Will at the Battle of Gettysburg 1863

How cool is it that I was reading this on the 150th anniversary of the actual days of the Battle of Gettysburg!!  I was actually dreading reading this book. I do bot like battle stories.  This book took me by surprise.  Ms. Cakhoven does an incredible job of showing war as it is...two sides, both thinking they are in the right and fighting for what is worthwhile in their point of view.  Both sides with soldiers who are people, not just enemies.  They both feel justified, they both suffer losses, they both want the best for "their country," they are both compassionate and human.  It was a 9/10 for me.  :-)

As a writer, it is clear that Ms. Cakhoven knows what she is writing about and researched it well.  She has great and equitable voice, she emphasizes the characters emotions and points of view.  She included a lot of text features:  Timelines, glossaries, historical notes,etc.  She also wrote to tell us what inspired her to write this book.