Books for Christian Girls: "From This Moment" by Elizabeth Camden

About this book:

“Stella West’s artistic talent made her the toast of London, but when her beloved sister dies under mysterious circumstances she abandons everything and heads for Boston. With single-minded determination she fights to pierce the ring of secrecy surrounding her sister’s death. Upon meeting Romulus White, a publisher with connections into every important power circle in the city, she quickly realizes he could be a valuable ally in navigating Boston society.

Romulus has been pursuing Stella for years to create art for his magazine. Her luminous illustrations are the missing piece he needs to propel his magazine to the forefront of the industry, and he will stop at nothing to get her on board.

Sparks fly the instant they join forces, but Romulus is unsettled by the unwelcome attraction he feels toward Stella, fearing she might be the one woman who could disrupt his hard-won independence. He may have finally met his match in Stella, but is helping her solve the mystery of her sister’s death worth the risk to his publishing empire?”

Series: Book #1 in the “From This Moment” series. {Not sure if it will be an actual series, but there is a #.5. Review of that novella, Here!}

Spiritual Content- Prayers & Thanking God; Talks about God & fairness; ‘H’s are not capital when referring to God; Stella says she’s always been a lackluster Christian, thinking she has time when she’s older to be more devout (she learns that life is short); Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers; Mentions of Christians; Mentions of sins & Heaven; A few mentions of a foundation in faith; A few mentions of angels, miracles & blessings; A couple mentions of God’s creation; A couple mentions of Bible reading; A couple mentions of those in the Bible; A couple mentions of churches; A couple mentions of missionary work;

*Note: A couple mentions of Roman mythology.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘blasted’, an ‘Egad’, a ‘heck’, a ‘shut up’, a ‘sissies’, seven forms of ‘idiot’ and ten forms of ‘stupid’; Sarcasm & Eye rolling; Many, many, many mentions of Stella’s sister who was found dead (drowning, up to semi-detailed); Many, many mentions of bodies, drownings, strangulation, murders, deaths, autopsies, a morgue file, & jail; Mentions of chemical stenches, high water & thinking you’re going to drown (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of shooting people, killing, fighting & blood (semi-detailed); Mentions of suicide & attempts; Mentions of a mental asylum & a woman starving herself; Mentions of a fire & gas (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of boxing matches, punches & injuries; Mentions of drunks & alcohol; A few mentions of tobacco & cigars; A few mentions of a pub & beer; A couple mentions of gambling; A couple mentions of dead water animals.

Sexual Content- a palm kiss, a check kiss, a forehead kiss, three semi-detailed kisses and a boarder-line semi-detailed // detailed kiss; Touches & Embraces (up to semi-detailed); Noticing & Staring; Nearness & Smelling; A mention that Romulus loves women & has dated a lot; A mention of a lover’s quarrel; A mention of Stella’s parents not being able to keep their hands off each other; A mention of a woman meeting strange men at night; A couple mentions of married couples snuggling together; A couple mentions of an engaged couple having two children (and then it turns out he was already married); A few mentions of having a type; A few mentions of an older man falling in love with a girl nearly half his age (her father is not happy about it and says the man is prowling around & has hankering for her); A few mentions of a woman’s uterus, a baby who died & not being able to have children; Mentions of flirting; Mentions of kissing & kisses; Mentions of serious relationships, causal dalliances & platonic relationships; Mentions of bachelorhood & a Casanova (and Romulus’ opinion of marriage is being shackled to one woman); Mentions of a married couple’s separation; Mentions of cheating, affairs & a married man’s mistresses; Love, falling in love & the emotions;

*Note: A couple mentions of women’s figures; A mention of a man trying not to picture a woman in her bath; A mention of someone being the butt of jokes.

-Stella West, age 28

-Romulus White, age 32
P.O.V. switches between them, Evelyn & Ernest (once)

Set in 1897
347 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

I don’t know what to rate this book. The first half of the book nearly broke me, since I read the novella prior to reading “From This Moment”. Set ten years prior to this novel, the novella “Summer of Dreams” is about Evelyn & Clyde’s relationship. Which, after reading it, I thought they were so cute together and was looking forward to seeing what was going on with them in this novel. Well, when the bomb was dropped I literally could have done many Goodreads status updates like: “I am currently gasping for air like a fish out of water.” “Somebody put me out of this pain.” “*whimpers*” “I’m in so much pain.” Everything does work by the end, but I was very vocal while reading the first half of this book. Stella & Romulus definitely took a backseat the first half due to those parts, and the last half I was more like “Wait, are they on or off?”. I liked Stella and Romulus was very interesting.

I found the murder plot and aspects very interesting and all the historic details really made this an Elizabeth Camden book. (Also, the cover?! Stunning.)

See y’all on Wednesday with a new review!