American Historical Romance – Rosepoint Publishing

Love in a Time of Hate by Matthew Langdon Cost – #BookReview – American Historical Romance

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

“A Voodoo ritual?” Emmett stared dumbly at her.
A young man from Maine fights for social equality in New Orleans after the Civil War while pursuing a murderer of prostitutes, becoming enmeshed in voodoo, and falling in love.

“Education is the tool that makes us all equal, whether we are Black, white, Indian, woman, or man,” Manon said.
Much like Louisiana’s famous gumbo, Love in A Time of Hate, is a spicy dish of varied ingredients. The main theme is the struggle for social equality between the whites, Blacks, and Creoles, but flavor is added with the subplots of politics, voodoo, murder, love, and hate.

And then came the Rebel scream, a sound Emmett had not heard since near the end of the Great War.
New Orleans becomes a literal battleground as carpetbaggers, scalawags, Creoles, and recently freed slaves fight against the entrenched southern plantation notion of white superiority.

His Review:

After the Civil War, New Orleans was a city rife with dissent. Young attractive women of color had very few opportunities for advancement other than a brothel or marriage. Inter-racial marriages were particularly disdained and frowned upon. Both of the participants in this union were subject to ridicule, potential hanging, or mutilation.

The Battle of New Orleans in 1812 gave African Americans the opportunity to earn their liberty or enhance their free status. Marriage with a white man was another way to gain a tenuous free status. The consequence was discrimination from both the white community and the African American community.

Emmett Collins has come down to New Orleans from Maine. He is there to enforce the Special Convention at the Mechanic’s Institute for Black Suffrage bylaws and establish order and acceptance of the currently emancipated black population. He is dismayed to see the power groups in the city spurn the law and continue the pre-war racist environment.

Emmett falls in love with and marries a lady of color. His standing in the community erodes as the rampant discrimination continues. At times in this tale he is literally taking his life in his hands as he walks these streets. Trying to uphold the rule of law is a very dangerous undertaking indeed.

Matt Cost has put together a very enlightening historical novel of the problems facing all people in New Orleans during that time. Marauding whites fired into crowds without regard to ethnic heritage. The contrast between the struggles of all citizens of the city are heart rending. The end result of this read is a greater understanding of the struggles of the colored community despite the war. 5 stars – CE Williams

Currently on pre-order. We’ve read a number of books by this author. He continues to grow into his writing and explore more serious genres. Our last read, Wolf Trap, received five stars from me as well. He also wrote several in his Goff Langdon Mystery series. We received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher that in no way influenced this review and these are the CE’s honest opinions.

Book Details:

Genre: American Historical Romance, Native American Literature, Serial Killer Thrillers
Publisher: Encircle Publications, LLC

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1645992349
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1645992349

ASIN: B093DPBJHZ
Print Length: 253 pages
Publication Date: August 25, 2021
Source: Author request
Title Links: Love in a Time of Hate [Amazon]
Barnes and Noble

The Author: Over the years, Cost has owned a video store, a mystery bookstore, and a gym. He has also taught history and coached just about every sport imaginable.

During those years, since age eight actually, the true passion has been writing. I Am Cuba: Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution (Encircle Publications, March, 2020) was his first traditionally published novel.

Mainely Power is the first of the Mainely Mystery trilogy featuring private detective Goff Langdon. This will be followed by Mainely Fear (coming in December, 2020), and Mainely Money (to be released in May, 2021).

Cost now lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his wife, Harper. There are four grown children: Brittany, Pearson, Miranda, and Ryan. A chocolate Lab and a basset hound round out the mix. He now spends his days at the computer, writing.

The Age of Witches: A Novel by Louisa Morgan – a #BookReview #TuesdayBookBlog

Historical Fantasy Fiction

Book Blurb:

In Gilded Age New York, a centuries-long clash between two magical families ignites when a young witch must choose between love and loyalty, power and ambition, in this magical novel by Louisa Morgan.
In 1692, Bridget Bishop was hanged as a witch. Two hundred years later, her legacy lives on in the scions of two very different lines: one dedicated to using their powers to heal and help women in need; the other, determined to grasp power for themselves by whatever means necessary.
This clash will play out in the fate of Annis, a young woman in Gilded Age New York who finds herself a pawn in the family struggle for supremacy. She’ll need to claim her own power to save herself-and resist succumbing to the darkness that threatens to overcome them all.

