Saturday, 28 January 2023
Rebel - Women Who Dare - Book 1
by Beverly Jenkins
Avon Books, 2019
As a reader, it is fantastic and exciting when you discover a new author who creates a fantastic book. This was it for me in January. I have never read any of her books and now plan to read all of it considering she has been writing since 1994 especially her "Women Who Dare" series. Rebel is the first book in this series.
Don't be diverted/misled by the book's cover. If you think this is simple romance, think again. If you have read "Gone with the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell and loved it, this can be considered as a continuation of the story about what happened after the American Civil war and for a change from the African American's perspective. So the Civil war took place and after that what? Reconstruction, of course. But how? Did the white Americans agree to equality after defeat and treat the enslaved equally? Why are there so many white supremacist groups and why are there so many ghettos even after two centuries in the USA? What about education, jobs, etc.? What were the roots of the Democrat and Republican party? This book is just an introduction to that history.
Valinda Lacy decides to head down South in the aftermath of the American Civil war to teach freed people until her fiance returns from Paris. She is a free woman from New York. She arrives in New Orleans which is still in shreds and reconstruction is on. Lacy works as a teacher to freed African Americans who wish to learn. Her semblance of school is burnt down by white supremacists and while she is attacked, Drake LeVeq saves her temporarily as he happens to be returning with his sister-in-law Sable. While they drop her off at her boarding place, he leaves her his residential address, just in case she needs help. Will Valinda just pack her bags to New York where she is from or will she decide to fight the white supremacists and stay and teach in New Orleans ? If so, will the Army support her efforts? What about the LeVeq family? No one can provide her the space to teach. What will she do?
The writing style is humorous, chilling, thrilling and romantic all rolled into one. I didn't know characters can be so practical and awesome at the same time. Jenkins is a master in action, adventure and romance. I felt like Wilbur Smith met Nora Roberts but for the humor, it is all Beverly Jenkins. It is a very interesting combination that makes the writing totally unique. More importantly, most English books have only people of the white race as its main characters with colored people thrown in for the sake of their skin color or the book has to be a thriller or historical fiction but Jenkins turns this formula on its head. It is an amazing achievement and trust Jenkins who was a former librarian to do this.
It has been a long time since I read a book which I truly loved and made me grin from ear to ear. If you like romance, you got to buy this book. If you like historical fiction, check it out. If you are interested in inspiring women, you have to read this book.
Buy it here
Wednesday, 20 January 2021
Call of the Raven - book review
Call of the Raven
by
Wilbur Smith and Corban Addison
Genre: Fiction
"And what use is freedom, if it is only the freedom to live
in a slum until you are worked to death? What use is a
wage if it does not buy you enough to eat?" - Call of the Raven
The book opens with Cambridge Union debate between Fairchild and St. John arguing for and against slavery. But what exactly is freedom? This thread runs through the entire book, what exactly is freedom?
Mungo St. John returns from Britain to America only to find his father murdered and the love of his life, Camilla, a slave on his father's estate murdered by the militia of his father's trusted banker, Chester Marion. He has is penniless as his entire fortune has been pledged. While young St. John vows revenge on Chester Marion, he discovers his own family is not entirely innocent and finds himself on a ship to Africa to earn his fortune. He loses his innocence about all that he considers decent and is ready to do anything for revenge but then he discovers that Camilla is alive. He changes again and now all he wants is to rescue his love while destroying his enemy in the process. Will he?
Reading the book was a revelation. I always thought I knew what freedom was and then began to wonder if I really knew while reading this book. It is amazing how we are all slaves and free at the same time when we think about it. Is the world really free from slavery now? Are we truly free or is our freedom just an illusion while we remain slaves in the hands of the system that controls us? Is selling and buying humans really off the table in this century when you compare it to the years of slave trade? Sure, most of us are not bound physically and dragged out to work in return for three meals a day and a roof over our head but has the system truly changes ?
The writing is like picturesque and adventurous like any Wilbur Smith novel with heroes. I would recommend everyone to read this.
To buy the book Click here.
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