An Uncharted Devotion - Review

An Uncharted Devotion

By: Amanda Taylor

Expected Publication: June 5, 2023

216 pages

Genre: Adult, Historical Fiction

Source: Publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!!)

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Goodreads description--Lady Sarah Whitfield becomes the newest member of English nobility when her husband, Lord James Whitfield, inherits the family estate and title. It would seem her life is one of comfort and ease, but things are not always how they appear.

After a five-year post in the navy, James has returned from war a very different man: cold, stoic, and tortured by an unresolved past. How can he carry on with a life of wedded bliss when his oldest friend in the world is starving in a French prison?

Heartbroken by the changes in her husband, who seems to have lost both his love for life and for her, Sarah leaves for London. James, haunted by the war and the loss of his wife, cannot make sense of his pain and regret. He knows one thing, however: he cannot let the woman he loves slip through his fingers. But when he receives news of his friend, he is forced to decide whether he can face the horrors of his past to save his friend and reclaim a future with Sarah or whether he must sacrifice one for the other.

An Uncharted Devotion is unique among books. I haven't read many books where the relationship between the two main characters has already been established, and they are in love. And the books that I have read where this might be the case have ended up where the initial relationship breaks down, and one or both move on to other relationships that suit them better. That wasn't the case with An Uncharted Devotion, and I liked it all the more for the difference.

The book starts off at James and Sarah's wedding. The two are desperately in love with each other. James is in the Navy and has two weeks with Sarah before being shipped out. The story picks up five years later. Sarah lives with James's mother and sister-in-law, and his older brother Peter has just passed away. Alice is now a widow and deeply in the throws of grief. James has inherited his brother's title and has been commissioned to return home. Despite her best efforts, Sarah has never been able to form much of a friendship with Alice. She has found friends over the last five years, but she has been very lonely. She misses James. And even his letters have nearly stopped altogether by the time Peter has passed.

James fully intends to remain in the Navy for the next five to ten years. The navy, his war experiences, as well as his promotion to Captain have all worked to change him into a hardened and aloof man. In the span of a very short time, James's friend gets captured by the French, his brother dies, he inherits a title he never expected to have, and he loses his career in the navy. He isn't a happy man when he arrives back home.

Oh my heart ached for Sarah. She wants so badly to restore the relationship she once had with James. They used to be so in love and connected. But now that he is home, he is either indifferent or harsh with her. Most of the time he tries to avoid her altogether. She can't make heads or tails of his feelings. And he won't open up to her. Because my own marriage has been going through one of the more challenging times lately, I found myself near tears and even had a few tears roll down my cheeks a time or two during the first half of this book.

I loved all of the side characters. Alice with her heartbreak and even her aloofness. James's mother was exactly what she needed to be. Sarah's friends, the Wilkeses, and especially Lord and Lady Ramsay. Shoot, even Patrick who had such a small piece of the story was fleshed out enough to feel real. I would love a spin-off from any of these characters.

Favorite quotes:

-Eventually, Sarah stopped trying to participate in the conversation because every response he gave, or lack thereof, felt like another rejection, over and over.

-"When we marriage, he was kind and attentive. I felt adored by him." More tears slid down her cheeks. "It is a cruel form of torture remembering, living with this hollow version of the main I love--the man I once loved."

-"You have always loved with all of your heart. But I want you to know you can choose to love yourself also. Love is a choice."

-Somehow, I have come to represent a cage to you. You have been searching for an escape since the very moment you returned. I have no wish to impede you further. I release you from any perceived confinement where I am concerned.

-"Never forget, son, real strength is born out of admitting weakness, not suppressing it."

Of course, the relationship between Sarah and James doesn't end where I've stopped discussing it so far. The two have much to work towards to resolving their issues and returning to a healthy state of marriage. But I don't want to spoil the process for any potential readers.

I don't know what my expectations were before starting this book. I'd never read anything by Amanda Taylor before. (I think this might be her first book.) But I was surprised to find that I connected with this book and with Sarah on a personal level. Perhaps the timing of my own real-life struggles was just so perfect that I would enjoy and relate to this story exactly as I did. I have to rate An Uncharted Devotion 4.5 Stars because I shed actual tears during this book. Have you read An Uncharted Devotion? What did you think? Let me know!