Review: Dreams of Savannah by Roseanna M. White

About The Book:

Cordelia Owens can weave a dream around anything and is well used to winning the hearts of everyone in Savannah with her whimsy. Even when she receives word that her sweetheart has been lost during a raid on a Yankee vessel, she clings to hope and comes up with many a romantic tale of his eventual homecoming to reassure his mother and sister. But Phineas Dunn finds nothing redemptive in the first horrors of war. Struggling for months to make it home alive, he returns to Savannah injured and cynical, and all too sure that he is not the hero Cordelia seems determined to make him. As the War Between the States rages ever nearer and Savannah's slaves start sneaking away to the islands off the coast to join the Yankees, both Phin and Cordelia get caught up in questions they never thought they'd have to ask--questions that threaten the very dreams of a future they'd cherished.

My Thoughts:

The Civil War Era is one of my favorite to read from. It's not done often, and when it is I feel its just... lacking. But I knew Roseanna would do a wonderful job, and she did not disappoint! Though this had a distinctly different feeling than her past two books, I enjoyed it.

Her characters felt real. You watched them struggle with issues you would imagine people of wealth would have had back then. So many times I read books with the same story line. They are against slavery, the woman is tired of the confines of society and doesn't want to be a belle. It's always the same. But in this story, it was different. Wonderfully so. Phin slowly came around to the knowledge, that, yes, his slaves are his equal. Delia was happy with her place in society and I just felt like she thought like a southern belle. And not in a bad way, her character was just so real and believable. I loved her courage, her outlook on life, her positivity. Delia easily became one of my favorite heroines.

I enjoyed the side characters and their story as well. But Phin and Delia's romance just seemed a little off. I never felt like they really connected. It felt like they just jumped from being friends and not really knowing each other, to suddenly being in love. And the ending seemed rushed and almost out of character. You never felt or saw the transition of feelings, it was just... there.

But all in all it was another delightful read by Miss White, and I highly recommend it!

*I received this book from the author for my honest review. All opinions are my own.*

Favorite Quote From This Book:

"She would have feared the worst. And not just the reasonable worst, but the far-fetched worst. And if she did it then, no doubt she's still doing it now. It's not that she doesn't see the tragedy - she just chooses which stories to tell."