Thursday, February 5, 2015

Book Review - Beyond All Dreams


ABOUT THE BOOK:

Is bringing the truth to light worth risking all they've ever dreamed for their futures?

Anna O'Brien leads a predictable and quiet life as a map librarian at the illustrious Library of Congress until she stumbles across the baffling mystery of a ship disappeared at sea. Thwarted in her attempts to uncover information, her determination outweighs her shyness and she turns to a dashing congressman for help.

Luke Callahan was one of the nation's most powerful congressmen before his promising career was shadowed in scandal. Eager to share in a new cause and intrigued by the winsome librarian, he joins forces with Anna to solve the mystery of the lost ship. Opposites in every way, Anna and Luke are unexpectedly drawn to each other despite the strict rules forbidding Anna from any romantic entanglements with members of Congress.

From the gilded halls of the Capitol where powerful men shape the future of the nation, to the scholarly archives of the nation's finest library, Anna and Luke are soon embroiled in secrets much bigger and more perilous than they ever imagined. Is bringing the truth to light worth risking all they've ever dreamed for their futures?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Elizabeth Camden is the author of six books and a RITA and Christy Award winner. With a master's in history and a master's in library science, she is a research librarian by day and scribbles away on her next novel by night. Elizabeth lives with her husband in Florida.

Find Elizabeth online: website, Facebook

MY REVIEW:

I always hate giving books a bad review, but I'm afraid on this book, I must. I tried very hard to like this story, but the character of Luke Callahan was so grating to me, I just couldn't enjoy the book.

The book is set during the late 1800's and Anna O'Brien is a librarian in the Library of Congress. Her job includes helping the congressmen with maps and research. She loves her job, as I can well understand, as it sounds like a wonderful job to me. She is also preparing the library to be moved into it's new, beautiful building, which keeps her busy. 

Anna's father was killed when his ship, The Culpepper, sank. There is an official report regarding this, but Anna feels certain that there's something more to the sinking and she is determined to find out what. This opens a dangerous situation for her that is very intriguing.

Luke Callahan is a senator with a bad temper to those in his private life, including Anna. As a senator, though, he has more liberal, conciliatory attitude with other countries and situations. He also has voted against the new library every time the bill came up, yet he uses and enjoys the library himself on a daily basis. I found these attitudes and personality traits of his extremely irritating. I thought perhaps as the book went along, he would grow and mature, but not really. I disliked him so much, he ruined the book for me.

What I did enjoy was Anna and the historical information of the era and the history of the Library of Congress. I found Anna's character to be very likable and I really liked her tenacity and her loyalty. 

For it's historical storyline and the character of Anna, I give his book 2 out of 5 stars. I had a hard time getting through this book and really didn't enjoy it much.

*This book was provided to me for my honest review by LitFuse Publicity Group

You can find more reviews of this book HERE

Blessings - Julie

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