Alex and Eliza is a two-book (so far) mini-series based on Alexander Hamilton’s relationship with Elizabeth Schuyler. The books are based vaguely on real events and the first, simply titled Alex and Eliza, covers the period from their first meeting until their marriage.

Little is known about Hamilton and Eliza’s real relationship due to many of their letters being burned and so this book plays fast and loose with their history, only sticking with a few basic facts such as their courtship in Morristown, where Alex was stationed and Eliza was staying with her aunt and uncle. Eliza is portrayed as an Elizabeth Bennet type character – the sensible one compared with her sisters Angelica and Peggy. At a ball in the opening chapters, she refuses to wear an expensive, fancy gown, concerned about the message this would send when soldiers were struggling to stay clothed.

In the second half of the book, however, the author appears to dispense with the known history entirely, introducing both an engagement between Eliza and Henry Livingston and an assault never known to have happened. The latter of these, in particular, seems to have been written purely to allow Alexander to dash in and play the hero, saving Eliza. Not only did this feel wildly out of place, but given that Henry is very likely based on the real Henry Brockholst Livingston, fictionalizing a sexual assault between two real people feels at best icky, and at worst downright defamatory. The scene’s only saving grace was that it did allow for a truly fabulous response from Eliza’s aunt Gertrude in a later chapter.

Book two, Love and War, picks up soon after the first and is split into two parts. Part one is set around the Battle of Yorktown and splits up the newly married couple, with Alex facing the British one last time and Eliza staying at home with her mother and siblings. The second half, after an odd intermission that reads like an excerpt from a history essay, moves the action to New York City, where Alex and Eliza have finally set up their own home on Wall Street – right next door to Aaron Burr and his new wife Theodosia. Alex is attempting to set up a new law practice but finds himself up against many rivals, while Eliza finds herself feeling neglected and lost in the big city.

These books read like real-person fanfic and, unfortunately, are littered with the worst kind of flowery fanfic writing – at one point Alex refers to his wife as “his dear chestnut-tressed maid.” If you’re looking for a light and fluffy romance free from the confines of historical accuracy then you will love them, but for anyone looking for writing with more substance than a three-page scene in which the inimitable Schulyer sisters parade in front of Alexander while he critiques their outfits, I’d advise looking elsewhere.