Clingstone by Marti Ziegler

A Civil War romance unlike any other you may have read before.

What’s it About? 

What if you were counted among hundreds of civilians wrongly charged with treason? Creighton Branagan is one of the few men still residing in the mill village of Roswell, Georgia, at the closing stages of the American Civil War. His deafness excludes him from military service and condemns him as an outcast.

Mae Parrish’s dissatisfaction extends to a life of too much work and too little joy. She forms a wary alliance with Creighton when they are included among hundreds of southern textile workers arrested for treason and deported to northern prisons under Federal guard. Their crime: manufacturing Confederate uniforms.

Clingstone chronicles their arduous journey by wagon and train, followed by an emotional internment rife with privations and disease. It is during the course of these hardships that their resilience is repeatedly tested, and their pact of survival deepens into a steadfast love that withstands even the deepest self-inflicted wounds of war.

First Impressions

When it comes to Civil War romances, you can’t help but draw to mind one of the most well-known of all time, Gone with the Wind. What I absolutely loved about this novel was that it’s about as far removed from Gone with the Wind as you can get. Instead of a high-class lady for a heroine, we have a lowly mill worker who isn’t a virgin, or afraid to speak her mind. Instead of a suave and debonair male lead, we have a deaf man who cares for his ill-mannered nephew as his ward. And yet, our characters are unbelievably dynamic, and like Gone with the Wind, we see how all their lives are affected and worsened by the ravages of war. However, in the end it also this terrible war that brings them all together.

 

Travels and Travails

This novel takes us on an unbelievable journey, where we see our lead characters start off as enemies in a southern mill, but grow closer as they are sent north with their fellow mill workers to a prison for producing Confederate uniforms. It was amazing to see these characters start to rely on one another throughout all of their difficulties. No matter what troubles they encountered, they could always find their way to each other again.

I personally found Mae to be an extremely unique, yet complicated female lead. I’m not gonna lie, when the novel begins, you kind of dislike her. In a word, she’s basically a brat. She joins a friend of hers to pull an unkind prank on the deaf Creighton. She whines and complains, yet we quickly discover that she’s a strong character who’s had to adapt because she’s been on her own for so long. Mae has built up a tough exterior to survive, but it is Creighton and his unruly nephew, Owen, who let her connect and trust others again.

*A copy of this book was provided for an honest review*

Series: Stand-alone

Should you read it? Yes! I absolutely love Mae’s relationship with both Creighton and his nephew. They all have this bickering and bantering exchange on the surface, yet underneath you can see how much they all care about each other. They are an unlikely, yet loving family.

Smut Level: Their banter turns into flirtation, which eventually turns into something more intimate. A few scenes in particular are utterly delectable.

Get it on Amazon: Click Here. $2.99 Kindle Price. Amazon Digital Services LLC. 383 Pages.