Truitt's Truth by Julia David

Christian Romance writer Julia Davis debuts a new series with Truitt's Truth, an adventurous journey of Cassidy O'Ryan as she fights to live her life the way she wants and not the way her family and society have told her to her entire life.

Brought almost to the brink of death, Cassidy and her lady's maid Finny successfully make it across America to Hangtown, California, where Cassidy's cousin Mr. Snider is waiting to marry her. Cassidy was never willing to go through with her father's plan to marry as a good business deal, but she takes it as an opportunity to break away by bringing Finny along to take her place. Cassidy wants to be independent and not tied to what her family or society says, and she wants respect and dignity without relying on a good husband to ensure that.

Emerson Truitt is a jaded employee of Mr. Snider who comes to collect the travel warn women, and sparks immediately ignite between him and Cassidy. As she struggles to keep her secrets hidden amongst her building guilt, can Cassidy learn that love does indeed have a place in her ambitions?

The writing is wonderfully engaging and pulls you right in from the start. What makes Truitt's Truth so engaging is the fact that the characters are all so well-developed. They are shown to be complex through Davis's ability to weave each character's respective backstories into the narrative seamlessly. Every character is naturally shown to have flaws, and this makes them feel very real in the book's historical setting.

The romance between Cassidy and Truitt is full of excellent chemistry, where touching each other's hands and tracing letters in each other's palms become a tender and intimate moments in the book. It's refreshing to read a romance that is about bringing out the best in the other and support one another rather than being just another explicit romance.

Set among the tense backdrop of the dwindling California gold rush, Julia Davis's Truitt's Truth will entertain and warm your heart with a good message of faith.

Review by Sarah Hinrichs

Originally published on Reedsy