The Tea Chest by Heidi Chiavaroli Review

 

I loved this dual timeline story. This was my first book by this author and I can't wait to read more of her books.

This story takes place in both present day and colonial Boston, Massachusetts in the year 1773, during the time of the Boston Tea Party. What connects the two time lines is a tea chest that was originally one of the chests that tea was dumped from in 1773, which then eventually makes its way to our protagonist in present day.

Emma Malcolm is the daughter of a loyalist, but is drawn to a Patriot named Noah. She questions where her loyalty lies.

Hayley Ashworth is a lieutenant in the US Navy who is determined to become an elite Navy SEAL. The book actually begins with her in the middle of her training before it goes back to six weeks earlier where the majority of the present timeline story takes place. This is where we see the struggles she has and what she is trying to work through before she heads out for the grueling training and testing.
Both women go through some grueling testing in their lives and show remarkable courage and learn important lessons, including in their spiritual lives. I loved watching each woman's journey and seeing their respective relationships with the men in their lives evolve. I also loved how the author wove the story of the tea chest into both timelines and how we got to learn more about it through seeing it in the past and through the research the present day characters are doing.

There were a couple of things that were revealed through the present day research that I wish we hadn't known until it was revealed in the past storyline. But that didn't affect my enjoyment of the book.
This is a book I highly recommend.