I'm not going to get into a deep, complex review here- just what I liked and didn't like about the story. Likes: Although this book is the third of a series, it reads fine as a stand alone. It does reference the previous books, but does it in such a way that it doesn't feel like "here is some exposition for you," it feels like a natural part of the story. The two main characters, Daniel and Janeta, were complex, flawed, and grew over the course of the story, and I cared about what happened to them. The historical events were well researched, and I learned about aspects of the Civil War that I didn't know about before, such as international impacts of the war. The romance was a slow burn, which was understandable in the situations of the characters- Daniel getting over a lost love, and feeling like he doesn't deserve to be loved, and Janeta figuring out the man she thought loved her was using her, and coming to terms with who she is. When they finally get together, it felt right, like they had worked out some (not all) of their personal baggage before moving forward. I enjoyed the two of them together, and feel like they'll get their HEA, not just a HFN. Dislikes: nothing, really. Janeta did take a while to figure things out, but honestly, in her situation, I might've taken a while too- it's hard to unlearn what you've been brought up to believe. I really enjoyed this book, though some of it is hard to take; it's important to know, and to think about.

#AnUnconditionalFreedom #NetGalley

Daniel Cumberland and Janeta Sanchez could not have joined the Loyal League for more different reasons. Born free and then sold into slavery, Daniel uses the League to provide structure for vengeance against, in particular, the Sons of the Confederacy organization. By contrast, Janeta – whose Cuban plantation owner father freed her enslaved mother and then married her – is there to spy on the spies, hoping to gain information that will buy her father’s freedom from Union prison. This story is honest, raw, and dark, and while the romance isn’t as strong as I’d have liked, I still recommend An Unconditional Freedom as a deeply affecting read.

The strongest aspect of this story by far is the intersection of history and character. Daniel was kidnapped out of his life as a trainee-attorney Northern freeman to be sold into slavery. Daniel is a protector, and the author effectively shows that his experience being enslaved was not traumatic only because of his own suffering, but also because being unable to protect the people around him on the plantation made him feel like a failure. The nightmares, flashbacks, and other manifestations of trauma he experiences after his rescue torment him, seeming like further evidence of personal weakness when he contrasts himself with people who spent longer in slavery or otherwise suffered, in his subjective analysis, “worse.” While I wish those had been the traumas he confronted in the climax instead of his claustrophobia and fear of being a jinx, the multidimensionality and raw authenticity of his pain leapt off the page and settled like a weight in my chest as I read. That’s powerful writing.

Creating Janeta as the heroine was also a strong choice by the author, because her journey of self-conceptualization in terms of race and class is fascinating and illuminating. In Cuba, Janeta’s enslaved mother was freed and became her father’s second wife, making Janeta a free, wealthy plantation princesa – but one who is black. In many ways, this is the story of Janeta’s blinders coming off to the ways in which wealth and the peculiarities of her “small pond” buffered her against the way someone of her color would be treated in other places (although even in her father’s home, she was never fully equal with the white daughters of his first wife). I appreciated the depth and nuance with which the author traced Janeta’s journey. Yes, Janeta is in some ways innocent and manipulated, but she also confronts the fact that in other ways, she was complicit in her innocence: there were questions she stopped asking, or deliberately never asked in the first place because she suspected the answer would be problematic. She also has to critically examine her mother’s emphasis on deriving her value from her ability to please others, especially men, and especially sexually.

NOT fascinating are Janeta’s endless ruminations about Henry, the white Confederate she loved who duped her into spying, and her choice to spy on the Loyal League for Henry in order to free her father. These scenes are repetitive – ‘I can’t betray them for Papi! But I must!’ happens at least three times – and every time she comes to a decision or realization that had already occurred in a previous chapter, it made her character feel stagnant. (On the other hand, it was interesting to do some Googling and find that there really was a female Sanchez – Lola Sanchez – in Janeta’s town of Paletka, Florida, who performed the spying attributed here to Janeta. I always respect authors who work that level of research into their stories).

