Thanks to Amazon First Reads for the free book.
 

Deborah has an impressive lineage. She is the decent of known Puritans, but her parents are less impressive and she is indentured out at a young age. But when a kindly Reverend takes interest in her and helps her world to expand, she is set on a journey to pursue her independence as America is on it's own as well. And when the time comes for her life to either go down the expected path or for her to pivot and change her destiny, she pivots hard and disguises herself as a solider, enlisting in the Continental army.

This book had me contemplating staying up past my bedtime which is a huge deal with you have a 2 month old. And I really enjoyed Deborah as a character. I even enjoyed the symbolism used to parallel her journey with that of our nation's. Which is saying a lot because I'm not normally a super literary reader. 

All that being said, as much as I love a romance in a book, and this one was very worth it, I think I would have loved this book more had it stayed more true to the real life story and empowered Deborah without a man. When I read the author's note I was a bit let down instead of intrigued like I normally am with historical fiction author's notes. But even with that caveat, I still really loved this book and recommend it.

Trigger warnings: horrors of war, some descriptions of sex (although mostly closed door)