“Kiera” by Kate Willis was on a list of clean fiction stories that were on sale for Black Friday in November 2021, and it caught my attention because it is about a young woman who is facing the likelihood of being drafted into the military. There doesn’t seem to be any exemptions, and Kiera is terrified of having to leave the home, family, and friends she loves to go to war.

Kate Willis did a wonderful job creating the characters in this novel. Kiera and Brennan are the main characters and it was so easy to get emotionally attached to them and to care about them. Willis clearly shows she has the ability to understand and develop her characters in a way that touches the reader’s heart.

ACTION: There isn’t any heart-pounding action in this novel. The action is quite calm with the exception of some of Kiera’s reactions to struggles she faces, but even these reactions are mild.

ADVENTURE: The adventure in “Kiera” doesn’t really require much in the way of travel, although there is one scene where she and Brennan travel to visit someone they both care about who is in a troubling situation, and this adventure is filled with emotional tensions and a slight level of danger.

ROMANCE: I wouldn’t say there is much of a romance in this novel, but there is definitely a love relationship that is clean and the characters take a long time to realize there actually is love between them. It’s definitely a pure love that is not based on anything that the world considers love to be.

RELIGION: This story has strong Biblical threads and a couple quotes from C.S. Lewis that align with the Bible running throughout the novel. Kiera is a young Christian girl and she and her family are very involved in their local church. In my opinion, this adds to the depth of the characters and the story, and it’s what adds to the story’s touch upon the reader’s heart.

FINAL THOUGHTS: The time period of this story is difficult to determine. A war is mentioned, and the characters check the weather report daily to find out the level of radiation before going outside, but it’s never clear what type of war and whether it is a present war. I think, by the time I finished reading, I was convinced the story is set in the not-too-distant future.

Also, at the bottom of page 279, the words “The End” appear, but there is one page after that, where there is a very brief scene involving a minor character. It seems to hint at the possibility of an upcoming book, but an upcoming book is never clearly mentioned, and there is no mention of “Kiera” being part of a series.

I recommend this book to anyone who prefers character driven stories because this book is definitely character driven, and it’s the characters that grip the reader’s heart from start to finish.