Janeta and Daniel are deep, complex characters who help each other grow and heal, respectively. However, maybe this excellent history and character development took a bit of the page count from the romance. I would have liked more chemistry between the two of them, because sometimes they come across more as therapists than lovers. Both also spend too much time thinking about their previous loves – in the climax, Daniel even thinks of his former love’s faith in him alongside Janeta’s. Their transition to lovers feels abrupt, and I vote it’s time to retire ‘I can’t sleep, so I need to wander innocently to the library in my nightclothes for a book.’ The moment you read that, you know they’d better not have upholstered the chaise lounge in a fabric that shows stains.

There’s a pacing issue when a chapter ends in the middle of a naval battle, and the next chapter picks up and goes a few pages before revealing that oh, yeah, the battle ended, off camera, and Janeta and Daniel were set ashore, also off-camera, and now they’re making camp. On occasion, the prose gets carried away with itself:

“The same optimism Daniel had once felt… galloped through the arid plains of his soul, leaving a trail of verdant green. That trail of green sliced through him like a wound.”

So the optimism is a horse, but a horse that makes grass, but grass that cuts people? Unclear.

As a romance, this book is a B+ for me, but as a work of fiction, it’s an A-, and that’s the grade I’ve settled on. It reflects the fact that An Unconditional Freedom is profoundly powerful and worth reading. In a moving afterword, the author writes about how challenging it was to promise an HEA to her characters in a country that was not only so corrupt in its time period, but also remains plagued by structural and individual white supremacy to this day. I hope our community is inspired by books like this to take our love of the HEA off the page and work for it in the real world.

I wish had the option for more than 5 stars, because this is way up and over. The last and (I think) best book in the series. From the first page, I was on tenterhooks wondering how on earth she could bring these two together in a way that felt authentic and satisfying... and of course, of course she did.

Pack tissues with you when you read this book.

Wow. What an engrossing and powerful book. This is the third installment in Alyssa Cole’s Loyal League series, but the first for me. And it holds up completely as a standalone.

If you’ve read even a handful of my reviews, you know I am a sucker for a tortured hero, and my gosh, Daniel Cumberland is certainly tortured. He was a black man born free who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. He spent months being subjugated and abused, until the day he was rescued and delivered to the Loyal League. Their mission: to help take down the Confederacy. Daniel joins their cause, but he does it more for vengeance then altruism.

Janita joins the league for entirely different reasons. She infiltrates the group as a spy to feed information to the Confederacy. Janita is mixed race Cuban and black, but she was raised in luxury. Her plantation owning father married her former slave mother. She never even allowed herself to consider the contradiction that was her life. Until her father was arrested and her white lover convinced her that the only way to save him was by spying on the League.

Janita and Daniel are assigned to be partners. No one likes Daniel, or at least, no one feels comfortable around him because he is so damaged and brooding. But Janita feels like she can make the best of things. She is, after all, a chameleon. So they set off together to try to verify some information that might help their cause.

Quickly, she begins to see that her understanding of slavery is very misguided. She and Daniel interact with other black people, both enslaved and free. But the thing is, she begins to understand that her freedom is fragile. After all, look what happened to Daniel. The story follows her evolution in understanding the evils of slavery and his transformation in to seeing him self as worthwhile and deserving of a future.

This is a very, very slow burn. I found myself rooting for these two long before they so much as touched each other. I was a little disappointed that their connection was not a bit more parceled out. I think the very first time they finally kissed, they were getting all the way down to business. I might have liked a few stolen kisses or something to hold me through along the story.

I’m not a huge fan of the Big Secret trope, and obviously Janita had a big one. It did hang over the story for quite a while, but there were a lot of really good things going on in the meantime. Cole’s portrayal of slavery and the heartbreak and agony that black people endured during this time was amazingly well done. The way she communicated with Daniel’s range of emotion, from anger to hate to helplessness to despair. It was just so powerful.

And while I waited for the pay off on all the tension between these two, when I finally got it, it was very satisfying. I just wanted more.

Overall, a very good book, with some difficult themes and a solid message of hope. Would recommend.

Alyssa Cole is by far the best author in this genre; I am continuously impressed by how she will take a familiar trope, turn it on its head, incorporate multiple characters of color and create a compelling story. This entire series has been amazing, and I've recommended it to my non-romance-reading friends as a perfect example of romance with real stakes. I can't wait to see what Cole does next, now that she's finished two major trilogies.

