A review by jenibus
An Unconditional Freedom by Alyssa Cole

3.0

It was fine, but the romance aspect of it was lacking, in my opinion. I liked the flawed nature of both Daniel and Janeta, how they were both unlikeable characters who had so much to overcome. I understood why they behaved the way they did and wanted them to heal and find love and acceptance. However, I did not feel that there was much attraction between the two of them. When the romance part starts happening, it felt somewhat out of nowhere nearer to the end of the book than the beginning. I'm fine with slow burn but because so much of the book was civil war secret spy plots and dealing with Daniel and Janeta's differing viewpoints and motivations (which were great!), the romance attraction seemed very sudden to me. I wish that there had been more buildup of their attraction during the subterfuge parts. Spy tropes in romance novels are a big winner for me but I still want that romantic buildup before we get to the sexy times.

It's still a good book, just not what I wanted from a historical romance and too romancey for people who want only historical fiction.