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Shades of Gray A Novel of the Civil War in Virginia edition by Jessica James Religion Spirituality eBooks

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Shades of Gray A Novel of the Civil War in Virginia edition by Jessica James Religion Spirituality eBooks

Okay...what I didn't know was that this book has been rewritten and now being called Noble Cause. Apparently it has a different ending than this book. I wish I had that book instead. I read reviews when I was 95% done with this one and chose to not read the rest due to the sad ending.

This was a VERY well done book. Intelligently written and so well developed.
1) The characters were wonderful. Hero and heroine (Alex and Andrea) had an attraction under great amounts of animosity and distrust due to her being on the side of the North and Alex being a Colonel defending Virginia on the South. Many other characters wove a wonderful tapestry within is amazing story.
2) The history was amazing and well told. It didn't sound like a history book at all.
3) Ms. James can write!!! Her explanations of battle scenes, and conversations, okay arguments, between the characters were so well done. I didn't think the arguments were too long winded, as some reviewers said, I was entertained by how articulate they were. And of course they are going to have arguments...they are enemies from opposite sides!
4) the romance (which didn't become reality until 70% into the book, and even then, there are immediately complications.
By the time love is finally declared there is a choice that has to be made about safety in battle and what can be done to be together after.
This is where I started looking at others reviews and learned Noble Cause is the book I should read, rather than this one.
You know, I still liked this one and just might pick up its rewrite.
UPDATE:
Okay... I apparently purchased the newer version AND the Audible version of Noble Cause 6 months ago and forgot about them. Found them when I did a search. So I both finished the as Noble Cause, and listened to the Audible book. I don't recommend the Audible version. The narrator's voice inflections just aren't right.
Okay, here's my take on it...I enjoyed the ending of the rewrite because it was a happy one. Then I ended up going back to read the ending of Shades of Gray. It wasn't so bad after all. Not the HEA people (including myself) usually appreciate, but it was still well done and not melodramatic. I actually like both versions.


Tags : Shades of Gray: A Novel of the Civil War in Virginia - Kindle edition by Jessica James. Religion & Spirituality Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.,ebook,Jessica James,Shades of Gray: A Novel of the Civil War in Virginia,Patriot Press,Fiction Christian Historical,Fiction Romance Historical Victorian

Shades of Gray A Novel of the Civil War in Virginia edition by Jessica James Religion Spirituality eBooks Reviews

I was pleasantly surprised by this delightful Civil war story. Unlike most novels from that era, it was a very fast read. It had all the necessary components of a tragic war story- a family torn by war, an impossible love story, and death. Unlike other civil war novels, this one was very light on war details and heavy on story development. The character evolution was outstanding. From Hunter to Andrea, to minor characters like JJ and Carter, the author does a great job in developing the characters along with a complicated plot twist.
For some reason I knew from the first moment that Andrea, aka Sinclair, met Hunter that she would end up having mixed feelings towards him. The fact that Daniel and Hunter were brothers caught me off guard. This complicated fact gave the story an intricate flare that I think the author could have banked on more. It almost seems as if the author did not choose to take on the 'guilty' approach to this love story.
I would have liked to have seen more of Dan and Andrea as their limited interaction did not help to understand the strong bond Andrea has for him. But I also see how the story would have perhaps dragged on needlessly.
My favorite aspect of the novel is that a heroine comes clean about being a woman and from the other side- to save the day!
First of all, I want to be clear that I stayed up until 5 in the morning trying to get through as much of this book as possible because I kept impatiently waiting for something more to happen. When looking into buying this book, I didn't find any of the reviews particularly helpful, so what follows are findings that I would have preferred to be aware of before purchasing this novel.

Unfortunately, it is my personal opinion that this book's cons far outweighed its pros. I think my overall issue with the novel was the writing the pacing, the imagery, dialogue, everything. I just found it as a whole to be lacking in originality it was repetitive; Andrea and Hunter run around in the same circular argument practically every time they share a scene; military orders and maneuvers are vague; historical research is questionable with suspension of belief a high requirement for the entire novel; and repeated descriptions of Hunter's robust masculinity is difficult to stomach considering the Confederate army was starving and deficient in all basic supplies.

