An Uncharted Devotion by Amanda Taylor

An Uncharted Devotion
by Amanda Taylor

ISBN-13: 9781524421557
Paperback: 216 pages
Publisher: Covenant Communications
Released: June 5, 2023

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Lady Sarah Whitfield becomes the newest member of English nobility when her husband, Lord James Whitfield, inherits the family estate and title. After a five-year post in the navy, James has returned from war a very different man: cold, stoic, and tortured by an unresolved past. How can he carry on with a life of wedded bliss when his oldest friend in the world is starving in a French prison?

Heartbroken by the changes in her husband, who seems to have lost both his love for life and for her, Sarah leaves for London. James, haunted by the war and the loss of his wife, cannot make sense of his pain and regret. He knows one thing, however: he cannot let the woman he loves slip through his fingers. But when he receives news of his friend, he is forced to decide whether he can face the horrors of his past to save his friend and reclaim a future with Sarah or whether he must sacrifice one for the other.


My Review:
An Uncharted Devotion is a historical set in 1810 in England and France. James is completely self-centered. He admitted that he never considered how his actions made Sarah feel (and he didn't start doing so, either). He married her right before joining the navy and quickly forgot about her. The story never was a choice between her and the best friend as he always put the best friend first. He's forced to leave his beloved navy and return home, but he felt guilty that his best friend was captured by the French and focused on trying to locate his friend. Sarah warmly greeted him home, and he rejected her. When he realized her friends treasured her, he alienated her friends to make her as miserable as he was. The first half of the book was him being a total jerk and making no effort to fix things.

The next 20% of the book was his effort to court Sarah after enough people told him to go apologize. However, he then learned that a French big-wig might know where his friend was, so he wrote a vague goodbye note to his wife and ran off by himself on a suicide mission. The last 30% of the book was Sarah and her friends risking their lives to find him and rescue his friend. While Sarah and her friends were likable, James wasn't.

Some historical details were wrong (like about the navy) or improbable (like how easily they traveled to Paris during a time of war). Others things were simply unrealistic: James found a walled, gated private garden in London and not only had a picnic there (no indication of asking permission) but later impulsively took a bunch of flowers. Though James started as a midshipman, he became captain of his own ship in less than 5 years, which should indicate extraordinary leadership skills. Instead, he's impulsive and unable to plan. It was Sarah's friend who planned out how to achieve James' goals. James didn't even realize he hadn't been given a role (vote of no confidence) until everyone else was doing theirs. There was no sex or bad language.


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.