Book Review: A Hope Undaunted by Julie Lessman

Katie O'Conner has just graduated high school and has endless possibilities ahead of her. Living in the 1920's opportunities for women are opening up and Katie plans to take advantage of that. After being under her father's unbending rules, Katie has no plans to be under the same kind of husband. That is why Katie is dating the wealthy and good-looking Jack Worthington. He is besotted with her and will let her do as she pleases with enough money to fund it. Both planning to be lawyers with the same dreams and goals, they are the perfect fit. Everything is going as Katie planned.

Until Katie is forced to spend the summer working for Luke McGee, the boy who made her childhood miserable. Except he is not a boy anymore. Can they put aside their differences to work for a greater cause?  And will Katie still follow her dreams to fight for women's independence after a summer of conflict, hope, and maybe even love?

I enjoyed most of this story. I definitely wasn't expecting all the twists and turns in the plot - so that made it really interesting. I enjoyed getting to know the O'Conner family, although there was so many of them it took me a while to keep them all straight in my head. I also liked seeing into that time period. It is the first book I've read which looks into the themes of women coming into independence and being freed from the restraints of the past so it made a good fresh backdrop. My only complaint was that it seemed to focus on sensuality a little too much for my taste. I realize that as society became more freed from the strict restraints it had before, that it was more abundant but it seemed a part of nearly every character and it was a bit overboard, I thought. Besides that, I really did like the plot, characters and themes.

Thanks you to Revell for a free copy of this book to review.