Get ready for another brilliant Loyal League story that presents keen insight into yet another historical aspect of the Civil War. The story begins with a direct connection to its predecessor, AN EXTRAORDINARY UNION. The hero, Daniel, and the heroine from Book 2 have history. Instead of Ellen, an ex-slave, marrying Daniel, a free Negro, she chooses to join the resistance against the Confederacy. Of course, Daniel is not pleased with the decision. Yet, he is willing to wait for Ellen, study law, and use his knowledge of the law to help free his people. That’s the plan, but as it happens, the plan does not work out. Ellen falls in love with the hero figure of Book 2.
Daniel is faced with a devastating dilemma that will leave him with PTS. Enter Janeta Sanchez and Daniel’s world shifts again. While Janeta has her own agenda for joining the Loyal League, she and Daniel end up working together.
An Unconditional Freedom is a well-developed story that is a pager-turner. The historical references are on-point. Kudos to author, Alyssa Cole!

* * * * * ARC Received from Publisher/NetGalley * * * * *

I couldn't put this book down. We finally get Daniel’s story after reading about him the previous book in the series. It was difficult reading about this period in our history and about Daniel’s struggles to deal with the horrors he experienced after he was kidnapped and sold into slavery. I couldn’t help but feel depressed that even after all of these years, we are still dealing with many of the same issues. But it was such a compelling read and I would recommend the book to everyone.

Alyssa Cole has become an auto-buy for me. I love her Off the Grid and Reluctant Royals series. I can’t wait to see what she does next!

Alyssa Cole takes a difficult subject — the pain and trauma of slavery — and tells a story that is impossible to put down. Mixing love, espionage and the human condition, "An Unconditional Freedom," brings home once more the evils of slavery. As another reviewer pointed out, she does so without "slavery porn" but in a manner that in no way reduces the weight of evil. That a freed man could be plucked from his life and made a slave; that a slave owning family with black blood could produce a girl who, for a time, actually spies for the South show the complexities of our shared past. The bravery of the members of the Loyal League are a reminder that without men and women willing to risk everything, slavery might have lingered many more years. This is a brilliant book, not surprising from a writer of Cole's stature. A great, great read. (I received a NetGalley advance copy but opinions are mine.)

A strong historical novel which two characters' journey in a world where despair, hope, vengeance, deceit are everyday occurrences. This third installment in Cole's Loyal League series is the best, most poignant and ultimately the more human story of them all. More historical than romance, although there a romance between two deeply hurt persons who journey to a better place both physically, emotionally. I loved that the Janeta's "secret" was dealt in a wonderful and mature way. Both are self aware and know that the relationship, love that is developing between them can't cure them. That I loved. So much. Both know and express it consciously.

The storyline is eerily a mirror of our times. Cole addresses the subjects of racism, slavery, hate, freedom and democracy in a time where these are so much present in the every day lives of America. This isn't an easy historical romance. It's a historical romance with heart, soul and a hard point of view on the times and ours.

It is an amazing read as a romance, an historical novel and a book that makes us, the reader, think.

This was a Netgalley ARC.

This book was fantastic, being that this is the third book in the series and I've read the two previous ones I have come to know what to expect from this author's writing. No let down here at all.
Daniel Cumberland was born a free black man in Massachusetts to a seamstress and a blacksmith. Studying law so he could help free those enslaved he was tricked and kidnapped by men pretending to be abolitionist for the cause. Offered entry into the Loyal League and organization of Black spies who helped to free him. This is where he meets spy member Janeta Sanchez, a Cuban who is infiltrating the Loyal League as a double agent. Daniel and Janeta are paired up to work together. He is a hardened,bitter man after being sold into slavery. This book is light on the romance and more of a historical that is filled with hope. As the story progresses we see a maturation in Daniel as his relationship changes with Janeta from wariness to trust and eventually love. Deep soulful characters, the plot was really there and well researched. I can't wait to see what the author comes up with next.
Pub Date: 26 Feb 2019
I was given a complimentary copy of this book from Kensington through NetGalley. Thank you. All opinions expressed are my own.

Alyssa Cole mixes it up with this one. Daniel is a very dark, tortured character, struggling to recover from being sold (as a free man) into slavery. Though eventually saved, it changed him in a fundamental way and he's lost all faith in this country.

