Historical Romance Book Club discussion

Discussion thread for the Second BOTM of May, 2020. Please remember to use the spoiler tags when necessary! (Please see 'some html is ok' for instructions.)

Happy Reading!

Always to Remember


After refusing to fight for the Confederacy, Clayton was spurned by everyone in his hometown of Cedar Grove. To Meg, who lost her husbands and brothers in the war, Clay's presence was a constant offense. As punishment, Meg commissioned Clay to create a memorial for the town's war heroes. But as she spent months watching him, Meg's feelings began to change.

I'm interested in reading a Civil War romance, but have been a little lukewarm about the Lorraine Heath books I've previously tried. I will see how my reading is looking when May comes around, and I might possibly join in. Maybe this could be the Lorraine Heath book that converts me to a fan LOL.

Sounds interesting. If I can find a copy, I'll join (if I'm not too busy as well). Like Jan, I haven't found a book that I like by Lorraine Heath yet.

I own and loved this 5 star book, so I am up for a reread. It was on sale when I purchased it. Maybe we could get lucky for it to go on sale again soon?

Mariana wrote: "I own and loved this 5 star book, so I am up for a reread. It was on sale when I purchased it. Maybe we could get lucky for it to go on sale again soon?"

Ooh, 5 stars. that's encouraging. It's currently $6.99 on amazon Australia. Not super expensive, but not super cheap either. I'll wait till May to decide.

I love Lorraine Heath, this books is really hard to find though. :(
Only eBooks or super expensive used copies. I wish they would rerelease it so I could buy a nice paperback copy.

I got this ebook from my library. Yay and now I can’t wait to start reading. It sounds interesting and I think there is a beta hero which I love when he is written well.

Petra wrote: "I got this ebook from my library. Yay and now I can’t wait to start reading. It sounds interesting and I think there is a beta hero which I love when he is written well."

Yes, he is a beta hero.

I read the prologue as well. It is just as visceral as the first time. I agree. Even though Clay is a beta, he would not be swayed from his convictions, even with the threat of death. I loved the sensory experience with all the described textures and smells.

I cheated a little and started this book few days before May and finished on May 1st.
It was so lovely.
Mariana - I know what you mean about the smells - I though it was so sweet that Clay had to suffer so much yet he didn’t even know how woman smells.
I don’t think this is spoiler since it happens right in the prologue. But these are the sort of yearnings I love reading about in the opening of a book.

Made it through Ch. 2 and I doubt I'm going to read any further. It's pretty depressing, reading about Clay's struggles to feed himself & his family, and I'm not in the mood for depressing.

Even worse, though, is I do not at all like the h, Meg.

I understand that Meg is in pain, having lost her husband and brothers, but (view spoiler)[Clay is not the one who killed them. Had Clay fought in the war, they would still be dead. The fact that she's going out of her way to degrade Clay, and make him "pay" for something he had nothing to do with, just makes her seem vicious. Clay had a right to make the choices he wanted to make and he owes her nothing.

At first I was afraid he was going to be a total doormat & act like a beaten dog around her, so thank goodness he did at least tell her off at one point, but I'm in no mood to read about him mooning around after her and thinking of how pretty she is etc. And while I understand her grief over losing her family in a war, I've never felt any sympathy for the Confederacy so I can't exactly feel like it was a tragedy that Confederate soldiers died, considering the alternative if they had won; not to mention, they started the war to begin with. Had I found the h to be likeable, I think I could have compartmentalized my personal opinions about the Confederacy and read the book in a more neutral fashion, but at this point all I can think about is how Meg is totally out of line. It is just very hard for me to read an HR when I intensely dislike the h. OK, tirade over! (hide spoiler)]

While this story may not be for me, I do think Lorraine Heath writes very well. I enjoyed her book Texas Destiny and look forward to reading others down the road.

I'm a little over half way through and I agree that it's not the easiest to read. It's hard to like characters who supported the confederacy especially when we see the way they treat others who are different like the stone quarry owner's son.
I can see many parallels between this Texas and the south in modern day which shows that maybe we haven't come are far as we'd like to think we have in 150 years.

It is hard reading about characters like this that in real life I don't have much sympathy for since I'm looking back on this from a historical view but I can see how they thought they were in the right. We have similar splits in politics in the US these days too.

I do love the twins, I wish they had their own books only living in a different place than Texas.

Even though I loved this the first time, I am moving through it very slowly this time. I don't think I'm in the mood for such a difficult read, though I know it is moving and rewarding in the end.

It makes me think how difficult it is to go against all who surround. The people in this story just followed what those around them endorsed. Only Clay thought for himself and was willing to follow what he believed to be right. People emotionally reacted and blamed him just because he did not agree and support what the majority of the town stood for. It is difficult even as an adult to speak out and stand for issues against the majority.

Yes I hear you guys about it being a difficult situation but I don’t think the author spend so much time on it and this will get better pretty soon.
I agree that Mag is at the beginning so stuck in her ways but we learn more about her and Clayton’s past status in the village that when I started to see the light.
I don’t know usually suffering of characters bothers me but not in this book. I was just waiting eagerly for this romantic moment when love will conquer all hate. And boy Lorraine Heath did it beautifully.
I really appreciated a main character who is willing to undergo all of this for his convictions.
With herd mentality reigning strong in the world right now. I find few similarities among the people of this town and judgement that is being passed around currently.
If this book teaches us something is to get to know those around you, don’t just assume the worst about them.

I had planned to join this BOTM but my library doesn’t have a copy. Somehow I was under the impression that my library had the ebook.

Missy wrote: "I had planned to join this BOTM but my library doesn’t have a copy. Somehow I was under the impression that my library had the ebook."

It's on Hoopla but not on my CloudLibrary. I got it on sale on Amazon.

I just checked out my copy, and I'll be starting it after I finish up my current read!

Welcome!

Mariana wrote: "I read the prologue as well. It is just as visceral as the first time. I agree. Even though Clay is a beta, he would not be swayed from his convictions, even with the threat of death. I loved the s..."

I agree. The prologue was so richly written. It sucked me in immediately for how beautiful it was (even though it was tragic)!

Midniteillusion (Desiree) wrote: "I'm a little over half way through and I agree that it's not the easiest to read. It's hard to like characters who supported the confederacy especially when we see the way they treat others who are..."
I read this in basically one sitting, so I didn't find it hard to read, but I do wish the book had explored the problematic aspects of the Confederate beliefs a little more. I'm not 100% sure how Clayton felt about the Confederacy or slavery; I only know he didn't want to kill anyone. That said, I'm not sure we're supposed to sympathize with anyone except for Meg.

Also, I usually don't like children sidekicks, but I adored the twins. They were the bright spots in an otherwise tragic romance!

Katherine wrote: "Midniteillusion (Desiree) wrote: "I'm a little over half way through and I agree that it's not the easiest to read. It's hard to like characters who supported the confederacy especially when we see..."

The twins were the best part. I agree that it would have been nice if the book had explored the Confederate beliefs more.

I finished a few days ago (forgot to update), so here I am!

But yeah, definitely agree with everything that's been said here. Like others, I was hooked by the prologue and didn't stop reading until I finished. Clay's character was just spot on, and even though we as readers are obviously not on the town's side, I thought Heath did a pretty good job portraying that level of blind grief/hatred that I thought was pretty fitting.

Like others, I wish the book hadn't skirted so neatly around the core beliefs of the Confederacy/South at that time. But avoiding the subject is pretty common for books written around the time this one was. I don't think the subject of the Civil War would get the same treatment in a 2020 romance, for instance.

Also agree on the twins!