My Review:

Having descended from Bridget Byshop who was hanged in 1692 for being a witch, Harriet Bishop is still being very careful about her abilities beyond the herbal concoctions she creates to heal. She is one of two sisters from Bridget’s line. The sisters, however, did not choose the same path to magic–one chose healing and the other dark power to ruthlessly gain her desired outcome. Their grandmother Beryl tried her best to pass on the legacy, but Harriet and Frances grew up in different circumstances and Frances was determined she’d rise above the squalid memories of her childhood.

New York City during the Gilded Age was a magical community, thriving, discovering modern conveniences. Frances’s goal was to be accepted into the Four Hundred–the entitled old money rich of the city. Frances is an early Eliza Doolittle, willing to do anything to rise to the level of the successful, tasteful aristocracy. She would do that by forcing her seventeen-year-old step-daughter to marry into the nobility of England and arranges a trip with Annis to find a suitable prize. Annis Allington has her own ideas, however. She adores her thoroughbred stallion, Black Satin (Bits), and her goal is to create a fine bloodline of thoroughbreds. But back then, who would purchase on the “expertise” of a woman breeder. Annis has no ideas of marriage and certainly not to a stuffy British nobleman. She is determined that no one will tell her what she can or can’t do.

The narrative conjures visions of magic spells, amulets, cantrips, and herbal concoctions. The herbal blends are devised by mortar and pestle, each recipe’s ingredient carefully chosen for the desired outcome. The incantations are poetic.

While Annis would be considered the main character, there are four POV’s, that of Annis, Harriet, Frances, and later James. You can almost visualize Frances as the evil witch, complete with long and crooked nose and pointy hat. Harriet, always the peace-maker, soft-spoken carries the big stick, and wide-eyed novice Annis uncovering the new world of sorcery. Both the good and bad.

The author has done an admiral job of the verbiage, invoking so much knowledge to herbal ingredients and remedies that it doesn’t seem possible you could write with that much confidence and not be involved in the practice up to the eyeballs. The narrative follows Annis on her steadfast course to be true to herself. Harriet toils toward the empowerment of women–quietly but naturally–as a benevolent mentor and realizes she must intervene in Frances’ plan. Annis is young and idealistic, but wholly empathetic, and I loved the strong connection to her horse. James is an innocent pawn, naive, in a scheme gone mad and Frances…poor Frances will pay a heavy price for her dark plot.

“Witch should be a beautiful word, signifying wisdom and knowledge and discipline, but it isn’t used that way. It’s been made an insult, implying evil, causing fear. The word has been perverted.” –Harriet Bishop, 1890

The storyline wrestles with the effects of a maleficia gone awry, finding the path between the two young persons, and the struggle of good versus evil. When is two wrongs the better choice? And can it possibly be used to make right?

Why didn’t I go whole hog five stars is a quibble I had similar to the one I experienced with A Secret History of Witches (which I avidly followed with the exception of the story of Veronica during WWII). This time, I stumbled over the relationship of Annis to Harriet and Frances.

I received this digital download from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed that first book so much I couldn’t wait to tear into this ARC. The author writes with engaging authority, slipping the prose easily between tidbits of ancient technology and entertaining but subtle differences between American and British society. Totally recommended.

Book Details:

Genre: American Historical Romance, Historical Fantasy Fiction
Publisher: Redhook

ISBN-10:0316419540
ISBN-13:978-0316419543
ASIN: B07VZFWVYR

Print Length: 448 pages
Publication Date: Happy Release Day! April 7, 2020
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: The Age of Witches (Amazon)
Barnes and Noble
Kobo

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five of Five Stars

The Author: Louisa Morgan lives and writes and rambles with her familiar, Oscar the Border Terrier, on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. A musician and a yogini, she finds inspiration in the artistic environment where she makes her home.

Under the name Louise Marley, she has written a number of other historical fiction novels, as well as fantasy and science fiction. Please visit http://www.louisemarley.com for more information, and to learn more about Oscar!