The Colonel's Daughter: Prequel to The Senator's Wife

This book is about Cate and Nat, as always when Jen Lyon is the author a love story, not a romance. In this case no surprise about the outcome of this special first love not meant to be, it is a prequel after all, but still so painful and angsty, my favourite feeling when I read a book. This book gave me so much to think about, I now understand Catharine and Nathalie a bit better, and I must reread The Senator’s Wife series once more to get even more of them. Cate and Nat come from different worlds and at this stage in life Catherine is not strong enough to break free from her father, the Colonel, that has such power over her. As a reader, even though you know what will happen, you still really want Catharine’s choice to be different this time, choose Nathalie over the life her father dictates. I truly believe they could have lived a happy life together if only Catharine had been brave and strong enough. Now they never get a chance at romantic love, but their friendship is so special and what makes Catherine find a way to find love again and finally break free both from her father and husband. Nathalie is so amazing and after what she has endured I really hope we will get a book about her one day that shows us her finding a new chance at true love just like Catharine did with Alex. Another masterpiece by the author, if you have loved her previous books run and get the book!

As a reader, I want visceral, fervent, and indelible marks. I have arrived (yet again). Cate is a complex character who has been devastatingly abused, caged, controlled, stripped of life and love. Reader beware, for I cannot isolate the "feels" to just this book, this story, since Catharine (Cate) Brooks lives rent-free in my head from the stories of three other books. Reader beware: Spoilers everywhere... It is undoubtedly well understood how Catharine’s life is governed by rigid expectations: she is groomed to inherit her father’s company, her behavior tightly controlled, her brilliance acknowledged but subordinated by her father and the men around her. Polished, exceptionally intelligent, and emotionally restrained, she is denied agency over her own future. Her soul crying to be seen, to be heard, to be freed. And it is Nathalie’s love that touches Catharine’s soul and ignites life into it. Her first great love and now her closest friend. Their three-year affair, which unfolds while Catharine is studying at Oxford, is abruptly and forcibly ended when Catharine’s father discovers the relationship. Catharine is sent to America and coerced into marrying an unethical, abusive, and politically powerful man. It is here, and in her previous books, Lyon reminds us romance and love stories aren’t the same thing. Pretty Woman is romance; Romeo & Juliet is a love story. Lyon writes the latter. She doesn’t follow the romance script, doesn’t protect the reader with tidy resolutions,…