About the Book
Book: River of Peril
Author: Sandra Merville Hart
Genre: Christian Historical Romance
Release date: October 15, 2024
Amnesia stole his memory, and now he’s fighting for the wrong side.
Orphaned and alone at sixteen, Felicity has found solace in serving others as a volunteer nurse. When she discovers her Confederate soldier beau, Luke Shea, among the wounded in her ward, her worst nightmares come true. Luke’s shrapnel wound has stolen his memory, leaving him with no recollection of their love or his past. As Felicity struggles with the loss of the man she once knew, she turns her attention to the service of her broken country. But the more she learns about the brutal war, the more she realizes she can no longer stay silent. She becomes a Union spy, plunging herself into danger.
When Luke Shae awakes in a hospital with no memory of the last five years, he’s shocked to learn he’s been fighting against the Union he once so strongly supported. And when he learns of his past courtship with his nurse, Felicity, he struggles to understand the man he was and what happened in those missing years. Determined to atone for his Confederate past, Luke also joins the Union cause as a spy.
As danger lurks at every turn, only a Divine hand can not only protect their lives, but give them a second chance for love and the future they both crave.
Click here to get your copy!
River of pearl by Sandra Melhart Hart was a good book. Yes, it was about war and described injuries that the soldiers had. But it is also a clean love story. My heart ached for Felicity When Luke didn't remember her. I recommend this book for readers that likes books about the Civil War without all the gory descriptions and details. I received a complimentary copy from the Author and Celebrate Lit and these opinions are my own
About the Author
Sandra Merville Hart, award-winning and Amazon bestselling author of inspirational historical romances, loves to discover little-known yet fascinating facts from American history to include in her stories. Her desire is to transport her readers back in time. She is also a blogger, speaker, and conference teacher.
More from Sandra
“History will never know how indebted it is to folks like you in ending the war.” ~ River of Peril
People spied on their government, their soldiers, and their neighbors during the Civil War. Union spies in the South lived dangerously. Everyday citizens, including enslaved and free black spies, became heroes to speed the war’s end.
Secret messages were sewn into hems, vests, and coats. Cyphered messages were hidden in bodices, hoop skirts, trees, hats, styled hair, books, custard dishes, hollowed-out eggs, and even in vaults with a dead body. Raised/lowered shades and clothes hanging on a line might also be clues for spies.
Some spies were already actors. Others disguised themselves to deliver secrets and to protect their identity. There were female spies who disguised themselves as men. If they could manage to remain anonymous, it saved them from their neighbors’ retaliation during and after the war. This was especially true in the South because the North emerged as victorious.
Many spies were caught during the Civil War and often imprisoned for days or weeks, up to a year. Confederate spies could sign an Oath of Allegiance to the United States to be released from Union prisons. Both sides executed spies.
For reasons already discussed, history doesn’t record most of Mississippi’s spies. Two Mississippi spies, Robbie Woodruff and Philip Henson, didn’t slip into obscurity.
Robbie Woodruff was a courageous farm girl who fetched Confederate messages from town and hid them in a hollow stump for couriers. Philip Henson, one of the Union army’s greatest spies living in the South, was captured and imprisoned for several months.
Key characters are spies for the Union in River of Peril, Book 5 in my Spies of the Civil War Series. The spies in my Vicksburg portion of the series (Books 4 – 6) are fictional. The stories show the type of challenges faced by historical spies.
My research for this novel began with a trip to Vicksburg, Mississippi. I was greatly inspired by the battlefield, the museums, and the people in the historic city. That inspiration—and a whole lot of research!—led to the writing of Streams of Courage, Book 4, River of Peril, Book 5, and Tides of Healing, Book 6.
Avenue of Betrayal, Book 1, is set in the Union capital of Washington City (Washington DC) in 1861, where a surprising number of Confederate sympathizers and spies lived. Boulevard of Confusion and Byway to Danger are set in Richmond, the Confederate capital in 1862. Actual historical spies touch the lives of our fictional family. The heroines in Books 1 – 3 are two sisters and their cousins. Another set of characters begin with Book 4, and three friends are the heroines in Books 4 -6.
Through both real and fictional characters, this series highlights activities spies were involved in and some of the motives behind their decisions.
I invite you to read the whole Spies of the Civil War Series!
Blog Stops
Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, October 16
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, October 17
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, October 18
Devoted To Hope, October 18
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, October 19
Texas Book-aholic, October 20
Locks, Hooks and Books, October 21
CONNIE’S HISTORY CLASSROOM, October 22
Betti Mace, October 23
For Him and My Family, October 24
Holly’s Book Corner, October 25
Pause for Tales, October 26
Cover Lover Book Review, October 27
Life on Chickadee Lane, October 28
Jodie Wolfe – Stories Where Hope and Quirky Meet, October 29 (Author Interview)
Mary Hake, October 29
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Sandra is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon card!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
She’s a wealthy debutante with the finest ancestry in Kentucky horseracing circles…
Lisa M. Prysock is a USA Today Bestselling Author who writes both Christian Historical Romance and Contemporary Christian Romance books—”Romance with a Dash of Food, Fashion, Faith, & Fun.” She writes both traditionally and indie published novels.
Silas and Nat don’t get along. Neither can they leave each other alone. When a prank goes terribly wrong at their workplace, they face an impossible choice.
Mary Pat Johns’ writing career began once she retired from years of teaching speech and writing. She’s written devotions for an online publication and had short stories published by Chicken Soup for the Soul. She currently writes a weekly faith column for the local newspaper. Countin’ On Jesse, her first novel debuted in 2023, and book 2 of the Valiant series, Lovin’ On Red, released in release in 2024. God put it in her heart to tell stories of brave veterans and their reintegration into civilian life after suffering the traumas of war.
Sharing a pony worked perfectly, until it didn’t.
Susan Countis a Kingdom Scribe who has published nine books in two equestrian series. As a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, American Christian Fiction Writers, and Texas Association of Authors, she takes studying the craft of writing seriously. Revision is her super-power.
Who is God? Does He care about you? What does He want you to know? What is your purpose on Earth? Why is your life not perfect? Is there any hope in this out-of-control world? Can you actually know God?
“Throughout my life God has been the source of my success and my sustainment in failure. I’ve experienced His great love and want others to know the joy that He provides.”