The entire middle section of the book consists of little to no action, just sparring episodes between Andrea and Hunter, which would have been fine had they not been forced to have the same tedious argument about their differences. I felt the argument itself was never fully resolved, either; it was just like one day they both had their "ah-ha!" moment and then literally the book ended about 4 chapters later. The writing also seems fairly juvenile, with the author falling into the show and tell trap, meaning she unnecessarily spells every reaction and thought out to the reader. It's too much `telling' not enough `showing'. I wasn't looking for a Harlequin romance novel, either, but if you're going to include a sex scene (however non-graphic and subtle it may be), you've got to at least let your sparring leads share a well-written kiss, and Jessica James never does! I thought, "Ermm...OK, so we have all kinds of social improprieties going on in the notoriously proper South (I might add that Hunter is paradoxically renowned for being a typical chivalrous Southern gentleman yet ruthless and socially rough around the edges), yet these two are never going to kiss?" And when they do share a kiss, it's so lackluster in description and without preamble that it's like, "Huh?" They are finally resolving their emotional tension into physical relief, this should be a big moment for them. I don't need mushy details, but I'm just saying, where's the prose and the romance? There are also some highly contrived situations and even worse clichéd conflicts derived from that tried-and-true and wholly unoriginal thing called miscommunication.

The secondary characters were unremarkable and one-dimensional and kept very much in the background. At times, even Andrea and Hunter were very one-dimensional and the author fell into another juvenile pit trying to make them more complex by having Andrea act childlike and endearing one minute, then boorish and nonsensical the next. Her constant bipolar-like personality was just over the top and a real headache after about the 10th time in a row it happened. And yes I understand she had a traumatic past. However, again, I have to question the historical accuracy of Andrea's reasons for being a Unionist; it sounded very much too modern in its sensibility.

I decided to purchase Shades of Gray over the new version Noble Cause, which includes an alternate, happily-ever-after ending. The reason for this was because I don't shy away from sad, tragic endings. I don't necessarily welcome them, but if they contribute to the experience then it's fine with me. That being said, the ending in Shades of Gray was entirely disappointing because I felt cheated. Andrea and Hunter spend literally 85% of the novel spit-firing back and forth in this emotionally charged, perpetual state of tension and high drama. None of it is resolved in a harmonious fashion until, like I said, about maybe 5 or less chapters from the end. I don't feel this ending was a contribution to their story; I feel like this was a cheap attempt at further drama and really didn't fit in with the rest of the novel. I do not know how the new ending unfolds, but she obviously took it in the complete opposite direction and I'm willing to bet it's mushy and perfect as all get-out and, therefore, also highly unsatisfying.

The book held my interest and for that I give it 3 stars. I wouldn't not recommend this book, but let's just say if someone asked me if it was good, I'd hesitate.
Okay...what I didn't know was that this book has been rewritten and now being called Noble Cause. Apparently it has a different ending than this book. I wish I had that book instead. I read reviews when I was 95% done with this one and chose to not read the rest due to the sad ending.

This was a VERY well done book. Intelligently written and so well developed.
1) The characters were wonderful. Hero and heroine (Alex and Andrea) had an attraction under great amounts of animosity and distrust due to her being on the side of the North and Alex being a Colonel defending Virginia on the South. Many other characters wove a wonderful tapestry within is amazing story.
2) The history was amazing and well told. It didn't sound like a history book at all.
3) Ms. James can write!!! Her explanations of battle scenes, and conversations, okay arguments, between the characters were so well done. I didn't think the arguments were too long winded, as some reviewers said, I was entertained by how articulate they were. And of course they are going to have arguments...they are enemies from opposite sides!
4) the romance (which didn't become reality until 70% into the book, and even then, there are immediately complications.
By the time love is finally declared there is a choice that has to be made about safety in battle and what can be done to be together after.
This is where I started looking at others reviews and learned Noble Cause is the book I should read, rather than this one.
You know, I still liked this one and just might pick up its rewrite.
UPDATE
Okay... I apparently purchased the newer version AND the Audible version of Noble Cause 6 months ago and forgot about them. Found them when I did a search. So I both finished the as Noble Cause, and listened to the Audible book. I don't recommend the Audible version. The narrator's voice inflections just aren't right.
Okay, here's my take on it...I enjoyed the ending of the rewrite because it was a happy one. Then I ended up going back to read the ending of Shades of Gray. It wasn't so bad after all. Not the HEA people (including myself) usually appreciate, but it was still well done and not melodramatic. I actually like both versions.