Enter Janeta, a new recruit to the Loyal League who is paired up with Daniel on a mission. Janeta's reasons for joining the Loyal League are complicated, but she's there as a double agent. But now that she sees the effect of the slave trade on black Americans, and grows closer to Daniel, she has a find a way to come to terms with her real mission and herself.

The romance is a very, very slow burn in this one - almost secondary to the focus on the horrors of slavery and the Civil War. But you can sense Alyssa Cole's depairs and rage in writing this one, and it makes it very worth it. This series is stellar.

This third installment in the Loyal League series was far more character-driven as Daniel and Janeta carry significant baggage due to their experiences. Each of them have joined the 4L for different reasons and their backgrounds are vastly different, but in the end, they have the same goals. If they can learn to accept themselves and each other, they may be able to let go of their pasts and find a future.

3.5 Stars

This romance is a compelling multi-faceted read. This whole series is. In "An Unconditional Freedom," Alyssa Cole gives us two complex characters living in an unfair and complicated world, characters who I was instantly invested in. Told from the dual perspective, my heart broke for Daniel and Janeta, even if I wasn't able to connect with their romance completely.

I enjoyed Cole's writing, her blend of compelling historical context, character development, and plot intriguing. I felt such strong emotions for the traumatized Daniel, and the warped Janeta. I loved the protagonists' backgrounds, and was instantly compelled to read their perspectives after just the first chapter. I just wished there was more heat, both regarding the romantic chemistry and the tension of the story.

I recommend this read, and this series, to any historical romance reader that likes depth and real world stakes in their love stories, and prefers their sexy reads on the mild side.

4.5 Stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟

As the third installment in The Loyal League series , An Unconditional Freedom was the hardest for me to finish which acts as a testament to Cole’s brilliant writing. This romance follows the lives of League agent Daniel Cumberland, bruised and battered physically and mentally after illegal enslavement and Afro-Cuban Janeta Sanchez when seeks to gain freedom for her slave owning father by infiltrating the League.

This read isn’t for the light hearted as it explores themes of post-trauma stress, the privileges associated with colorism, horrors of slavery, and self exploration. It makes you uncomfortable and offer empathy to characters you’d otherwise want to be hit by a bus.

As a Black person living in present day America, Daniel’s journey through rage, distrust, and vengeance after violence certainly resonanced with me. To know in your homeland, you will never be seen as whole. Despite having all the proper trimmings and adequate education will never wield the power to abolish and heal true atrocities.

As with all of the other books in the LL world, accepting love and finding your happy in the world doesn’t overshadow the bigger issue at hand. When it comes to it, the war is bigger than them in and even love doesn’t overshadow that. Overall, I loved the story of #freedombae and Janeta and cannot recommend it enough.

For a more in-depth review, check out my booktube https://youtu.be/XzdZyrtBSj8

I requested an ARC of Alyssa Cole’s An Unconditional Freedom for the most superficial of reasons: I couldn’t resist the hunk on the cover. I’m a sucker for an open-necked shirt, soulful brown eyes, and the man is holding a scroll and lantern … can it get any better? As for the contents, I was open to them, but didn’t go in with any great expectations. What I found was, finally, FINALLY, someone who can put the history back in historical romance. You can’t historically “wallpaper” a history so unjust and ugly: how Cole managed to make me hold my breath with excitement, stop my heart with fear for her characters, and root for a slow-burn romance is testament to her mad writing skills.

At the end of the novel, a seasoned revolutionary in the war against slavery advising the heroine on when to hold’em and when to show’em in this righteous war says: ” ‘First thing you learn about being a Daughter — sometimes you gotta be subtle, and sometimes you gotta burn it all down.’ ” As a Daughter of Romance, Cole sure knows how to be subtle and how to burn it all down, navigating American Civil War history with sureness and skill, steering her characters’ inner worlds with insight and sensitivity and though there are moments when she burns it all down with action, she brings the ship to moor with a light touch of love, commitment, hope, and joy. Her narrative is serious, historically fascinating, and in places, even horrific, but it is never sombre, dark, or hopeless. Its movement is ever towards the light of possibility, even though the journey darkens and the way wavers.

