Beyond All Dreams: (A Historical Romance and Political Drama set in Gilded Age Washington DC)

I always hate giving books a bad review, but I'm afraid on this book, I must. I tried very hard to like this story, but the character of Luke Callahan was so grating to me, I just couldn't enjoy the book.

The book is set during the late 1800's and Anna O'Brien is a librarian in the Library of Congress. Her job includes helping the congressmen with maps and research. She loves her job, as I can well understand, as it sounds like a wonderful job to me. She is also preparing the library to be moved into it's new, beautiful building, which keeps her busy.

Anna's father was killed when his ship, The Culpepper, sank. There is an official report regarding this, but Anna feels certain that there's something more to the sinking and she is determined to find out what. This opens a dangerous situation for her that is very intriguing.

Luke Callahan is a senator with a bad temper to those in his private life, including Anna. As a senator, though, he has more liberal, conciliatory attitude with other countries and situations. He also has voted against the new library every time the bill came up, yet he uses and enjoys the library himself on a daily basis. I found these attitudes and personality traits of his extremely irritating. I thought perhaps as the book went along, he would grow and mature, but not really. I disliked him so much, he ruined the book for me.

What I did enjoy was Anna and the historical information of the era and the history of the Library of Congress. I found Anna's character to be very likable and I really liked her tenacity and her loyalty.

For it's historical storyline and the character of Anna, I give his book 2 out of 5 stars. I had a hard time getting through this book and really didn't enjoy it much.

*This book was provided to me for my honest review by LitFuse Publicity Group

Anna O'Brien is content to spend her days pouring over maps; she is a librarian in the prestigious Library of Congress and feels she is honoring her father's memory; he was a Navy scientist and cartographer who spent years mapping the ocean floor; until his ship sank during a hurricane. Or did it? When Anna discovers an error in the fifteen year old report, she is incensed when the Navy not only refuses to correct the mistake, but threatens her job if she continues to pursue the matter.

When Anna meets Luke Callahan, the dashing young senator from Maine, she dares to seek his support in discovering what really happened to the USS Culpepper. Luke is instantly enamored with the lovely librarian with the sultry voice and engages her to work directly with him in order to fuel his political vendettas. Luke is handsome, impulsive, confident and silver-tongued; all the things that Anna is not. So she is shocked when the senator voices his infatuation and is cautious to encourage a relationship that could have grave consequences for both of them.

Anna and Luke are both flawed characters, but their personal struggles to become who they are really meant to be, are what make this story so amazing. Filled with history, mystery and tender romance, Elizabeth Camden has written another extraordinary story.

Mixed feelings on this one.

I read the book quickly. Two days time. It was a pulling story that kept me guessing and wanting to see what happened next. The characters were perfect opposites that pulled the best out of each other and challenged the worst to rear its ugly head and be addressed too. The author definitely flipped the ‘Historical Fiction Romance’ script on end by having the male lead profess his love for our heroine pretty early on in the story. Usually it’s the gal who falls head over heels in love and the fella takes more time getting used to the idea. The author had a similar scenario in her previous book, Into the Whirlwind, which was not a favorite of mine but still well researched and well written. This romance was handled well and I enjoyed seeing their relationship grow. The ending was fun and fitting.

I can not imagine the hours of research the author put into this book and it is evident on every page. The specifics of this time period in history and the emotions of all that was going on was riveting. I guess for me, there was too much political story woven into the plot. But then again, it had to be because that was the story itself. I am not an enthusiastic politics or history buff so this gave me a history lesson in the way things were and probably still are in Washington D.C. The author did not push any agenda or show a leaning one way or the other which I appreciated but still, politics was the driving force or perhaps another “character” in this book which was just not my favorite. It definitely gave me a new appreciation of all that must go on, both the good and the very, very bad in D.C. All of the background deals, secret meetings, spying, and alliances are constantly spinning relentlessly. Both sides of any argument can be made convincingly and, we the people, can be and are swayed. I guess I am happily ignorant on most things political because I don’t know how I could ever make the hard decisions that are needed regularly today.

So there you have it, my very mixed emotions on this book. I have a feeling her next book will be at the top of my “must-read” list. I see a secondary character in this book that I hope (fingers crossed) she makes into her next winning novel!

Bethany House and the author sent me the above book for review purposes. It will allow me to keep the book. I have no other connection to and have received no other compensation from Bethany House.

I cannot agree with all the 4 and 5 stars reviews of this book. It was definitely NOT one of those I could not put down. The book is centered around the mysterious disappearance of the Culpeper and not the romance between Luke and Anna. The Culpeper was not an interesting point woven into the story--it became the story. Add to that so many secondary characters and storylines, that although somewhat interesting, took away from the romance. The author conceived Luke and Anna as complete opposites to lend excitement to their romance and yet, I did not feel any chemistry between them, nor any attraction. The romance felt forced, flat, and out of nowhere. Where was the excitement and anticipation of the budding romance?? Nowhere here. I just finished the book and still don't know why they fell for each other! Luke and Anna's unhappy childhoods kept coming up again, and again, and again that it became tedious and preachy. Ok mystery book about political issues of the time, emerging technology, and life of the times--not a romance.

