Against the Tide by Elizabeth Camden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Against the Tide by Elizabeth Camden

I picked up this book because of its beautiful cover and when reading I found a story that is full of suspense,romance and adventures.
The character Lydia Pallas tugs at your heartstrings when you see her lose her parents at a young age and grow up in an orphanage.  Her young life was spent on a boat and she yearned to go to school though she didn't know the english language.
something happened after she was dropped at school and she never saw her family again.
Alexander Banebridge was taken from his parents at a young age and he spent many years a prisoner of a dangerous criminal who kept young boys away from their parents to make them help him in his criminal path.  Alexander learned how to make the man care for him so he would be able to have a life beyond the mansion he was held prisoner in.  He became the son the professor never had and was taught "all his skills"....
In his teens "Bane" crossed paths with the fontaines and was able to break away from the clutches of the "Professor and his evil deeds with opium" he vowed to never marry and to rid the world of the opium that he had helped bring to the USA.  I fell in love with this quite determined young man who gave up any thoughts of a personal life to help mankind because he wanted to right a wrong that he had been apart of.  I yearned for he and Lydia to have a relationship as they both had been through rough times, having their early youth determined for them.
another character is Admiral Fontaine that Lydia met and worked for when he learned that she knew many languages and would be a valued translator for him at the navy yards.  The admiral was a widower with two small children and a strict employer yet a fair one who had helped Lydia when she needed it, knowing she was a strong young honest woman.
Lydia lived frugally near the Boston Harbor and loved the sounds there reminding her of her early years living on the boat.
 Against the Tide was not my usual type of read but I fell in love with the characters and now am anxious to read the next book that will tell the story of the "Admiral"  new author for me but she wove a wonderful story that I spent many hours enjoying, come read her if you have not yet....


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