Cole sets up her premise without too much ado, clever narrative ploy. A man bent on vengeance, Daniel Cumberland, a Massachusetts-born-and-bred Black man, trained to be a lawyer, his effort cut short when he was kidnapped and sold to a Georgia plantation owner, where he suffered beating, lashings, and soul-crushing humiliation. After Daniel was rescued, he joined the Loyalty League, a spy-ring bent on the South’s defeat. In enters Janeta Sanchez, free-born Cubana of a Black slave-woman who was freed by her owner and became his wife. Janeta has arrived at the Loyalty League to act as double-agent, seemingly as Daniel’s partner as they make their way south to Mississippi following in Jefferson Davis’s footsteps, actually to feed the Sons of the Confederacy information in the hopes they can free her father, imprisoned by Union soldiers.

As Daniel and Janeta make their way south, we are borne along on a journey that interweaves the truth of Roots over the ugliness of the Gone With the Wind myth and the inner awakenings of two wonderful, complex, interesting characters. When the novel opens, Daniel struggles with a deep sense of shame, guilt, and anger. Janeta’s journey is a coming-of-age story about a young woman, full of pride about her place in the world, naïve about historical realities and racial identity: “She’d been told time and time again of her place in the world, of everything she was despite her brown skin. Now she was learning what she was because of it.” Cole’s novel is a great lesson, but it is neither didactic nor pedantic: she tells her characters’ story with élan, clear-eyed about trial and tribulation, traversing her characters’ opening up to freedom as political, historical, social, and personal necessity.

Cole balances history with how Daniel and Janeta understand that history as it defines and determines their place in the world. Daniel rightly thinks, for example: “What was freedom? How could he be truly free if a white man could arbitrarily decide that for him?” Cole asks of her characters: how can we exercise autonomy when we are not afforded political, economic, and social? But does history hold Daniel and Janeta in thrall? If it did completely, Cole wouldn’t be able to write a romance. The legitimate, ever-present historical struggle is tempered with the constraints of the inner life, the obstacles to hope, love, and autonomy that we hold close for fear of hoping for a better life and the joy of loving and being loved, Daniel a case in point, and Janeta to follow:

… his past had risen up to claim him, as it did so often since he’d gained his freedom. His shackles had been unlocked, but the ghost of them remained, tightening against his stomach or throat or heart at the most inopportune moment to remind him that he would never, ever be rid of them.

She’d been free, and had never suffered because of the color of her skin. Not much, anyway … had she?

Daniel, of the two, is historically knowledgeable and aware. Janeta is historically naïve. On their journey, he learns how to loosen the inner constraints; Janeta must recognize the outer ones.

Daniel’s journey is of resurrection (Cole’s rendering of this image so powerful, I sobbed, but SPOILERs, I’m avoiding them); Janeta’s, a bildungsroman, Cole’s metaphor for her apt and perfect:

She was coming to understand both her place in this country and her own inner geography better; she was recharting the map of herself now that she could go out and explore its surrounding terrain.

Daniel and Janeta’s HEA is no more perfect than history is perfect, but it is hopeful, believable, love-filled, and lest you think, Cole can’t do banter and set historical records straight, I leave you with a snippet of delight:

” ‘Are you done with the Inquisition?’ Daniel asked. ‘I was just curious,’ Janeta said, rolling her eyes. ‘Curiosity is your resting state,’ he muttered.”

It is easy to imagine Daniel and Janeta elderly, happy, sitting on the porch, holding hands and teasing. Let’s hope we can built a world where everyone of any colour, creed, ability, and identity can reach the same peace and contentment. Needless to say, I loved An Unconditional Freedom and urge you to read it right here, right now (as I go looking for the first two books in the series). With Miss Austen, we say P&P‘s “you have bewitched me,” Ms Cole.

Alyssa Cole’s An Unconditional Freedom is published by Kensington Books. It was released on February 26th and may be found at your preferred vendors. I’m grateful to Kensington Books for an e-ARC, via Netgalley.

What a fantastic end to an amazing series!

These are such important books, offering a little known and an invaluable perspective on the Civil War in the US. I enjoyed all the books and with An Extraordinary Union my favourite, this comes a close second. It's a powerful character-driven story with a strong suspense elements (the MCs are al spies and agents, after all).

