An Hour Unspent by Roseanna M. White
Victoria's Rating: 5 out of 5 bookmarks

(Editor's Note: An Hour Unspent is Book #3 in the Shadows Over England series. Victoria also reviewed Book #1, A Name Unknown and Book #2, A Song Unheard.)

This series is just so many things I love all wrapped up into one stunning package of a trilogy.

The history in this book is fascinating; surrounding World War I with intrigue, spies, drama, and of course, love.

It was one of those books that made me rediscover my love of reading. After hitting too many duds in a row, reading lost all excitement and I kept finding excuses to do other interesting things. This book reawakened the joy I find in words and I can’t wait to delve into something more!
Roseanna M. White completely captures my heart with her writing style, her real-life characters and the emotional journey they go on.

Barclay was one of my favorite character throughout the series as we got little snippets/hints of who he was. Nothing more than whetting the whistle until this book. It was highly anticipated by me because I just loved him so much. He is probably one of the most relatable characters that I have discovered in a while and found myself being swept away in his motivation and his personality. His quirks, his smarts, even down to the way he handled the tough situations that life threw at him. It was so believable and endearing.

Evelina was a wonderful compliment to Barclay, and though I related to her the least out of all of the Shadows in London heroines, she was still wonderful.

One thing that the author does is she takes something about the character and reminds us over and over again through turns of phrase or word choices about those particular character quirks. She has done it time and again throughout the series, but I love how it so thoroughly immerses us into the character's head. It truly is a stroke of genius and I find myself learning a lot from her writing. For instance, Evelina is the daughter of a watchmaker/mechanic. She follows in her father's footsteps in many ways, and when inside her point of view, there were constant little reminders in the way that she thought of life as a watch, or the gears of her life moved slowly, etc. She did a similar thing in Book Two with one of the characters who was a mathematician. It truly is such a fascinating way to deepen a character.

I loved getting to see more of the family happenings of Rosemary, Barclay, Willa and the rest of the clan, and while the book had a fabulous conclusion that left me misty-eyed with tears of happiness, there was still so much room for her to expand the series and create new trilogies based on the phenomenal and deep surrounding cast.

As is always the case with White’s books, I also learned a lot of history, which is something that I have come to expect and enjoy from this talented author.

If you love stories with heart, family, and history, you will be enthralled with this gem of a series! Bring on the next series, Miss White. I will await its coming eagerly.

Content Notes: Mentions of war, a kiss or two and vague mentions of violence on the front lines. Very clean.




Victoria Lynn is a “Jane of all trades” who seeks to master them. She runs several small businesses and is the girl behind the blog, Ruffles and Grace. She is an Indie Author with a passion for literature and the written word. She lives in the glorious state of many lakes, Michigan, with her parents and eight siblings. She devours books and likes to say that if she could get paid for every book she has read, she would be a millionaire. Some of her favorite things to do include writing fiction, learning new things, acting, creating something with her hands and playing the piano or singing. She also is one of the founders of Ichthus Family Productions and seeks to honor the Lord in all that she does.



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