Ah yes, Alexander and Eliza, America’s now most famous and beloved love story. De La Cruz takes us to 1777 at a midwinter’s ball where the Schuyler Sisters are the envy of all. Eliza is the quintessential middle child of the Schuylers, although she takes after her father’s reserved, practical independence, she is not as pretty as Peggy nor bitingly witty as Angelica much to her mother’s charign. But Eliza has loftier goals with the war going on. Sewing for the soldiers, inoculations, anything to help their burgeoning country.

But that same midwinter’s ball changes the course of her life as she meets her future husband, an ambitious aide de camp, Alexander Hamilton.

Well, you know how the story goes from there. De La Cruz’s fictionalized account though provides plenty of twists and turns to keep readers on the edge of their seat even though they know the outcome of their story. There’s the threat of an arranged marriage to the rich yet odious Henry Livingston, a miscommunication of assignation that prompts Eliza’s mortification that Hamilton believed her willing to do hayloft liasons, and the gentle ribbing of protective family members vying for Eliza and Alexander to get over their hesitations and just give into their feelings.

In that sense, history buffs probably won’t enjoy the book’s liberties with the characters as it follows the tropes of a historical romance pretty faithfully. In fact, Eliza seemed a bit out of character from how she’s been portrayed in the musical and in Elliot’s Hamilton . . . and Peggy!. Here, she is more spirited, matching wordy wits with Hamilton when she feels he has offended her father’s honor by giving word of his court-martial, same with the hayloft mistake and such, thus allowing more romantic banter between the two. She’s also fascinated by the miracle of inoculation thanks to her physician uncle and dislikes slavery. Actually, I believe the latter is true but glosses over her own family’s slave-owning roots which makes sense as Washington did the same.

But even though Eliza is more modern independent female protagonist than I believe she would have been for the era, she does have an air of the Eliza from the musical as she’s a tender romantic underneath it all, generous to a fault and drawn to people’s characters over their wealth.

Alexander is perfectly in character I think, alternating between outrageous flirt, die-hard romantic who rambles with reams of poetry and words, insecure over his lineage, desperate and hungry to prove himself. He’s a man with a heart on his sleeve and running out of time, and De La Cruz depicts that very well. It makes their flirting jump out of the page, and I can see hints of lines quoted from his many correspondances.

So even though historical accuracy is not the goal in this book, I think the situations that De La Cruz puts them in are good potential “what ifs,” that give Alexander and Eliza room to explore the obstacles in their path. Her arrangement with Livingston highlights the role of American heiresses in colonial times and the little options given to a woman of her station.

It also emphasizes the importance of wealth and titles in this new world where Hamilton wishes to prove himself but fears it won’t be enough to provide for Eliza in the future and he will always be overlooked for being a self-made man. But they both come to the conclusion that being self-made is what will make American men different and unique, and the Old World orders won’t apply as much.

The inoculation subplot highlights the disparity in wartime between the rich civilians, hosting balls and showing off gowns while the soldiers wear rags. How generals fight over their rank and titles while foot-men wallow in prisons.

I can’t be remiss in mentioning the book highlighting Alex and Eliza’s other relationships. The Schuyler Sisters continue to have a wonderful sisterly bond especially in the face of their marriage pressures and how the burden of finances rests on their marrying well. Meanwhile, Hamilton has an ominous forshadowing with Laurens that will surely pay off in the next book. But in a lighter note, De La Cruz created a surprisingly enjoyable scenario of the Schuyler husbands,-Hamilton, Church, and Van Rensselaer, forming their own supportive friendship that I hope to see more of.

The next book will take readers through the Hamilton marriage and presumably the death of Phillip and the Reynolds Affair. Perhaps it will be more accurate since so much drama happens compared to the little-known beginnings of Hamilton and Eliza’s courtship but we’ll see. Nonetheless, I found it enjoyable to read the sweet romance.

Also, I managed to fit surprsingly little Hamilton lyrics into this review, I will have to try better next time.

3 stars.