A historical fiction based on real people and events that you'll find hard to put down. The characters were interesting, but felt a little underdeveloped. The action scenes (the battle) were very well described and moved along quite quickly, keeping you on the edge of your seat as you read. The plot moved a little slowly for me outside the action scenes, but still went along fairly smoothly. If you're an American Revolutionary War buff and love historical fiction based in that era, you're going to want to grab this one!

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publishing company. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 3/5

Diversity: One of the main characters is African-American

Publication Date: February 19, 2019

Genre: Historical Fiction

Recommended Age: 18+ (violence, war, gore)

Publisher: Permuted Press

Pages: 320

Amazon Link

Synopsis: On a marshy Brooklyn battlefield on August 27, 1776, four hundred men from Baltimore, Maryland assembled to do battle against a vastly superior British army. Seemingly overnight, these young soldiers had matured from naïve teenagers to perhaps the most important, yet most forgotten, citizen soldiers in all of American history: “America’s 400 Spartans.”

Saving Washington follows young Joshua Bolton and his childhood friend Ben Wright, a freed black man, as they witness British tyranny firsthand, become enraptured by the cause, and ultimately enlist to defend their new nation in a battle that galvanized the American nation on the eve of its birth.

Chris Formant’s gripping tale blends real-life historical figures and events with richly developed fictional characters in a multi-dimensional world of intrigue, romance, comradeship, and sacrifice, transporting us two-and-a-half centuries back in time to the bustling streets of Baltimore and the bloody, smoke-filled carnage of battle in Brooklyn.

Review: I thought the book did well with the world building and with the writing. The plot was also intriguing and I liked the part where an actual battle was described.

However, I did feel like this book was really slow and the characters weren’t that interesting to me in the end. Maybe it was just me, I was having an off weekend.

Verdict: If you like History you’ll love this.

For some reason, this book is listed as non-fiction but it is written like a novel. It is easy to see why this is being made into a motion picture! It was written with such immediacy that felt like I was there, with the characters. One of my ancestors was at the Battle of Long Island and I felt a kinship with him as I read this book.

I was really curious about this book because I am quite ignorant on the matter and I wanted to know more. And here the author asks himself why a lot of young guys have chosen to go to war? How did that happen? What made them drop their life and go to battle? And I was quite intrigued by this. Because yes, sure, freedom and independence are important, that's true, but usually, they are abstract values, so how those abstract things became real?
So, the idea was intriguing and really good, but I think that the author has still a long way to go. Josh and Ben, our protagonists are well developed, they are naive, yes, but cute and real, and I appreciated their friendship. And I liked some of the secondary characters, like Paddy and Brown. They were well developed, too. And yes, Brown is a bad character, and he's just the kind of character that I despise, but the author did a great job with him. And that was great, really. But there are some not so good things, too.
Tessa is the main problem. She's not so well developed as the other characters, and it seems like the author has some mixed feelings (and ideas) with her because he tries to make her a mysterious character, an ambiguous one, but... he didn't manage it, and she comes out like a confused one. And the ending of her storyline is... bad. I am sorry for the brutality, but it is so.
And the romance part? Laughable! Maybe the author tried to put a bit of romance in his story to make it more real, or maybe because a bit of romance helps out with selling the book, but we could have really done without! It's just not relevant to the plot, it doesn't add something to the characters or to the story, nothing!
And some of the dialogues are not so natural andthey are romanticized, a lot! Not all of them, that's true, for the most part, the dialogues are quite good, but sometimes they just aren't.

Great historical read of a forgotten battle. Wonderfully told with great detail. We all here about this time in our country's history but never hear about the people and their feelings behind the actions. Not only were the historical events covered, but how the soldiers and others felt about the potential outcomes. A wonderful fast read. I enjoyed it!

