Beloved Enemy

This book has much to recommend it. Mostly the incredible research that the author has done which lends itself to obvious authenticity. This starts as a 300 page 'harlequin' that usually, to me, means little depth. But I love civil war era stuff so I read it anyway. We have the typical injured yankee and devoted reb belle.....and the belle trying to get out of an arranged marriage which leads to a prank where she meets our embittered hero. Pretty standard stuff. There aren't any hot love scenes, just tender words and emotions conveyed through sharkespeares sonnets and a few embraces. The 'hero' volunteers to get arrested so he can lead a bunch of officers out of libby prison...and the reality of the nightmare of that prison are fairly vivid. You'll either like this story or dislike it a lot, I guess but I enjoyed the change of pace. The author did a really good job fitting in historical info in a easy read.

Julia Chandler was a sheltered bookworm who never rocked the boat like her feisty younger sister, Carolyn. Julia was mostly content to bury herself in books and lose herself in dreams of becoming a teacher and what might have been had the Civil War not happened. With her sweetheart, Frank, killed at Manassas two years ago, Julia's scheming mother has decided that Julia will marry her cousin Payton. Although Julia's mother is fond of Payton, Julia thinks Payton is a toad and is only after her inheritance. Determined to refuse marriage to Payton, Julia and her sister sneak uninvited into a masquerade ball where Julia wants to find a Yankee to ruin her - although she doesn't exactly know what that means. Robert Montgomery is a bitter major in the United States Army. After being shot in the hand at Gettysburg, his fickle fianc?e broke their engagement because he had lost the use of the wounded hand. Now he trusts no woman, but he can't help but be entranced by the lovely Julia. He can't help but be drawn to her, especially after the rather inebriated young woman asks him to have his dastardly way with her. Ever the gentleman, Rob declines, but he is determined to see her again - even after he learns she is loyal to the Confederacy. Can love triumph in the midst of war? This book was excellent! If I could give it 10 stars, I would. Ms. Schaller obviously did her research on the Civil War, and perfectly blended real historical figures with the fictional characters in the book. I loved Julia because she was so determined and intelligent. I also loved the character of Rob because he was brave and devoted. There were some twists and turns in this book, so you were never really sure what would happen next! There was something for everyone in this book - romance, political turmoil, war, intrigue, misunderstandings, social scandal, espionage, and a host of other things that blended into an awesome story. I didn't discover this until after I read the book, but Mary Schaller has also used the penname "Tori Phillips" and wrote several books for Harlequin set in the medieval era. So if you are a fan of Tori Phillips, you'll probably love this book too, even though it is set in a different time period. I love books set in the Civil War era, although Harlequin really doesn't seem to publish many of them. I wish they published more, especially if they were as well written as this one! This is easily one of the best romance novels I have ever read.