Lori Copeland's book are always enjoyable so I was looking forward to reading her newest historical fiction addition. The premise of women having to fight in the Civil War was quite interesting. They did it out of necessity and no one looks down on them for fighting for survival. It gives a stark contrast to the wealthy women back east who have been enjoying a life of luxury even during the war. Willow and Tucker get off to a bad start right from the beginning and the whole novel shows their rocky relationship. It's interesting to see their chemistry evolve throughout the whole novel. Equally interesting is Willow's relationship with the man she is supposed to marry and the difference in how she treats him vs Tucker.

While I enjoyed this book very much, there were several points I found not to my liking. One, the reason of why the kerosene was in Willow's possession is never fully explained or to the very least she doesn't seem to realize that this was the cause for the fire. Second, Willow would act in the very way that I hate seeing females act in romances. She finds herself tongue tied around Tucker and cannot stand up for herself along him to bulldoze himself over her. After reading so many books with strong females, I just can't stand to see women who let men run over them and then find themselves falling in love with the same man. Otherwise I did enjoy reading this historical novel very much. I am looking forward to the next book in the series as we hopefully will hear about Willow's friends Copper and Audrey. I also am very impressed with the new Avon Inspire line. Every book that has been published so far has been a winner. ( )

As I have said before, I will now say again, I love Avon Inspire, and imprint of HarperCollins. And I absolutely love the covers of their books, not one book has been a disappointment to me yet! The only problem I did have with this cover, (it's beautiful don't get me wrong) the character is described with strawberry blonde hair??? How do I envision her with strawberry blonde, when the cover is very clearly toward an ebony? hmmm... Oh well, discrepancy aside, this is a delightful story.

In my opinion the tale of Willow Madison is right up there with the likes of Tamera Alexander, Tracey Bateman, and Tracie Peterson. Just wonderful and a great read. There were a few sections that seemed to jump in the characters growing, but it flowed well enough and I loved it. ( )