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A review by wildwolverine
A Hope Divided by Alyssa Cole
3.0
Once again, Cole gives readers a crystal clear picture of the American Civil War and an unflinching look at the reality of slavery. This time, instead of looking at things from the perspective of a slave, Cole looks at the complex dynamic of being a black woman with mixed heritage in Marlie, a young woman with a white father and a black mother trying to navigate a world where she's not accepted and only barely tolerated. It's a poignant story full of great, complex characters. My major gripe with it is the same as the previous book in the series: it's not much of a romance.
Like Elle from the previous novel in the series, Marlie is brilliant, resourceful, capable, and hardworking. However, what sets her apart is she's a little more naive as to how the world works. While she recognizes there isn't really a niche for her in her present society, she also doesn't realize how close to the precipice she is until the curtain is lifted. Her story of her growing up with a medicine woman (almost shaman-like) mother then rejecting that knowledge in favor of a more scientific approach only for her to revert back to it shows great growth. If the story was just about Marlie, this would've been a fantastic novel.
However, there was also Ewan to contend with. Ewan is the little brother of the hero from the previous book. While readers know his backstory from reading about Malcolm, there still feels like there are unexplored depths with Ewan. Unfortunately, Cole doesn't really examine Ewan's past traumas or idiosyncrasies. They're just kind of there. I will also state, for the record, that hero-recovering-from-illness is one of my least favorite romance tropes. There's nothing dashing about a man hiding in an attic crawlspace and recovering from a sprained ankle for a majority of the book. The passage of time was odd in this book. It wasn't clear how long Marlie harbored Ewan, but by the climax, his ankle was both still not healed and yet miraculously not bothering him as they fled the sadistic and evil Cahill.
I will admit, despite my apathy towards Ewan, this book was headed towards 4 stars for me until we got to the ending. I found it so unsatisfying, and it felt like the characters hadn't grown at all.
Similar to An Extraordinary Union, A Hope Divided would've made a very strong historical fiction novel. Unfortunately, as a romance, it falls a little flat for me. And because the romance took up as much space as it did, the historical plot wasn't as strong as it could've been, in my opinion.
Like Elle from the previous novel in the series, Marlie is brilliant, resourceful, capable, and hardworking. However, what sets her apart is she's a little more naive as to how the world works. While she recognizes there isn't really a niche for her in her present society, she also doesn't realize how close to the precipice she is until the curtain is lifted. Her story of her growing up with a medicine woman (almost shaman-like) mother then rejecting that knowledge in favor of a more scientific approach only for her to revert back to it shows great growth. If the story was just about Marlie, this would've been a fantastic novel.
However, there was also Ewan to contend with. Ewan is the little brother of the hero from the previous book. While readers know his backstory from reading about Malcolm, there still feels like there are unexplored depths with Ewan. Unfortunately, Cole doesn't really examine Ewan's past traumas or idiosyncrasies. They're just kind of there. I will also state, for the record, that hero-recovering-from-illness is one of my least favorite romance tropes. There's nothing dashing about a man hiding in an attic crawlspace and recovering from a sprained ankle for a majority of the book. The passage of time was odd in this book. It wasn't clear how long Marlie harbored Ewan, but by the climax, his ankle was both still not healed and yet miraculously not bothering him as they fled the sadistic and evil Cahill.
I will admit, despite my apathy towards Ewan, this book was headed towards 4 stars for me until we got to the ending. I found it so unsatisfying, and it felt like the characters hadn't grown at all.
Spoiler
The fact that Ewan doesn't kill Cahill is just ludicrous to me. Yes, the author was trying to make a point that Ewan wasn't the cold-hearted killer he thought he was, but the decision ran counter to the story. Namely, none of the conflict would've happened if Ewan had killed Cahill initially. It's also reasonable to deduce that leaving Cahill alive will only enable him to do more even more evil unto others. Killing him is a mercy to his future victims, and the fact that this was just glossed over felt very counterproductive to me. Besides, this is a novel! I want catharsis!Similar to An Extraordinary Union, A Hope Divided would've made a very strong historical fiction novel. Unfortunately, as a romance, it falls a little flat for me. And because the romance took up as much space as it did, the historical plot wasn't as strong as it could've been, in my opinion.