction-- and I mean a lot. Especially since I began reviewing books. And while a lot of Christian historical fiction is amazing, most of it is just....boring. It seems like people are running out of ideas, and so many romance novels seem to follow the same pattern of events that you feel like if you've read one, you've read them all, and you feel inclined to quote Scarlett O'Hara.

 

 

 

  This is the first book of Jody Hedlund's that I've read, so I can't say I don't like her as an author in general, but I must say her style isn't my favorite. In Captured by Love, as with many romances I've read, I felt like there was too much emphasis on the physical attraction between Pierre and Angelique. There was too much description of how handsome Pierre was, how beautiful Angelique was, and how they couldn't resist each other. I don't want an author to tell me how good-looking the hero is-- I want to be able to know for myself just from reading about him. Let his actions speak for him. And no, I don't want to read about how he's constantly running his hand through his wavy dark hair.

   (Actually, on that note, I have to say that while I was reading this my sister was also reading another book by Jody Hedlund and the man in that book had the same habit of running his hand through his hair-- only, according to Sadie, he 'jammed his hand through his hair', sometimes so forcefully that it looked like he was about to pull it out. Well, I thought it was funny.)

 

   So I can't say I was impressed with Captured by Love. Like I said, the story had potential, but I'd rather spend my time reading something more powerful and not so common.

 

My rating: 5 out of 10

 

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

 



~Emma