Book Review: Along a Breton Shore by Arlem Hawks

Book Description:

A soldier and a young woman, on opposite sides of the revolution, must run for their lives across a war-torn France in this gripping novel of friendship, love, and survival.

France, 1794

Maxence Étienne, a soldier for the République, believes fiercely in the revolution that is bringing liberty to France. But even though the monarchy has fallen and Maxence is part of a great cause, he is still searching for a place to belong.

Armelle Bernard is a young woman from Breton whose father was sentenced to death for hiding counterrevolutionaries. She decides to confront the priest who betrayed her father, and as the conflict escalates, she herself is ordered to be executed―an order to be carried out by Maxence.

Maxence has seen his share of violence and bloodshed, but he also carries a tragic secret and can’t bring himself to carry out his assignment. In allowing Armelle to escape, he is forced to combat a fellow soldier, who dies in the struggle.

Though Armelle and Maxence are strangers and on opposite sides of the revolution, they find themselves united as fugitives of the new republic. Now they must find a way to trust each other as they search for a path to peace, and to freedom.

Rorie's Review:

Not gonna lie, I did not like Maxence in "Beyond the Lavender Fields." He did not come across as a good person at all. This story showed me that there is usually more to a person than what they show on the outside.

Aside from the confusing French names, words, and phrases (I am thankful for the pronunciation guide at the beginning, but the words still don't flow from my brain), this was a very captivating story. After finishing the first book in this series, I did a little bit of research into the French Revolution. While reading this book, I was very tempted to do more research. I know that a historical novel is well-written when I want to keep pausing my reading to look up information about what is happening in the book.

This definitely isn't a "love at first sight" kind of story. It takes quite a while to get there, in fact, which is great for me. I tend to love the getting there part more than the actual romance part.
This is a very well-written story, and I highly recommend it.

Andrea’s Review:

When I first started reading this book I felt like I’d read it before. Then I realized it was a sequel and it was just the setting and some familiar characters that made it feel that way. Reading the first book would help enhance the backstory but this could be read on its own. 

It took awhile for me to finish it, but I think that was mostly due to a very slow start with the over abundance of French words. I completely understand using French names for characters and locations in a book like this, but it makes for a halting and almost textbook-like feel when you have to flip back and forth to the definitions and pronunciation guide multiple times on a page. Thankfully that eased up quite a bit as the story went on, and I could focus on the story instead of individual words.

I enjoyed the relationship between Arnelle and Max. Their rough start and how they pushed each other’s buttons made for an entertaining relationship. I also liked how several relationships were mended or developed when the characters were able to look past a different political view and see how they had other things in common.

Title: Along a Breton Shore
Author: Arlem Hawks
Publisher: Shadow Mountain Publishing
Published: June 2023
ISBN: 1639931074
Source: I received a review copy from the publisher. All opinions expressed are my own.

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