Another beautiful cover, don't you think?
Let's begin with the summary of this third book in the Forgotten Castles series by Jamie Carie:
From the Land of Fire and Ice back to England’s shores, Alexandria Featherstone finds herself the new Duchess of St. Easton. Her husband has promised a wedding trip to take them to the place where her imperiled parents were last seen—Italy and the marble caves of Carrara—but a powerful Italian duke plots against Alex and her treasure-hunting parents.
Hoping to save them, Alex and Gabriel travel to Italy by balloon. Fraught with danger on all sides and pressured by Gabriel’s affliction to the breaking point, they must learn to work and fight together. The mysterious key is within their grasp, but they have yet to recognize it. This journey will require steadfast faith in God and each other—a risk that will win them everything they want or lose them everything they have.
And now, my review:
This is one of those series that should be read in order, book one through three. Thankfully, now with all of them released, you won’t have to wait to get the next one. ;)
I like the element of longing in a story. That’s why I loved book one in this series. And I like when the hero and heroine spend time together, which is why book two was my favorite! This book (book three) was about an adventure these two had together that tied the series together in a satisfying way.
The adventure takes these two on a few hot air balloon flying missions. Fascinating learning about this mode of transportation in its early stages so long ago. This element seemed a little like a fantasy, which worked since we were already experiencing the colors of sound with our hero, the duke.
Speaking of which, I liked how the author explored the colors of sounds through our hero’s experience, including supernatural elements. I liked watching how the hero and heroine related with each other through their challenge—how they learned to work together. The hero's new-found humility remained in this story, which appealed to this reader. As he continues to face hearing difficulties and ear pain/complications, he has a relatable hope: that God has already taught him everything through the affliction that he needed to learn so he can move on, leave the pain behind. And Alex has to face her abandonment issues and face the challenge of learning to trust God. Between wise exploration of relatable issues and the author's prose, I was reminded again why I appreciate Jamie's writing.
Some of the elements in this story didn't keep me as engaged as the earlier books. That's understandable, I think, because this story wasn't centered on romance like books one and two were (this reader's favorite genre). But because this story follows our beloved characters through to the conclusion of their mission, I still recommend it. And because this is such a great series, I know readers will enjoy it.
(print) (e-book)
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