Saving Washington is a fascinating blend of fact and fiction set during the Revolutionary War at the little known Battle of Brooklyn. It tells the story of a band of 400 Marylanders who engage a vastly superior British army. They are rightly compared to the Spartans and their courage is inspiring. Any fan of history will find this story compelling, indeed, it kept me up late into the night.

The term historical fiction may seem like a misnomer, perhaps even an oxymoron. I have found such books to be an easier representation of the past to comprehend than textbooks full of dry dates and so called facts. We all know that history is written by the victors who give little credence to the people going about the business of living during times of great change or great upheaval. I would venture to say that Americans are familiar with the name George Washington, the father of our country, Revolutionary War general… Do any of them think of him as a person? Do they think of him eating dinner and sipping wine with Martha?

Really good historical fiction is immersive. It takes you to a time and place that you never personally experienced. Along with presenting accepted chronicled information, the narrative is flavored with descriptions of places as they were and dialog that contains the vernacular of the day. As I started reading SAVING WASHINGTON, I senses neither of these vital ingredients. In an afterward comment, the author does say that he is writing to a younger audience. To my mind, that is akin to changing the name of the first Harry Potter book from HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE to HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE in the American edition… god forbid that American kids learn something new. Language is a part of history along with the people and places. Case in point, the word 'optimal' was first used in 1890… more than 100 years after the American Revolution. I was also put off with the frequent use of "pop, pop, pop" to describe the gunfire on the colonial battlefield. Somehow, those words evoke the description of a drive-by shooting rather than the muskets being used. There are some very poignant scenes that evoke real emotion; however, getting caught up in universal feelings really doesn't add to experiencing a war that happened 243 years ago.

I see SAVING WASHINGTON as a continued dumbing down of America.

An action-filled and fast-paced book, especially the last half which describes the actual battle.

This is a fictional account of the battle of Brooklyn in the Revolutionary War, a battle that is not often mentioned even in histories of the Revolution, and about which not much is actually known even today.
Josh Bolton, the son of a merchant, and his friend, Ben Wright, a free Negro, live in Baltimore and are not initially very interested in politics. Josh’s mother, in particular, is not anxious for her son to join the incipient militia being recruited by Colonel Smallwood. But as time passes and the number of British insults begins to weigh on them, and as they are urged to action by various friends and events, they both decide to join up.

The culminating event for them is the death of Josh’s father at the hands of the British authorities during a riot at a gathering in Annapolis where he has gone on a business trip.

They encounter the deaths of friends and betrayal by a girl Josh thought he loved. But their resolve is strong, and they eventually arrive at the site where the British are lying in wait to drive the Colonial troops out of New York and capture George Washington, their general.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for a review copy of this book.

Saving Washington by Chris Formant was a fascinating read. Until I read this fictional account,.I was not aware of the Maryland 400 or of the pivitol role the Battle of Brooklyn played in the Revolutionary War. Josh and Ben, the protagonists, are fictional characters but others characters in the book were real people. The locations and battle scenes were real.

The book begins in Baltimore as revolutionary sentiments are filtering down from New England. Loyalties are divided among Maryland's population. Josh and Ben, life-long friends, are young men in their late teens. They are working on the docks associated with Josh's Dad's business. They see the impact Britain's increased taxation has on businesses. They experience the disdain many of the British soldiers and sailors have for the colonists. They hear the plea for young men to enlist in the militia to help protect their colony. After Josh's Dad is senselessly killed, both young men enlist. They are soon called up to help the Continental Army and to be part of a special unit to disrupt the British military. Running in the background is a British spy network that seeks to take down Washington and his army.

This was a great read that brings to life relatively unknown heroes. I highly recommend it.

A historical fiction lovers dream. This book is all about getting history right and teaching you not just the well known facts but also the smaller facts that lead to Washington's escape. A picture is painted of how each decision lead to the next and how the Maryland 400 really helped save the day.

Perfect for all ages of historical fiction. This book really gives a truer view while teaching facts that not many may know. I learned things I never knew and am excited to have friends of history read this as well.