My Brother's Crown by Mindy Starns Clark and Leslie Gould

My Brother's Crown is first in the series of the Cousins of the Dove series.

Catherine Gillet's story takes place in France during 1665. I enjoyed learning about the Hugenots . The Hugenots were a Christian group in France influenced by the teachings of John Calvin. It was interesting to read about the persecution of these people in France. It makes you appreciate the system of separation of church and state we have in the United States. The people in France at that time were under the rule of Louis XV. In this story the dragoons were police the city to try to force the Hugenots to convert to Catholicism. In this story the dragoons made life very hard for Elizabeth and her family. I will not reveal too much of the story since I do not want to spoil it for the reader. I admired the character of Elizabeth. She was a brave and gutsy trying to protect her family while still maintaining her faith.  She did not know who to trust. At one point she thought the only persons she could truly trust was herself and her beloved grandmere. 

The secondary story involved Rene Talbot, an ancestor of Elizabeth living in the present day in the United States. She is a scientist trying to decode an pamphlet that is centuries old. It is not until the end of Elizabeth's story that we learn the significance of that document. Like many other reviewers I did not feel that Rene's story was developed as well as Elizabeth's story. I felt the romance was a little rushed. There is also a mystery of a body in the woods that she and her cousins experienced as children but that storyline was not resolved in this books. Perhaps it will be in future books in this series. There are three other modern-day cousins where a book could be developed. I'm hoping in future books in this series we also get to hear from more stories of the other members of the Talbot and Gillett family.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harvest House publishers for allowing me to review an e-copy of this novel. This book is due to be released October 1, 2015. I look forward to reading the other novels in this series.