Love, Come to Me by Lisa Kleypas

Occasionally, I will read a historical romance book. While they are not my favorite (I can only read so many pages about petticoats) I will pick one up and give it a go. Lisa Kleypas has typically been my standby for historical romance (I enjoyed her Wallflower Series) but at the used book store, there is a plethora of historical romances, and I wasn’t interested in anything else at the moment, so I grabbed Love, Come to Me.

The novel is about Lucinda Caldwell, a young woman living in Concord, Massachhusetts after the Civil War – she helps in her fathers general store, and is waiting to finally marry her three-year-engagment fiance. One evening, when returning home early from visiting, she falls into the icy river and is rescued and cared for by a relocated Southern (he was a Rebel…) man named Heath. After he nursed her back to health and returned her home, they slowly began to see each other more – on the street, at social events and in the store.

Because of the severe distain for the South at that time, everyone treats Heath poorly, but most of all Lucy’s fiance treats him terribly. As Lucy and Heath grow closer and closer, Lucy and  her fiance grow apart. Then , one night Heath and Lucy get a little busy in the woods with the entire town right next to them and she is “compromised” and is forced to marry Heath. The book follows the pair as they negotiate life, marriage, the Reconstruction, and a move to Boston.

Most of the time I am over the moon about Kleypas’ books. This time, while I still mostly liked the book, there were some parts that I thought were uncharacteristic to her writing. She usually builds characters, romance and stories with a strong foundation, and keeps the reader engaged in the story throughout the novel. For some reason (maybe because it was one of her first novels? Different publishing company?)  She did not get to fully engage and develop the relationship between Lucy and Heath on a deeper level.

Kleypas brought history into the novel. While other people may not have been a fan of this component considering the genre of the novel, I did. And it was a history not romanticized – she wrote about the bloodiness of the war, the failing reconstruction, the perspectives of both the North and the South, and how there was so much depression because of the Civil War. I also like how she wrote about how old newspapers used to run. It was fun to read about the dynamics in the career.

While it was not Kleypas’ best work, it was a little different than her other works, which was interesting to read. If you read it, let me know if you picked up on her literary tip-of-the-hat to an author who lived in Concord at that time.

Kleypas writes novels beyond historical fiction – including contemporary romances and regular fiction. Check out her website.