3 Star
Hanna has never been outside her secluded community of Clearhaven. She has never questioned why her father has four wives or why she has fourteen brothers and sisters. And in only one week, on her eighteenth birthday, Hanna will follow tradition and become the fifth wife of a man more than twice her age.
But just days before the wedding, Hanna meets Daniel, an enigmatic stranger who challenges her to question her fate and to follow her own will. Then her mother tells her a secret--one that could grant Hanna the freedom she's known only in her dreams. As her world unravels around her, Hanna must decide whether she was really meant for something greater than the claustrophobic world of Clearhaven. But can she abandon her beloved younger sister and the only home she's ever known? Or is there another option--one too fantastical to believe?
Kathryn - 3 Star
This was a strange book and not only because of the internal working of a cult content but because I felt as if it was incomplete. Hanna is almost 18 and gives a voice to the confined world in which she's been brought up. She is about to be married off to an elder in the fold who already has several wives and is at least 30 years her senior. The entire story covers the short period of time leading up to her arranged marriage but there is also some back story interwoven into the present.
Hanna is more aware of her surroundings and her situation than her siblings appear to be, she’s unsure about the way her future is looking and seems to be edging towards finding a way out. She’s also having a hard time reconciling herself to leaving her younger sister behind- she fears that no one will be able to care for her the way she can.
I wish this novel explored a longer time frame so that we had more of a feel for Hanna’s family dynamics- we had snippets, but I didn’t grasp the whole. I feel also that there should have been more links for Hanna within the community that she could have leant on- as it was she only appeared to be close with the one sister and occasionally her mother. She then meets Daniel who seems to give her the boost she needs to explore other options- but then she backtracks again and decides she will have to remain in Clearhaven.
I think I was frustrated because I felt this novel could have been more powerful and that the bones were there but not complete? I enjoyed it and wanted more but am now also really curious to read other books by this author.
Thank you to Harlequin for our review copy. All opinions are our own.
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