A Single Spark - Review

A Single Spark

By: Judith McCoy Miller

Publication: June 2nd 2020 by Bethany House Publishers

384 pages

Genre: Adult, Historical Fiction, Christian Fiction

Source: Publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!!)

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Goodreads description--Wanting to do her part in the Civil War effort, Clara McBride goes to work in the cartridge room at the Washington Arsenal. Her supervisor, Lieutenant Joseph Brady, is drawn to Clara but must focus on preventing explosions in the factory. When multiple shipments of cartridges fail to fire and everyone is suspect, can the spark of love between them survive?

A Single Spark had a lot going for it. I don't always enjoy reading about the Civil War period, but the description seemed to go in a completely different direction than the issues I usually have with the time. I've been branching out more and more with my historical fiction reads, and I really liked the unique idea of reading about the Arsenal, the women who worked there, and the idea of creating ammunition that would be used in the war. So many unique things. The caution needed in such a job due to the extreme danger of explosions.

Clara is easily likable. She's well versed in different areas of the ammunition creation process in the Arsenal. She has a working history with Lt. Brady, but until he's sent on a mission to learn from a more productive arsenal, the two haven't had much a personal relationship. Clara has a history and I wouldn't say that she was a flat character, but her history and person could have been fleshed out a little more. I felt like Judith McCoy Miller spent more time delving into who Joseph was and how his experiences have crafted who he is currently. But the relationship between Clara and Joseph felt a little flat to me. I think the biggest problem for me was a lot of telling and not a lot of showing. The characters certainly spent time together, but we didn't get to see too much depth between them leading up to the level of relationship they claimed to be at.

I find that I often struggle with books where the villain (or one of the villains) narrate. I understand that these characters have a unique perspective, but I tend to struggle through their sections of the book. At times, I actually found Bea's sections more interesting than the other narrators (Joseph and Clara), but that was a little bit due to not completely knowing which direction Bea was going to go. I found her big villain revelation speech at the end of the book to feel a little out of character. So much of Bea's sections included a mix of espionage combined with self-preservation, but I felt like all of that blew with the wind when Bea had the opportunity to gloat rather than attempt to save her skin.

Favorite quotes:

-"Decision making can be a lonely and crushing business."

-"You want to see only good in [...], yet she truly isn't deserving of your unwavering loyalty."..."The Bible says a friend loves at all times. We don't get to pick and choose when that is convenient." "But we do get to choose the company we keep."

A Single Spark was one of those books that focused more on the plot than the romance. I've mentioned before that this isn't wrong, but it just isn't my personal reading preferences. I would rather read a book driven by a relationship than some elaborate plot. The romance certainly fell flat for me. I also felt the dialogue was stilted at times. I feel like A Single Spark could have benefited more from showing versus telling when it comes to the relationship, and similarly, could have used a little less description of the ammunition creation process. A Single Spark gets 3 Stars. It wasn't bad, but I did feel a little disappointed that it wasn't as good as I hoped. Have you read A Single Spark? What did you think? Let me know!