Indie Book Review – Beyond the Wind by Trish Laubacker

This is a short, historical romance novella.

It is about a young woman named Laura and the young man her grandfather is trying to convince her to marry. His name is Triston. Laura’s grandfather hosts a ball/party at his estate in Kentucky and invites a lot of young people to the party, including Triston. Neither Laura nor Triston are interested in a betrothal of any kind. But an event takes place at the party that changes everything for Laura and her family.

I enjoyed this book. It is an easy read. I liked how the story was inspired by a real storm that took place in Kentucky in the 1800s. It added a level of historical relevancy to the story and the characters. The writing in this book is not as polished as it could be; the manuscript could have used a few more rounds of edits and I think the story would have benefitted from more details of the time period. I recognize that, as a novella, there isn’t a lot of room for details and word building, but the setting felt very two dimensional. The characters of Laura and Triston and Laura’s mother, Margie, are more developed than the setting and so they feel almost out of place. If more details of the era had been included, I think it would have felt more well-rounded.

Historical romances are fun to read, and this book was no exception. It’s clear that the author took time with these characters and really tried to build a scenario that would thrust them together in a time of crisis. I liked that part of this story. If you like short historical romances, this is a good book to pick up.