There are many, many authors I enjoy reading, but there isn’t the time to read every book they produce. But there are a few authors whose books I will not miss–even if I can’t get to them until months (or sometimes years!) after they are released. Elizabeth Camden is one of those authors. And it isn’t because we met years ago when we both had first signed contracts with Bethany House. It’s because her stories are deeply historical and deeply romantic. I am especially loving her current series of books which are based around various governmental agencies that arise in the late 1800s.
Until the Dawn tells us a bit about the rise of the Weather Bureau–how it functioned, how it grew. Loved that. But I also found myself wanting to know the history she used to craft Dierenpark, the Hudson River estate where the story takes place. Elizabeth has a knack for seamlessly creating a fictional place with a feeling of real history–one I aspire to myself! But it isn’t just her setting and historical fact and context that keep me coming back to her stories. It’s the characters, which fit so perfectly into their historical world and whose interior lives, and thus, their loves, are deep and rich.
I keep wondering how in the world she can write a better book than the one I’ve just read. And yet each new offering overshadows the last. If you haven’t tried an Elizabeth Camden book yet, try one of her free prequel novellas–Toward the Sunrise, or Summer of Dreams (they don’t need to be read to understand the full length books)–and you’ll be hooked!