Received in ebook format from www.netgalley.com.

This novel is set during the American Civil War and I believe one (the first?) in a trilogy about the Camerons, who are wealthy Virginia plantation family, along with some of the people they grow up with - such as Kiernan Mackay. Most of this novel is told from the point of view of Kiernan, who has grown up motherless, and therefore the apple of her father's eye and able to get away with more than other women of her class and age. She has become spirited and beautiful and has loved the oldest Cameron brother, Jesse, for most of her life.

The Camerons find their loyalties divided when the Civil War breaks out. Jesse and Kiernan end up as lovers, only to find themselves on opposite sides of the divide when Virginia secedes from the Union. Neither is willing to compromise on their convictions.

Jesse, who trained to be a doctor and has joined the army, leaves Kiernan behind in the little town of Harper's Ferry, which is about to find itself in the middle of a tug-of-war between the Union and the Confederacy. She marries Anthony Millar, on his way to fight, who gets killed before the marriage gets very far. Over the next few years, war throws Jessie and Kiernan back together, which means both of them begin to question their ideals, their loyalities, and their feelings for each other.

The book has an interesting plot setting in that it starts with the threatened burning of Kiernan's house - to be interrupted by Jesse's timely arrival. It immediately slips back a few years previously to help set up Kiernan's relationship both with Jesse and her husband Anthony.

There are several sex scenes, of a relatively explicit nature, all outside of marriage, so this book is to be avoided if these scenes are not enjoyed. Kiernan in particular is a bit more headstrong than I like - not sure she compares particularly well to Scarlett O'Hara.

In Summary: I did enjoy this book, it has an advantage of not being entirely formulaic in structure or story line, and the primary characters are interesting
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One Wore Blue starts off with Southern belle Kiernan Miller living in Virginia about one year before the American Civil War begins. Kiernan’s childhood friend Jesse Cameron is a doctor who has decided to join the Union army as a field medic when the war breaks out. His younger brother Daniel will fight for the South, they are both West Point grads. Kiernan and the Cameron brothers grew up together and there are sparks between Kieran and Jesse now as adults.

The story mainly centers around Kiernan and Jessie and the war that separates them. Kiernan is hell bent on rooting for the Southern cause, while Jessie sympathizes with the North. The author uses this as the main conflict in their relationship.

Author Heather Graham infuses actual places and people pertaining to the Civil War into her storyline and I really enjoyed that the most.

Historical details are seamlessly blended in throughout, so you are getting facts about the Civil War while reading. There’s mention of the different battles and skirmishes all throughout the storyline and you see Jessie working as a doctor trying to save the lives of both Northern and Southern soldiers. The story moved on along pretty quickly and the supporting characters dove in and out of the storyline well. The ending wraps it all up nicely and the next book features Jessie’s younger brother Daniel. I have the second book and will definitely be reading it.

All in all, I found One Wore Blue to be a fun, historical romance heavy on the history aspect and set during the Civil War era. The blurb says it all…“Her Rebel Spirit Defied his Yankee Soul”. I was really impressed by the attention to historical detail and the southern backdrop. I recommend this one if you enjoy Civil War history and romance.
https://bookwormnai.wordpress.com/2023/09/01/one-wore-blue-by-heather-graham/ ( )

Heather Graham did a fantastic job of weaving in a romance amidst the historical events surrounding abolitionist John Brown's first shots at Harper's Ferry, his trial and hanging, and then the resultant battles immediately after the secession of the southern states and the start of the American Civil War. The heroine, Kiernan, is a stubborn supporter of the Confederacy; the man she is destined to be with, Jesse Cameron, although a Virginian himself, feels compelled to side with the Northerners. She refuses to love a Yankee and she fights him--and her true feelings--to the bitter end. (I kind of wanted to smack her, to be honest with you. Her demanding behavior and protestations got old.) ( )

ONE WORE BLUE is an entertaining and sweeping sensual melodrama and a pleasant departure from the standard (though equally wonderful) English historical romance.

I love this time period in American History. It is a gritty and desperate time even for the wealthy. Passions and emotions are heightened. Death and destruction are at the characters’ doorsteps. It’s the perfect and most inconvenient time to fall madly in love.
I adore Jesse. He’s no gentleman. Tall, dark and handsome. Kiernan’s hero and savior on more than one occasion. He’s commanding, bossy and so, so sexy.

Kiernan is harder to like. She’s single-minded and frequently unreasonable. She can be childish and overly impulsive. Kiernan also gets enraged at the drop of a hat. It gets tiresome to read her instinctively and repeatedly resort to such ugly behavior as slapping, hitting and tearing away at Jesse in response to a quarrel.

Despite Kieran’s character flaws, I love these characters as a couple. They share an entertaining “love and war”/“fire and ice” dynamic. One moment they are fiercely argumentative and screaming each other, and the next they are in each other’s arms consumed by desire and a deep unwavering love.

The steamy, stolen moments that comprise their many fantastic sex scenes are beautifully described and highly erotic. These great passages are satisfyingly lengthy and utterly hot. (Think Stephanie Laurens, but better.)

I’m looking forward to reading about Jesse’s brother, Daniel Cameron’s happily ever after in the next book in this series, AND ONE WORE GREY.

ARC courtesy of Random House Publishing Group - Loveswept via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )

From BackCover:
HER REBEL SPIRIT DEFIED HIS YANKEE SOUL.
She was velvet and silk, emerald eyes and sunstruck hair, Kiernan Miller had married one man to protect her from another. She hated Jesse Cameron with a fierce passion. But she was a widow now, and he was the enemy at her door, come with weapons of fire to melt her icy heart....

HIS TRAITOR'S TOUCH IGNITED RAGING PASSIONS.
He wore a Yankee uniform with inimitable Southern style, as true to the Union cause as he was treasonous to his rebel roots. Even as war engulfed them all, he would find his greatest adversary in the beauty who'd branded him a traitor, the woman he was born to possess. ( )