Status Updates From Daughters of a Nation: A Bl...

Wow. They keep getting better. Would read from Kianna Alexander again.

Second story was better...good job Piper Huguley!

Sadly did not enjoy the Lena Hart novella, but onto the next!

A Radiant Soul by Kianna Alexander

I didn't like this story at all. For one thing it felt incomplete and for another, there was one glaring editing mistake that really bothered me. In addition, I REALLY didn't like Owen. Like... At all. Their romance felt like at the end of a season of The Bachelor where you're like, "Cool, you're in love, but what now?" I think this would have worked better as a novel.

The Washerwomen's War by Piper Hughuley

First of all, I had no idea about the Black Washerwoman's Strike so that was super cool and secondly, I really liked the romance between Mamie and Gabriel. Mamie starts out so against dating a minister, but Gabriel winning her over by playing on her desire to have good food and advocate for her students was A+ romancing.

In the Morning Sun by Lena Hart

This begins with Maddie being raped so serious TW for that (it’s not graphic though). She’s still carrying that trauma with her two years later when she moves to Nebraska to teach Black people to read and write. She thinks her fiancé died in the Civil War but, uh, he didn’t! The two of them coming together is sweet, but they have to overcome so much.

Four stars to Let Us Dream by Alyssa Cole. I was becoming skeptical that it's possible to do a romance short story well, but Cole came through for me. She created real characters with real problems and made me invested in them in only 100 pages, and I found their story both compelling and believable. My favorite story in this collection by far.

Another three stars for "A Radiant Soul" by Kianna Alexander. Again, an interesting set up and I appreciate the history, but there was no tension or anything to get me invested in Owen and Sarah's relationship, and I didn't really think it developed at all over the course of the story. I would probably DNF this book at this point because it's rather underwhelming if the last story weren't by Alyssa Cole.

Two stars to The Washerwoman's War by Piper Huguley. The historical setting of this story was really interesting, but I didn't think we really got to know the characters, and I certainly didn't understand why Gabriel and Mamie were in love. Gabriel also had some questionable statements about women's suffrage that I didn't think were adequately remedied or I would have given it three stars.