The Hidden Side

March 15, 2018

Nathan Hale's fiancée Mercy Howard never imagined that her journal kept during the American spy's trial and execution by the British would help a woman two centuries later. Joining a spy ring in 1776 Manhattan to avenge her lover's death, she finds it difficult to maintain an even keel when she meets the charming British Maj. John André of the King's Army during an information gathering mission. In 2016, New York radio advice personality Natalie Abbott can solve everyone's problems but her own. When everything in her life seems to come apart one day, she has no idea how to move forward until Mercy's journal finds its way into her hands. VERDICT Filled with fascinating historical details, Chiavaroli's second novel (after Freedom's Ring) once again connects two women through an artifact of the past. This heartrending tale will engage aficionados of the American Revolution and historical fiction.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 16, 2018
A journal from 1776 comforts a radio host going through family strife in the present day in Chiavaroli’s second time-jump tale set during the Revolutionary War (after Freedom’s Ring). Three women form the center of this harrowing tale, all facing the dire consequences of keeping secrets from loved ones. Natalie Abbott, a radio personality who comforts and counsels listeners in need of advice, goes through her own family trauma when her son, Chris, shoots several people, killing three, at his high school. Chris’s twin, Maelynn, faces her brother as he takes aim, yet he spares her—a moment that brings intense guilt she must grapple with for the rest of her life. Jumping back nearly 300 years, the novel turns to Mercy Howard, who becomes a spy in Loyalist Manhattan after her fiancé is hanged by the British at the outset of the Revolutionary War. As Mercy navigates treacherous New York, she keeps a journal of her secret life. Although separated by centuries, the violence and angst that surround Mercy comfort Natalie during her own period of trauma as she struggles with regret, low self-confidence, and wavering commitment to her faith. Readers already interested in time-slip novels will enjoy the emotional journey of Chiavaroli’s heroines, but those looking for a more seamless plot will become frustrated with the abrupt switching of perspectives.

May 1, 2018
In 2016, Natalie Abbott, a radio personality offering life advice on a Christian radio station, races to her twins' high school when word of a shooting comes in. Chiavaroli (Freedom's Ring, 2017) alternates between the stories of Natalie and her daughter, Maelynn, and the 1776 diary of a young woman, Mercy, who has just discovered that her American patriot fianc� has been arrested by the British as a spy. In the aftermath of Nathan Hale's horrific hanging, Mercy returns to her Long Island home, where her sister becomes enamored with one of the Redcoat officers the family is forced to quarter, while in the twenty-first century, Natalie struggles with the horror of learning that her son is the school shooter, and Maelynn is in shock over the death of her first love at the hand of her twin. Chiavaroli's all-too-timely, two-era novel asks when it is right to keep secrets and when it is right to divulge them. This page-turner, though weak on historical authenticity, will appeal to readers looking for fiction that explores Christian values and belief under tragic circumstances.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

March 15, 2018

Nathan Hale's fianc�e Mercy Howard never imagined that her journal kept during the American spy's trial and execution by the British would help a woman two centuries later. Joining a spy ring in 1776 Manhattan to avenge her lover's death, she finds it difficult to maintain an even keel when she meets the charming British Maj. John Andr� of the King's Army during an information gathering mission. In 2016, New York radio advice personality Natalie Abbott can solve everyone's problems but her own. When everything in her life seems to come apart one day, she has no idea how to move forward until Mercy's journal finds its way into her hands. VERDICT Filled with fascinating historical details, Chiavaroli's second novel (after Freedom's Ring) once again connects two women through an artifact of the past. This heartrending tale will engage aficionados of the American Revolution and historical fiction.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.