A Desperate Hope - Elizabeth Camden

In this third installment of the Empire State Series, Eloise Drake is tasked with assigning worth to all of the buildings and properties in the town of Duval Springs.  The town that she used to watch from afar, from the home of her guardian; the town whose current mayor, Alex Duval, was the recipient of more than her heart when she was only 16.  Alex, as mayor and descendant of the town's founding family, is desperately trying to keep his town, his family, and his family's legacy from being wiped off the map to make room to provide water for the people of New York.  Can Eloise follow her mathematical brain and keep her heart out of this job? What choices does Alex have to help provide for those who depend on him and look to him for leadership?

I was excited to read this continuation of the series; I enjoyed the character of Rosalind Werner in A Daring Venture, and I felt myself grow angry on behalf of the town that was going to be wiped out for the needs of the big city.  The solution that the town came up with was creative and risky, and I loved watching the town and the state workers come together to put it in action.  Eloise's character held so much promise.  As one of only six female CPAs in the state of New  York, her drive and love of math and logic appealed to me, and I was interested to see how that played out when she came back into the life of her childhood love. However, I found her changes of heart to be fickle, as she was courting one man while intending to return to a life that didn't include him. While I can understand her being unsure of what she really wanted, versus what appeared best for her, it seemed out of character to be misleading someone who cared for her. 

I also struggled to fit the pieces of the saboteur mystery into the story; when the culprit was named and the reason discovered, I felt like I'd missed something along the way.  It left that plot line feeling disjointed, and was a strange way to wrap up a story that was compelling enough to stand on its own - that of the town coming together to find a way to hope in the face of impending disaster.

I give this book 3 stars; I love Elizabeth Camden's intelligent, ground-breaking, female characters, but I didn't enjoy that, in this case, Eloise's brain became a bit secondary to her love interests.  I was fascinated by the idea of the reservoir displacing a town, though, and I wish a bit more of the true story would have woven its way into the novel.

You can find A Desperate Hope HERE.
You can find the author's website HERE.

I received a digital copy of this book, via NetGalley, from the publisher, in exchange for my honest review.