Carved in Stone by Elizabeth Camden

 

Carved in Stone (The Blackstone Legacy #1)

By Elizabeth Camden

Published by Bethany House

Publication Date: August 31st, 2021

Description: 

Gwen Kellerman is an heiress to the infamous Blackstone family, whose history of scandal nearly destroyed her. She now lives a quiet life at the idyllic college founded with her family's fortune and hopes to keep the tragedies of her past safely behind her. 

Patrick O'Neill survived a hardscrabble youth to become a lawyer for the downtrodden Irish immigrants in his community. He's proud of his work, even though he struggles to afford his ramshackle law office. All that changes when he accepts a case to challenge the Blackstones' legacy of greed and corruption by resurrecting a thirty-year-old mystery. 

Little does Patrick suspect that the Blackstones will launch their most sympathetic family member to derail him. Gwen is tasked with getting Patrick to drop the case, but the old mystery takes a shocking twist neither of them saw coming. Now, as they navigate a burgeoning attraction, Patrick is the only one who can save Gwen from new danger on the horizon.

Review:

What an interesting historical romance!

I really liked Patrick from the get-go, and while I was slower to take to Gwen, I did end up really liking her as well, particularly those times when she said exactly what needed to be said. Secondary characters Liam and Natalia were also really interesting. ( I personally relate to both of them more than Gwen, so I'm hoping subsequent books in the series will put them front-and-center.) 

The romance was great. I loved the final scenes and how things worked out; I just smiled so much through those pages! I also really appreciated how the main culprit wasn't the character who would have been the obvious choice, although I would have liked to know more about the fallout for the culprit (that part of the story ended a little abruptly for my liking.). 

There's a lot going on in this story, with a family mystery, business dealings, keeping a college running, and more, and but the details were really woven into the story so I got a great sense of what life was like at that time without ever feeling like the story was cluttered or bogged down. I especially appreciated how the author wove in historical details about tetanus, which is something that I didn't even realize I would want to learn about but found to be so fascinating. 

This book is a great start to what I suspect will be a fabulous series! 4.5 stars.

I read an ARC provided by the publisher. All opinions are my own.