A Difficult Truce by Joan Wolf

A Difficult Truce by Joan Wolf
Publisher: Untreed Reads Publishing
Genre: Historical, Romance
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Mistflower

Taken captive by her ancestral enemies, the hated British, beautiful Irish aristocrat Christina MacCarthy had only one route of escape: marriage to one of England’s most powerful, dangerously handsome lords, the Duke of Dacre. In his embrace, Christina would have to fight a threat more perilous than a stone cell and chains . . . the prison walls of love.

Wowza! Joan Wolf never ceases to amaze me. When I think of her, there is one characteristic that comes to my mind “talent”. She is nowhere near a cookie cutter author. I’ve lost count how many Joan Wolf books I’ve read but each one feels different to me. I can’t explain it. I love each one in their unique way. A Difficult Truce blew me away. I should have known when I read the Author’s Note in the beginning of the book. In fact, I have a suggestion for future readers; If the synopsis sparks your interest, then read the Author’s note before you begin. If you are still intrigued, then go for it. This is a true historical romance! Personally, I don’t come anywhere close to being a history buff. Why I like historical romance books is incomprehensible to me. Regardless, I love them and before this book I couldn’t tell you anything about Irish history and their battle for the Catholic Emancipation. I now know more about the struggle then I’d ever want to know thanks to Joan Wolf who magically spun a romance in that history lesson. Now that I think about it, if history class was taught like this in school, then I’d might have liked the class. That thought just made me giggle.

Joan Wolf states in her note that her purpose was “solely to create what I hope is a good story”. I for one can testify that A Difficult Truce was an excellent story. I was torn apart for the hero, Dacre, and the heroine, Christina. I should have known after reading the synopsis that I was going to be emotionally distressed. The synopsis says in capital letters, “How could she vow to love the man she was sworn to hate?”.

The answer to that question is easy, because the Duke of Dacre was dream worthy. Dacre was open minded and possessed a heart of gold. It didn’t matter how “fiercely independent born-and-bred rebel” Christina was because Dacre was irresistible. I fell in love with both of them. Their romance was very slow, but they had major outside obstacles in their way. I became a “prisoner of their love”. I’m not going to lie; I was anxious for them. I wasn’t sure if they were going to reach their happily ever after.

To say I was entertained is putting it mildly. There was a large cast of characters, but the focal point was Dacre and Christina which kept the pace of the story consistently moving forward.

I was speechless when I finished this book because I felt bad for the Irish. Joan Wolf wrote in her Author’s note that she “took the liberty of compressing a whole century of Irish history into a few years’ time.” I couldn’t help but feel horrible for the way the Irish were treated back then.

I definitely feel this was one of Joan Wolf’s better books and worthy of putting on my “keeper’s shelf”. I’d encourage anyone who enjoys a true historical romance to start reading this book as soon as possible. It was an educational and entertaining read for me.