I am a fan of Elizabeth Camden and was so looking forward to this book. I like Anna's character well enough and her job at the Library of Congress is fun to read about. I found the relationship between Anna and Luke humorous, Camden usually includes a bit of humor. There is an overall mystery that tangles the book up and threads a bit of suspense. Is Luke really who he says he is? What happened so long ago to Anna's father? This part of the story is interesting and I honestly wish there was more detail on this particular part of the story.

There are a lot of politics in this book that I honestly couldn't get into. The little details about Congress and Luke's job didn't intrigue me and I wish that wasn't the case. I have loved all of Elizabeth's books but this one was a bit of a let down for me. I think it was mainly the setting and I just couldn't get into the characters lives. I look forward to her next book though and still recommend her as an author!

"I received this book from Litfuse for free in exchange for an honest review."

Fun book relative to the time period. I would recommend it for a relaxing read.

This is the first book I've read by E. Camden. I really enjoyed it probably because my profession was as a librarian.

nother great historical fiction story taking place in Washington D.C in 1897. Great research and detail by Elizabeth Camden including events that led to the Spanish-American war. An amazing story unlike any other historical fictional book I have read. I love the plot and well developed characters.
Anna O'Brien works at the Library of Congress as a map librarian and has run across the mysterious disappearance of the Culpeper that was lost at sea. She decides to try and solve the mystery. Anna enlists the help of Luke Callahan who at one time was one of the most powerful congressmen in D.C. They are so different from each other could they possibly have a relationship? In trying to find answers about the Culepper they encounter more than they bargained for.
Although the Culpeper is a fictional ship it is based on the Virginius an American ship caught smuggling guns to Cuban rebels in 1873.
Elizabeth is a talented writer and has included politics, humor, some suspense and romance in her book.
I recommend this book. I enjoyed it very much.

I received a free copy of this book from bookfun.org for my honest opinion and review.

Review posted by Donna McGinnis

This book was a dream!

Ms. Camden does so well with her historical novels. I've been impressed with each novel I've had the pleasure of reading. In this particular story I thought she did a superb job handling the historical information so that you weren't bored, but rather fascinated. She touches on a place in history that I am unfamiliar with, so I found the story enchanting overall.

In Beyond All Dreams we meet Anna O'Brien (whose last name had me thinking of Downton Abbey!) and Luke Callahan. Both characters felt extremely well-rounded and each seemed real. Anna had a rough childhood, losing both her parents as well as experiencing great trauma. Luke, on the other hand, suffered a different kind of childhood, which was equally unpleasant. In my humble opinion I feel it is critical for a character to act according to his/her background and personality, and I felt like Ms. Camden accomplished that with both lead characters.

In conclusion, I loved getting this up close look at the United States of America in the late nineteenth century. Each historical aspect was handled with care and presented well. I loved that, even though the mystery was fictional, Ms. Camden seamlessly wove it into this time period. I look forward to reading her future books!

I checked this book out at my local library; no review required.

**Review by "John Barner's" wife, Carrie**

Summary: Anna O'Brien adores her job at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. It's a bustling and important place to work...and things are busy as the library employees prepare to move everything over to their impressive new building across the street. As a map librarian who excels at research, Anna's skills are a valuable asset not only to the library, but also to Congressman Luke Callahan, one of the youngest and most powerful congressmen of the day. As Anna helps Luke with research which he hopes will further his political goals, she also uncovers discrepancies in the Navy's story of what happened to a ship lost at sea when Anna was a child--a ship her father happened to be aboard. But as Anna comes closer to learning the truth of what happened to the Culpeper, Luke starts trying to dissuade her from her quest, for reasons Anna can't understand. As tensions grow between them, unrest on a larger scale is developing in the nation, with tensions between the US and Cuba. As Luke pushes for a peaceful solution in Congress, can he and Anna also make peace and perhaps rekindle the love that had been starting to grow between them?

My thoughts: Beyond All Dreams was another good read from Elizabeth Camden. I always appreciate the amount of historical detail that goes into her books...she must do an immense amount of research for each one. She also comes up with such original settings and themes, which I find really interesting and refreshing, considering how so many inspirational novels seem to be rather redundant these days. Once again in this book, she has created two likable, flawed main characters in Luke and Anna. They were total opposites, but perfect for each other. Each has lived through a difficult and painful past in their own ways, but emerged stronger for it. This book was based on historical events leading up to the Spanish-American War, a period of history that I wasn't really familiar with. It was neat that I finished reading it in January, and in February the kids and I covered the same time period in our homeschool history studies! I also liked the fact that Luke was from Maine, and a little bit of the story took place there. Several of Elizabeth Camden's other books have been set in (or partially in) New England, which I enjoy since I'm a New Englander. :) While Beyond All Dreams wasn't my favorite of her novels (Against the Tide still holds that place, I think!), I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction with a bit of good clean romance.

**Thanks to Bethany House for the free review copy. I was not required to give a positive review, and all opinions expressed are my own.