I won't be giving away any plot details and I can say that it's tied with the previous in the series but works well as standalone. The whole series draws a powerful portrayal of the people involved in the Civil War and this one adds yet another layer to the grand picture.

Daniel was a broken man, set on revenged, disillusioned, hardened, one who fights for his people but ultimately he has lost hope in his country. There is so much hurt and devastation in his life, and blame, all the self-blame for having been naive and hopeful, for being weak and unable to move on.
He was a free man with big plans for the future and he was kidnapped and enslaved and everything was taken away from him. In a way his story was one long coming back from the dead, learning to trust and to hope and dream again.
panic attack, suicidal thoughts, anxiety. flashbacks of trauma and torture.

Janeta was an amazing, so interesting, so unusual. She started as a double agent, determined to spy for the Confederacy. Her father was a white Cuban slave-owner and, her mother was a slave he freed and later married. She through a most difficult and transforming journey in this story. She had to face hard truths about herself and her family that she had been avoiding. She found her people in the face of Daniel and the slave they met on the road. I started disliking her and by the end I was fully on her side.

The story has a varied cast of great side characters who brought life and richness to the story. Seeing Malcom and Elle (the MCs in book 1) in the end bought things full circle.

Ultimately, this is a dark but hopeful story. The focus for me was not so much on the HEA but on the MCs making a choice who they want to be in this life, standing up for their to love and happiness and after all, unconditional freedom.

An Unconditional Freedom brought me full circle with book one in this series by telling the story of the man who was rejected by An Extraordinary Union’s heroine. Each of these Loyal League stories bring history alive, send the reader into pulse-pounding intrigue and danger, and introduce characters and relationships that tug hard on the emotions. This latest has reached down deeper than any others in the series.
Review

An Unconditional Freedom is book three in the Loyal League series. It could be read standalone because it is a separate story arc though there are obvious loose ties to the first two books, but it had a better impact on me by getting it in order.

In An Unconditional Freedom, we get the story of the man who once thought to earn his law degree and be a husband only to lose his free black status when kidnapped by slavers and sold making him see just how precarious all his assumptions about freedom really were. Daniel’s life journey came at a high price. His work as a Loyal League detective helping his people gain their freedom is good, but it is only a vehicle driven by his deep fury and pain until he encounters a woman set on her own dark path.

Janeta Sanchez is a Cuban black woman who has lived in luxury as the daughter of the Cuban plantation owner who brings his family to his Florida villa. Janeta is naive and her dream to be desired leads her to loving and trusting the wrong man which she doesn’t realize until she is in an untenable situation. Now, she must insinuate herself into the Loyal League, using her shared skin color to spy against them and eventually take them down to help her lover and her imprisoned father. Only, she encounters the stone cold eyes of her new partner and knows that gaining secrets from Daniel Cumberland will not be easy and the attempt may well get her killed.

In truth, I would describe this as a historical fiction mashed with romance. Yes, there is a slow burn love growing at the heart of this story and gets to a wonderful sensual and spicy scene, but for most of the tale it is about two people who were on very separate and distinct paths face personal hardship, demons, and a chance at growth and healing before they are ready for anything resembling love and romance.

I was riveted to the storyline as Daniel and Janeta are deeply involved in spy work and intrigue in a constantly volatile situation as they traverse the South during war time. As the previous books showed, the war is fought on many levels and many ways other than soldiers clashing against soldiers. There is a whole other secret war being fought behind the lines as well as some seek to gather intelligence or sabotage while others seek to incite riots and twist people to do their dirty work.

This story was told in a heightened state of danger and I read it in one sitting. My emotions were engaged and I appreciate how the author demonstrated good research and wrote a layered action and character-driven story. It was obvious that she threw her heart into this one and the readers will reap the reward of that.

Those who enjoy US Civil War era historicals, historical romance, and African American history should definitely pick up this book/series.

My thanks to Kensington via Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a tough read, but like Cole's other books in the series, it is well researched and beautifully written. Not as heavy on romance as usual. The heroine is difficult to like at first because she (half-black) was brought up to think of herself better than others, especially slaves. Her learning curve is huge, but in a way it helps the modern reader learn the parts of the Civil War that don't get taught in public schools. The hero suffers from ptsd, depression, etc. This isn't meant to be a feel-good romance, but it is filled with hope.

