Book Review: The Scarlet Coat + giveaway!

 The Scarlet Coat     (Hearts at War – Book 1)

A Woman Compelled by Christian Charity
Surrounded by the musket fire of the American Revolution, Rachel Garnet prays for her family to be safe.  When the British invade the Mohawk Valley, and her father and brother don’t return from the battle, she goes in pursuit of them. She finds her brother alive but her father has been killed at the hand of the enemy. Amidst the death, how can she ignore a cry for help…? Rachel reluctantly takes in a badly wounded British officer. But how long can her sense of Christian duty repress her hatred for his scarlet coat?

A Man Lost to the Devastation of War
Passages of Scripture and fleeting images of society are all Andrew Wyndham recalls after he awakens to the log walls of his gentle prison. Even his name eludes him. Rachel Garnet insists he is a captain in the British army. He mourns the loss of his memory, but how can he hope to remember war when his “enemy” is capturing his heart?

A Scarlet Uniform Holds the Power to Unite or Divide
Andrew’s injuries are severe, his memory slow to return, and the secret of his existence too perilous to ignore. As Rachel nurses him back to health, his hidden scarlet coat threatens to expose the deeds of her merciful heart, and Andrew is forced to face a harrowing decision—Stay hidden and risk losing the woman he loves or turn himself in and risk losing his life.

Review by guest Robin Elizabeth Mason:

Conflict on every side, and within as well. The sound of musket fire, the acrid smell of smoke—and the putrid smell of blood and death. And within her heart, the cry of compassion for a dying man. A man wearing the uniform of the enemy. 

When Rachel Garnet seeks her brother and their father after a British invasion, she is heartbroken to learn her father is already dead. Leaving the valley—the battlefield—with her brother, they hear a cry for help.

A British officer.

Rachel cannot bear to leave him to die in the woods—but what does she risk to have the man in their home. As the man recovers his health, his memory fails him. Who is this man Rachel and her brother have rescued? Who are they harboring within their walls?

As the enemy begins to regain his health, he also struggles to recover his memory. Rachel is drawn to his mild manner and to his knowledge of Scripture. The conflict in her heart takes a dangerous turn as she falls in love with him. Will the conflict get them both killed? Or will their love triumph?

Ms. Couch has portrayed love that takes root in the most unlikely circumstance. She has given us genuine characters that display every emotion, and volley back and forth within those emotions. She has written characters who struggle with the reality of their lives and the brutality of war. I felt Rachel’s heart as she was torn to do her Christian duty to her sworn enemy. And I felt the conflict as her heart stirred toward him. I walked alongside her in 18^th century America, felt the strain of daily life, and the constant threat of discovery. A vivid story of faith and compassion and love.

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The Scarlet coat is available at:  Barnes & Noble      Indigo/Chapters      Amazon