Short but weighty look at a romance set in the midst of political turbulence.

Timothy's crush on Charlotte finally has a chance to grow into more, just as the clash of ideals at their local college takes a tragic turn. If you're also old enough to remember the Kent State shootings, then this book will take you back in time and frame your visit within a middle-class family whose members represented conflicting sides in the political issues of the day.

All Timothy wants, besides Charlotte, is to have his family at peace. His dad secured a spot for his brother in the National Guard to keep him from being sent overseas, while his sister and her husband are actively participating in anti-war protests around the country, a mission that brings them back home in time for the uprisings at the college Timothy and Charlotte attend.

This book packs a lot of story into a short novella. Timothy and Charlotte's romance is sweet yet deeply moving with tender yet detailed love scenes. The Stone family members are well-developed without any stereotypes. The events described at Kent State correlate with the historical record, while keeping the focus on how these events affected the individual characters more than the overall political effects. As such, this is a poignant look at both family dynamics and a political climate that, sadly, remains too familiar even fifty years later.

It's extremely well-done, and ultimately an uplifting and enjoyable read. I highly recommend it. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.

Sometimes reading a piece of history is what you need to appreciate what you have. Find the Cost of Freedom isn’t a piece of history, but it revolves around it. Back in 1970 when men (boys, really) were drafted in a weird lottery to serve in the US army, potentially to be shipped to Vietnam and fight a questionable war, people rioted on American soil, fighting for freedom for everyone. For the Vietnamese, for the American people, for anyone living under any form of oppression.

Now, you can debate from here to wazoo about the legitimacy of the protests, about the form of the protests, or better ways to protest, but ultimately, lives went on throughout them. People came together, they fell in love, they questioned their every step.

Timothy Stone and Charlotte Covington fell for each other without uttering a single word throughout an entire year at college. But when they finally did, they became inseparable. I loved Timothy’s gentleness, his shy existence, trying to be what binds his family together when his older sister is off gallivanting through the US protesting the war and his brother living life in the national guard, basically standing for everything opposite what his sister believes.

He’s torn between the two, and trying to figure out what is right, when his path crosses Charlotte’s. Charlotte has suffered a great loss, but is recovering and has new hope in the form of Timothy’s love, but she’s facing another loss, if Timothy is drafted.

Their love story is existing and growing in the face of the riots in Kent State University in Ohio, back in 1970.

I felt like I’ve read this before, only slightly different, when I got to the end and saw that I did. It was a Twilight fanfiction, but I have to say that this is a much, much better version.

Fast paced, rather short (took me about 2 hours) and 100% captivating, Find the Cost of Freedom will teach you more than a piece of history, it will teach you there’s not a wrong or right way, no good or bad. You have to listen to each other and try to find a middle way where everyone isn’t losing. Because let’s face it – there are hardly scenarios where everybody is winning.