Let's Hear it for Louisa!!

                                            

I love when writers focus on parts of our American history that few have read about in-depth.  No, I'm not criticizing...I, for one, hardly knew who the War of 1812 even involved...and I am a student of History! (No, you may NOT have my diploma back!)

The author, Jane Hampton Cook, took a lesser-known, though very important, time period and retold the story in such a fresh, light, and interesting way that I burned through this hefty 400+ page tome without even thinking of it as non-fiction.  (See the details here.) I became completely enveloped in the love story between John Q. and Louisa Adams, incredulous to the normalcy at the time of her travels, alone (!), from Russia to Paris by carriage.  I secretly rooted for J.Q. as he struggled to be accepted back into the realm of politics that his father had made seem so easy to do.

I am happy to proclaim that I not only learned important facts about our country's history from within the pages of this deliciously thick book, but I have come away with renewed pride in the people and spirit that started us on the path to greatness.

*I would like to thank BookSneeze for the free copy of this book in exchange for my personal review.