Czechmate by Felicia Bridges : ARC Book Review

Title: Czechmate
Author: Felicia Bridges
Publisher: Smashwords Edition
Published Date: May 31st 2016
Genre: YA, Christian Fiction, Communism
Format: ebook

My Rating: ★ ★ ★

Goodreads Summary: 

Nicole Wise loves her new life in Prague almost as much as she loves telling people about Jesus. But when an election upset changes the balance of power in the formerly communist country, Nicole’s outspoken attempts at evangelism lead to her parents’ arrest on espionage charges.
Teaming up with Jakub, a handsome, young Romani Czech, who has grown up homeless, Nicole and her little brother, Adam, evade corrupt authorities by hiding out in underground tunnels of the ancient city while hoping to find evidence of their parents’ innocence. Their last resort is to make the proof public in a desperate bid to save them before it’s too late.
When Nicole and Adam’s parents are caught in a standoff between political forces that threaten to erupt into a bloody civil war, Nicole finds herself standing alone against an army, faith her only defense.
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 My Review:

"Sometimes there was no good option. No right answer. Just a choice between bad and worse."

This was one of those stories, that I really wanted to like, but ended up kind of falling flat for me.

Nicole and her father had gone to Prague before as missionaries, and had loved it there so much that they convinced the rest of the family to move there. Once there though, they start to see that while the city is beautiful, it might be harder than they originally had thought to actually live in Prague long term, especially since they were still doing some missionary work.  The first part of this book, is rather slow with them just getting settled in and Nicole and her brother trying to fit in and make friends with the other students.

"Forty-eight hours ago, they had been bickering over the computer and now, they were a team."

Things start to pick up when the government falls into the hands of communists and their family and friends that are Christians end up becoming wanted and are forced to hide out in order to stay safe.  

This leads Nicole and her brother on a journey of having to strongly believe in their faith, and using the tools they are given because of it.

This was an okay read for me. I didn’t love it, but I still enjoyed it, especially the parts with Prague fairy tales that were added in as well. The tunnels I also found to be very interesting, how had they made it so long? Especially after we see what can happen to them towards the end of the book.

If you’re looking for a clean read, with religion, then this would be a good option. 

"People do bad things. But they can change and do something good if you give them time."

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.