In order to avoid an unwanted marriage after the death of both her parents, Catherine Hays leaves her home in England and crosses the Atlantic in an attempt to find her mother's estranged family in Louisiana. On her journey west, she catches the eye of wrecker Tom Worthington in Key West. Enchanted by Catherine, Tom leaves his own home to accompany Catherine on the remaining leg of her journey. When they arrive at the plantation outside of New Orleans, though, it no longer resembles the paradise Catherine's mother had always described. And as they learn more about the man now controlling the plantation, it becomes clear that Catherine and Tom's lives are more intertwined than either could have imagined. Will they each stubbornly hold to the dreams of their youth, or will they be able to make a new life together?
Christie Johnson tells an intriguing story of life along the Gulf Coast in the 1850s in Freedom's Price. While I enjoyed Tom as a character, I just couldn't bring myself to like or understand Catherine. Whereas Johnson, I assume, wanted readers to see a strong and independent heroine, I found myself annoyed with her. Time after time Catherine makes truly idiotic decisions for absolutely no good reason. From leaving England in the first place to adamantly staying in a dangerous situation, Catherine's choices make her seem spoiled, selfish, and plain stupid, and made me long for Tom to just leave her to her own devices and head back to Florida. She would have deserved it. It took me a while to get into the story, but once Tom and Catherine reach Louisiana (which should have happened several chapters before it did), the story picks up quite a bit. Other than Tom's poor choice in a love interest, the plot itself was interesting full of lovely surprises.
I received a free copy from the publisher. No review, positive or otherwise, was required—all opinions are my own.
No comments:
Post a Comment