My Heart Belongs in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania by Murray Pura

My Heart Belongs in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania by Murray Pura ISBN-13: 9781683227403 Paperback: 256 pages Publisher: Barbour Books Released: November 1, 2018

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Journey into Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, of 1863. By day, Clarissa Avery Ross is the daughter of a respectable shoemaker being courted by seminary student Kyle Forrester. But by night she is a conductor on the Underground Railroad, working with a mysterious man called Liberty. She would like to share her work with Kyle, but he refuses to enlist when the war breaks out. How can she remain true to a man she feels is a coward? When the war comes to her back door in an epic battle, the greatest challenges are yet to come.


My Review:
My...Gettysburg, Pennsylvania is a romance set in 1860 to 1863 in Gettysburg. In the first half of the book, the scenes where Clarissa led escaped slaves along the Underground Railroad were exciting. But it seemed like most of the scenes were of her 'normal' life, like her romantic walks with Kyle. When war broke out, we got a lot of "I hate you" and "I love you" scenes and love letters while her fiance's at war. Excitement returned when the war came to Gettysburg (and they still managed to spend time kissing intensely).

My main problem was with the hussy...er, heroine. She was extremely forward about embracing and passionately kissing a man, even before he was officially courting her. They also had premarital sex (implied rather than described). She justified this to herself--that God would bless this--because they love each other. She even called herself by his last name and called him her husband before the actual wedding.

I was continually annoyed by her spoiled attitude. She was hateful to people who hurt her pride--for example, Liberty scared her when trying to save her life and even apologized for it, but she basically cursed him to hell for doing so. She was impulsive plus often jumped to wrong conclusions. She's a red head, so she feels that passion, a quick temper, and tantrums are alright. One minute she hates a man and the next she's attracted to him. Even with her beauty and kisses, I can't understand why any man was attracted to her. But they all were.

There were no graphic sex scenes or bad language. Overall, I enjoy actual diaries from this time more than this story, but people who enjoy impulsive, passionate heroines may enjoy it.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.