Review: The English Lieutenant's Lady

The English Lieutenant's Lady by Evelyn M. Hill
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was not sure I would really enjoy a ‘clean’ christen-centric romance novel, neither approaches are really in my wheelhouse when it comes to reading. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised that I did enjoy this one.

Set in a place that I haven’t seen show-up in many historical romances, frontier Oregon, it was interesting to read about the area on the tipping point of great social change.

The allusion to the main character’s relationship with the Natives in the area at the start of the book was a bit on the clunky side of things. I got the feeling that Hill was trying to include some diversity into the story and characters but wasn’t quite sure how to do it without stepping on any toes. I’m not sure if the author talked to anyone with Native ancestry from the area, but having someone consult on that to bolster that aspect would have improved the story a little.

That said, there is a lot of angst and you find yourself pulling for the main characters to work it all out as they both seem so nice. The Bible quotes and religious references seem time period appropriate and not overwhelming. The jumps through time, the story covers a while winter, was a bit disconcerting. It felt like we could have spent more time in the world getting to know the community and people more, as it is, the story is very contained to, and driven by the main characters.

Fast read, skims some of the harder issues but still references them and is nice to not have an all-white cast in a historical book.


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