A review by andipants
A Hope Divided by Alyssa Cole

4.0

I really liked both of the main characters here. Marlie is thoroughly competent and confident, and Ewan is intelligent and kind. I loved that their relationship was so brainy — they're both unashamedly intellectual and appreciate each other for it. The villains here were both pretty one-dimensional — racist southern belle is racist, sadistic Home Guard guy is sadistic — but I did appreciate how Cole dug a little more into the situation on the ground in the South during the Civil War: how a lot of people opposed the Confederacy for a lot of different reasons, and it wasn't nearly as simple as "North good, South bad"; and how there was racism everywhere, without devolving into some kind of shallow "both sides had bad people you guys" kind of reading. This series is very good at introducing nuance without sacrificing principle or truth, and I love it.

If I had one complaint, it's that the pacing seems kind of off. The beginning is very slow, and the main action described in the cover blurb doesn't take off until over halfway through the book. Don't get me wrong, the quiet building of their relationship before that point is great, but it did make the overall work seem a bit uneven. Still definitely worth the read, though.