The first thing that caught my attention was the historical setting. It completely came to life in this book. I felt immersed and invested as if I were living out Downton Abbey <3
Isabella Grayson's family does not have royal bloodline. They've battled their way into society - or, more specifically, her parents have and now they expect their daughters to find an appropriate match to secure position and wealth. However, Bella has a dream that's calling each day more strongly to her, she wants to be a journalist. Though her father is the owner of many newspapers, he thinks it's not a woman's place and it will only stain Bella's reputation, consequently his own. Still, Bella is able to come to a truce with her parents to write anonymously if she promises to secure a suitor this season.
Her perspective is questioned when she meets James Drake. He comes from questionable background and has no financial security. Still, his character, integrity, and determination tug at Bella's heart each time they get to spend together. James dreams of crossing the canal, and each day this dream becomes more and more important as it proves to be the way to guarantee Bella's father approval towards their courtship. But, as all dream-chasers find out sooner or later, our biggest enemy if not our competitor, rather it lives right inside of us: our pride. Will they learn that what really stays and what really satisfies after the victory might not have anything to do with the dream in itself in time to make the correct decision?
This book is about dreams and the hills and valley's we face when we chase them. It's also about remembering what we've been given in life and how we let it shape us. Sticking together, supporting each other, investing in one another might just turn out to be more precisous than any other conquest.
