Storyline - Book 3 - Returning to medieval times once again, they find it has been longer than they wished since they departed their men but they are happy to see each other again and quickly celebrate. But that happiness soon ends when an opportunity comes to save Fortino, Marcello's brother, who was captured by Firenze. Unfortunately, that cost for Fortino is Gabi and Lia. They devise a plan to rescue him, the Bettarini women as bait. When things go wrong, Gabriella finds herself potentially being forced into marriage with someone she does not love. Can she escape and return to Marcello? And will she be able to convince her family to stay with everything life threatening that has happened and the plague only a few years away?
Author - Lisa Bergren
Publisher - David C. Cook
Age Group - 15 and up
Content - All of the character defend each other and try to save others even at the cost of themselves. Gabriella and Lia are willing to put themselves at risk to save Marcello's brother and Gabi is willing to be with the one she loves and to protect others from harm. A priest had some good advice in the book. There was some sexual stuff from the bad guys and Gabriella hinted at being together before marriage.
Personal Opinion - It was good but I was disappointed about the representation of the priest in the story. He was excommunicated and performing duties that he could no longer do and which would not be recognized by the church, such as marriage. Considering that Marcello is suppose to be the guy who really follows his faith and loves God, this was strange that he was okay with it and would be going along with it. As a family member pointed out, though, in the situation where the priest was administrating at the wedding, it could be argued that it was an extreme circumstance and it was going to be made valid later but I still see holes from what I read about excommunication.When you add this to the one time Marcello complained about the Pope and one man said that his father was a priest, I wasn't very happy, feeling every example was in some way negative to the Catholic Church. I will not deny that there was abuses within the church but that is still not an accurate picture of the Catholic faith. There were good along with bad. Another thing that I wish had been different in the book was Gabi's faith walk. I thought she would grow more in her faith since she not use to going to church except on Christmas and Easter and didn't really pray. All that happened was she prayed a bit more. It didn't seem that she grew that much in her faith or came to any big connection with God. This was all unfortunate because it was an exciting book with some fun time travel. But I will hesitate in recommending this series from here on out because of the excommunicated priest. If the view of Catholicism had been balanced and the priest had been faithful to his superiors, no matter their decision, it would have been better to me.
Disclaimer - In exchange for an honest review, I received this book for free from the author.
Links - Learn more about the books and author here.
Books 1 and 2, Waterfall and Cascade, Review.
Special Notes - Book releases September 1, 2011.
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Updated - May 13, 2012
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