A Daring Venture (2018) + Giveaway

About the Book

Book: A Daring Venture

Series: Empire State #2

Author: Elizabeth Camden

Genre: Christian Historical Romance

As a biochemist in early 1900s New York City, Doctor Rosalind Werner has dedicated her life to the crusade against water-borne diseases. She is at the forefront of a groundbreaking technology that will change the way water is delivered to every household in the city—but only if she can get people to believe in her work. 

Newly appointed Commissioner of Water for New York Nicholas Drake is highly skeptical of Rosalind and her team’s techniques. When a brewing court case throws him into direct confrontation with her, he is surprised by his reaction to the lovely scientist.

While Rosalind and Nick wage a private war against their own attraction, they stand firmly on opposite sides of a battle that will impact far more than just their own lives. As the controversy grows more public and inflammatory and Rosalind becomes the target of an unknown enemy, these two rivals will face higher stakes than they ever could have known.

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My Thoughts

A Daring Venture by Elizabeth Camden rubbed me wrong in several ways, but I loved this story. In fact, this is another novel I voraciously read shirking chores and staying up well past my bedtime to finish. As with all Camden novels, the history imbued throughout the narrative is fascinating. I had no idea about the fight to chlorinate our city water in order to make it safe for consumption. I’m not necessarily OK with how it got chlorinated, but I most definitely enjoyed the history lesson. And, I loved Camden’s characters. To me, her characters are some of the best written. Camden has a true gift for creating characters so good they’re almost too real.

I have a bad habit of reading comments on Goodreads. I tell myself it’s just to get a feel for the book and to see what people are loving or not appreciating. But sometimes, and this is why I try never to read reviews about books I have to review, those comments can sway me. While I wasn’t swayed by Goodreads in regards to A Daring Venture per se, I do want to touch on a topic that seemed to bother most Goodreads readers — the instalove trope. I’m on the fence with this trope. It really depends on who is writing the story. In the wrong hands, instalove is lame and unbelievable. But in Camden’s capable hands, instalove is done believably and well. Here’s why — Camden causes a character separation.

In A Daring Venture, Nick and Rosalind meet, instantly ignite, veer rather quickly to the L-word, then have a bomb dropped into their laps. This bomb-dropped moment allows for a time of separation where the characters are able to evaluate themselves and one another. I believe this separation is what makes for a believable instalove story in real life and in fiction.

Readers who don’t like instalove plotlines in ANY form confuse me a bit because these stories happen in real life ALL THE TIME. The night I met my husband I knew he was the one, and so did every other person in the room. My best friend says it was like lightning had struck and she could feel an electric sizzle. This coming October, my husband and I will celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary and this past May we’ve been a couple for a decade. Instalove is real — very real in fact. In my case, like Nick and Rosalind, my husband and I had a separation time where we were able to step back from the haze of new love and evaluate our individual selves and our relationship. It was a rough time, but I really needed to see if things between us were real or just hormonal. For me, the fact Camden allows a separation time for Nick and Rosalind allowed me to buy their love for one another. As a reader, I am very OK with this kind of love story!

A Daring Venture is a highly engaging story filled with well-crafted characters and superb ethical/moral questions for the reader to chew on. These questions and life-like characters are what sometimes rubbed me the wrong way, but I thoroughly enjoyed wrestling with the ethical quandaries Camden poses and following the characters as they sometimes did or said things that made me shake my head. A Daring Venture is a really fun read that I highly recommend.

I purchased a copy of this novel in eBook form from Amazon.com on June 13, 2018, in order to review. I also received a paperback copy of this book from the publisher, Bethany House, in order to review. In no way has this influenced my review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

GIVEAWAY

I am giving away ONE (1) paperback copy of A Daring Venture by Elizabeth Camden. The giveaway begins today, 8-6-19 at 5:00 am (PST) and ends on Saturday, 8-10-19 at 12:00 pm (PST). To enter, click on the Rafflecopter link below. Good luck!

CONGRATS TO LUAL K.!

You have won this giveaway. Thank you for participating. I appreciate your support!

***Please Note: Open to Continental U.S. mailing addresses only.*** One winner will be notified via email at the end of the giveaway and will be announced here on this page. For full giveaway disclosures and policies, click HERE.