Royal & Ancient by Amanda Lauer released in October and is a Young Adult book. I was blessed with the opportunity to read an ARC of this book from the publisher, all thoughts and opinions are my own. My daughter helped me choose a book from the two options I had for the month. This one was definitely a good choice. I truly enjoy being transported to other areas of the world and that is just what this book accomplished. I was able to spend some time in Scotland during the 1600s.
We begin this book with Bronwyn on the ground not knowing why she is there. We then get to learn a bit about her and what her life has been like up to this point. I liked the way the author incorporated the background knowledge as her remembering her life. We quickly discover that things are not as they seem and the men hovering over her are Scottish and clearly not in modern day. The man who is leaning over her is Iain and he is very concerned. We now jump into their journey as Bronwyn tries to discover how she got in Scotland in 1691 and Iain is trying to figure out where she came from.
I struggled with the time travel concept, but that is because I am very logical so time travel just doesn't really make sense in my mind. I also wish a part of the time travel had been resolved at the end, but it didn't detract from the story for me. This story is told from Bronwyn's perspective. It is well written and flowed smoothly. I didn't struggle to want to pick it up or with any parts of the storyline.
Bronwyn and Iain's tale is lovely. I love Iain's family as well, really the whole cast of characters were interesting and kept me wanting to know more. Their faith is a pivotal part of the story, and as I am not a Catholic it was interesting to learn more about Catholicism and it's history, as well as some history of Scotland. I could feel the emotions from the characters, which keeps me coming back to the book. A wonderful read.
Meet the Author:
An avid reader and history buff since childhood, award-winning author, journalist and screenwriter Amanda Lauer is the author of the Heaven Intended Civil War series. A World Such as Heaven Intended won the 2016 CALA Award and A Freedom Such as Heaven Intended earned the 2022 Catholic Media Book Awards: First Place Catholic Novels: Inspirational. Lauer’s first time-travel novel Anything But Groovy was released in 2021. She also contributed to the Catholic Teen Books anthologies Treasures: Visible & Invisible and Ashes: Visible & Invisible and worked with Archduke Eduard Habsburg to bring his children’s tale Dubbie: The Double-Headed Eagle to life. In addition, Lauer won the Red Letter Awards 2020 Best Writer or Screenplay for her work on the Christian film The Islands. Find her online at amandalauer.com.
Amanda's Facebook | Amanda's Instagram | Amanda's Pinterest
You can purchase the book at Amazon Chrism or READ
I would recommend this book if you are looking for a clean YA romance with a fun setting and lovable characters.
Thank you for reading, I hope you have a blessed day.
Lovely! Thank you! - Rachel
ReplyDelete