Not necessary to read the first two books first, though one character from the first book has connections.

There's little doubt that An Unconditional Freedom was written post-November 2016, though no doubt planned earlier. This romance novel is jam-packed with rage. It's a good book, but I will caution that, where the two prior books had a nice balance between romance and political/spying action, An Unconditional Freedom really does not focus on the romance aspect.

As ever, the political aspects are fascinating and nuanced. The heroine, Janeta, is half-Cuban, half-Black, the wealthy daughter of a Cuban slave owner who recently moved to Florida. There, she was seduced by a white man in the Sons of the Confederacy, and he convinced her to spy for the Confederates, which leads to her going undercover in the Loyal League and partnering with Daniel (aka Elle's bestie from book one). The first half of this book was so hard to read (not because it's bad but because oof) with Daniel's burning rage of vengeance and Janeta's determination to betray the Loyal League to the Confederates. It's a lot.

Janeta's character arc is a powerful one, though, as she sees more of the real world and comes to better understand her life now and in the past. Only now does she really understand that her mom was a slave and that she could easily have been one as well. She realizes that she may have had half-sisters who worked as slaves for her father. Janeta's a fascinating character, who starts out hateful but evolves into this amazing and powerful person, overcoming her upbringing and fighting for what's right.

I didn't find Daniel's journey quite as compelling, a journey from rage and vengeance to a more hopeful sort of attempt to affect change. It's a good one, but not necessarily as emotionally satisfying, even if it is the best course. Compared to Janeta, he had a very expected emotional evolution, and it did feel like he only changed because of love, which seemed a bit simple to me. The plot, too, felt very meandering and lacked the cinematic arc the first two books had.

Also, I didn't really understand the romantic connection between these two. They didn't seem to bond particularly well, and the secrets between them, though handled in an interesting way, do seem like they should have complicated things a bit more. All the books in this series leaned towards instalove to me, but this one most of all. Though ultimately that may have been that this book was so much more focused on the political aspects than the romance. It really didn't get a lot of time.

An Unconditional Freedom is a good book, but I struggled some reading it, largely because I went in expecting a historical romance and I feel this book falls more into historical fiction than romance.

Alyssa Cole has made no secret of the fact that she had a hard time writing An Unconditional Freedom. I had an equally hard time reading it. Every page confronts you with the brutal truth about slavery. And when current events make you feel as if we're regressing, it makes this novel that much more imperative to read, here and now.


Daniel was born a free man and knows what freedom tastes like. He had a potentially bright future studying law but in the hopes of doing good for his fellow countryman, he placed his trust in the wrong people and was thus captured and sold as a slave. Years of mistreatment and witnessing evil upfront broke him to an extent. His heart and resolve hardened, he's determined to fight back now and bring about change. His reputation in the Loyal League is that of a lone wolf which he prefers so he's none too thrilled about the Loyal League foisting a new partner upon him. Janeta's own upbringing is a far cry from anything Daniel has experienced. Born to a former slave who ended up marrying her owner, Janeta is of both worlds. She's never known hardship, only that she is different. Her entry into the Loyal League is dubious as her agenda is to infiltrate them and spy for the South. Travelling with Daniel, she witnesses closeup the lives of those enslaved. This forces her to question her own indoctrination and discern who the good guys really are. More importantly, who stands to gain the most should the war be won or lost. She went into this to protect her family, and perhaps her naiveté made her easy to manipulate but now her allegiance is shifting.


Cole has injected a lot of the frustration and despair that's sprung up recently and poured it into her latest work. Combining history and a modern perspective, An Unconditional Freedom questions everything about why one person should feel superior to another. It highlights the economics and politics of slavery, and how lack of an education and literacy can be a weapon in suppressing a population. Reading Daniel's personal history in particular wrenches your soul apart.


Writing this book has been a labour of love and Cole has outdone herself here. There's no sugarcoating the history of a something as vile as slavery, a raw wound that just keeps reopening. An Unconditional Freedom doesn't allow you to turn away from it but invites you to learn from it in hopes that common sense, decency and an intrinsic belief in everyone's worth will always be greater than the evil that exists.

~ Bel