The Messenger

"In a Time of War,

Can Two Unlikely Heroes

Find the Courage to Act?"

Bookworm's Ranking - 4 Worms

Storyline - It is 1778 in Philadelphia and Hannah's world turned upside down when the war started. Now, her brother, Robert, who left his Quaker faith when he joined the Rebels, is in the Loyalist jail but she is forbidden to see him. Not only that but it is almost impossible to get a pass to visit. Jeremiah might seem like a Loyalist, but he is working with spies to get the prisoners out of the jail. But only family can visit. Despite the fact they are at odds with each other, Hannah and Jeremiah strike up an agreement where Hannah will deliver messages to a prisoner in exchange for a pass to see her brother. Will Hannah be able to keep this secret and not get caught when she insists on telling the truth? Can they find God's will in all this?

Author - Siri Mitchell

Publisher - Bethany House Publishers; A division of Baker Publishing Group


Age Group - 15 and up

Content - *May Contain Spoilers* Often mentioned that men are with woman inappropriately, with or against the woman's will. Hannah works hard at following her faith and God and tries to do what is right even though it seems like there is opposition at every turn. Jeremiah does what he can to mess with the British's head but slowly comes to God.

Personal Opinion - I learned a lot about Quakers while reading this and enjoyed the romance, which is not always my forte but I liked this. The struggles of the characters were real and believable. The male protagonist had  lost his arm and blamed it for everything. Hannah struggled with what she was doing and her faith because she felt she was going against it. The struggles of the characters really helped with empathy and connecting to the story. The spy stuff was great, being what originally interested me in the story, and the historical notes at the end brought a lot of background info to the novel. Doll was my favorite character, she made me smile and I loved how she just said what was on her mind without sugar coating it. But, I wish some side characters were developed more, feeling it would have added more to the story, fleshing it out more. I sometimes forgot certain characters existed because they were mentioned so little. Also, the first person narratives from both the main characters caused some confusion on who was speaking from time to time. Besides those things, this was a good spy/romance novel and would enjoying hearing more about these characters (but I think this is a stand-alone novel so that probably won't happen).

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Links - Learn more about the book and author here.
Disclaimer - In exchange for an honest review, I received this book for free from Bethany House Publishers.

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