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Beyond the Wood by Michael J. Roueche

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Paperback, 514 pages
Published 2011 by Vesta House Publishing
Available on: Amazon

I got this book by winning a Goodreads giveaway! yay! First book I win here! Beat the odds against 945 people who entered the giveaway! 🙂
The book came signed and dedicated to yours truly, and it also came with a letter hand signed by Michael. (5 stars for that!) Thanks Michael. Yes, I enjoyed it! And of course, I’d love to review the book.

Can’t say if historical romance is my favorite genre but I’ve been reading it for the past three books. Coincidentially I’ve been reading North and South related love stories and this one gave great continutity to the stories I’ve been reading.

I enjoyed the story. I loved the fact that a button, a little and what to some people is a “useless” thing, could hold such a detailed history behind it. Clever!

**spoiler**
[Hank and Betsy were made for each other. The hopeless romantic in me enjoyed the fact that their love grew out of correspondance. In this modern day and age, were the microwave generation is running the world, it was nice to go back in time and get excited by the correspondance between these two lovebirds. The utter respect with which they wrote to each other while trying to constrain their true feelings was nice and sigh provoking.]
**end of spoiler**

Have to admit that I had a little hard time to get into the book, because the first part describes the war in full detail. I didn’t give it five stars because of this. I guess boys reading this book would enjoy it. I don’t mean I don’t appreciate all the research done to write this part but it got me lost for a while. Although it was interesting to know a lot of unkown-to-me facts about this period, it kept me wondering when the romance would start?

The rest of the characters were likeable. Naomi won my heart. Walthrope of course was despicable from the start.

**spoiler**
[I sort of felt Walthrope’s end was a little rushed. Would’ve preffered to see him get punished for what he did. At least in my imagination, I thought that after Hank and Betsy got married, the guy got turned to authorities for his punished destiny.

I read reviews of people not knowing who the woman was in the end. To me, as I look into the cover of the book, it was Betsy’s spirit, who made sure generation after generation got the real facts of her love story. I mean if your love story survived a war, wouldn’t you make everything possible to make your story unforgettable? Don’t know if that’s what Michael Roueche wanted us to think but to me it was her spirit….her spirit that lives beyond the wood. 😉 ]
**end of spoiler**

Historic romance lovers read Beyond the Wood. I’m sure you will enjoy it. The North and South war period was a hard one in history, but I’m sure that it must have been filled with romance stories similar to this one, which made the times bearable. After all, LOVE is what turns the world, right?

Beyond the Wood

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
I received a copy of this book but I was not financially compensated in any way nor obliged to review. The opinions expressed are my own and are based on my personal experience while reading this novel. this post contains  affiliate links as stated on my disclosure policy.
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