A Portrait of Loyalty by Roseanna M. White

A Portrait of Loyalty by Roseanna M. White ISBN-13: 9780764231834 Paperback: 384 pages Publisher: Bethany House Released: September 8th 2020

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Zivon Marin was one of Russia's top cryptographers, until the October Revolution tore apart his world. Forced to flee after speaking out against Lenin and separated from his brother along the way, he arrives in England driven by a growing anger and determined to offer his services to the Brits.

Lily Blackwell sees the world best through the lens of a camera--and possesses unsurpassed skill when it comes to retouching and recreating photographs. With her father's connections in propaganda, she's recruited to the intelligence division, even though her mother would disapprove.

After Captain Blackwell invites Zivon to dinner one evening, a friendship blooms between him and Lily. He sees patterns in what she deems chaos; she sees beauty in a world he thought destroyed. But both have secrets they're unwilling to share. When photographs are sent to Zivon's boss showing him with socialists, Zivon's loyalties are questioned--and his enemies are discovered to be far closer than he'd feared.


My Review:
A Portrait of Loyalty is a suspenseful Christian romance set in 1918 in England. This novel is the 3rd in the series. You don't need to read the previous novel to understand this one, and this story didn't spoil the previous book.

Zivon has lost everyone that he cares about and flees Russia because his life in danger. He accidentally ends up with information that the Socialists need, so they're still tracking him down. In the darkness of his loss and anger, he's uplifted by the beauty that he can see when Lily takes photographs. And Lily's intrigued by how Zivon can anticipate people's actions simply by watching the patterns of movement. Their interest grows as they spend time together, but then photographs turn up that call Zivan's loyalty into question. Will an opportunity to end the war be lost because Zivon's advice is ignored?

The main characters acted realistically, were engaging, and I cared about what happened to them. Interesting historical details were woven into the story and were critical to the plot. The hero and heroine respected and supported each other. The suspense came from danger to the hero's life as well as an outbreak of the Spanish Flu. Zivon needed to forgive those who killed his betrothed and ruined his life. There was no sex or bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable novel.


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.


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