Today I’ve been reading a very good review for one of my books Because of Rebecca. I just happened upon it over at Amazon and couldn’t believe it. It is always a nice surprise to get a great review and to see what others think about your work.
She gave me a 4 star rating, but I clearly feel that her words make it more of a 5 star in my opinion. I do not know who this reviewer is other than the username she uses when posting at Amazon. However, I’d like to thank you for these insightful comments. Here are her words verbatim:
Rebecca Davis’ life is one built on, and shaped by the secrets that she keeps.
There is just one problem with that however.
The secrets…are not hers to keep.
Because of Rebecca offers so much more story than one is used to in Southern-based Historical Romance.
The ladies in this book are far from the wilting wallflowers, swooning and batting their eyes suggestively at every man they see. These heroines(and yes, there are many) are forces of nature in frilly petticoats. Rebecca Davis is a woman unafraid to live her life by her convictions. Even if doing so could leave her a spinster; in one case. Or even cost her life. Rebecca’s aunt, Josephine, is a woman haunted by a secret in her past as well. A secret that has had farther reaching consequences than she could have ever imagined. A secret that like Rebecca, she believes has doomed her to a life without love.
Jared Hollingsworth, a plantation owner in the old south, running his plantation with new rules. Rules which fly directly in the face of his slave owning counterparts. Rules which label him a pariah among the good southern gentry of Mississippi. Rory Hollingsworth, a man whose secrets could prove the most damaging to everyone involved. A man who is the catalyst for a chain of events that will change each person’s life forever.
This is an awesome story with more twists than a hedge-maze, more secrets than the CIA, and more romance than Cupid.
Rebecca and Josephine are real women, with real fears, hopes, and dreams. This makes them very likeable. Jared and Rory are two sides to the same coin. Although they go about their lives in decidedly different ways. This novel takes great pains to address the evils of such hot button topics as: slavery, death in childbirth, and illegitimacy. The thing that makes this author’s treatment of these topic different from others being that there are no quick fixes. The characters are allowed to live with their choices and the consequences of said choices for better or worse; while still pursuing the joys of hearth, home, and children.
The passion in this read is not of the firecracker or bodice ripper variety. This would be more of a story wrapped slow burn. It is there, but you have to wait for it.
Wow… I don’t know what else to say about this review except wow.
Leanne Tyler 