Review: Suspenseful Historical Fantasy!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 23, 2014
REVIEW:It’s been a while since I’ve been easily sucked into a historical setting novel, but the magic, romance and intense pace had me hooked right from the start. This was Edgren’s debut novel and I’m so hoping the first in a series.Goddess Born follows Selah Kilbrid who lives in a small Quaker community in 1730 Pennsylvania. She has been living with a secret that has been in her family for many generation, she is a direct descendent of the Goddess Brigid. She is the healer in her community, but no one knows that she can actual heal wounds and sickness with her gift. But everything changes after the threat of a horrible minister, who says she must marry him or he’ll accuse her of witchcraft. Luckily her second cousin is coming to marry her, per her dying fathers request. She sadly learns of her cousin death on his voyage to her, making Selah desperate enough to have a servant, named Henry, pose as her husband and late cousin. Together they keep their secret until Henry can back off the horrible Nathan and protect Selah from being accused. But someone is trying to expose her and she fears that Henry with leave her too if he finds out the truth.Selah is a fiery but sweet young woman, who has only done what any healer would do…help people. She has been a healer since her mothers passing, but is now worried she may be forced to marry a hateful man. Her journey takes her in many directions; she isn’t sure what her fate may be with the distraction of Henry and her attraction towards him. Plus her gift may be revealed to a community who might not be as accepting. I loved the idea of her heritage, I’m not familiar with Celtic myths but it fascinated me to see how great her power was. It was also interesting to see how someone during that time dealt with being accused; it was a serious offense then. My only issue was that if she was being accused, she shouldn’t of been wandering obviously into the wood so much, or at least tell Henry. I would have been super careful not to get caught.Henry is a mystery at the beginning; it was obvious of the attraction between him and Selah. He was a strong and very intelligent person, who has a knack for protecting his new “wife”. I liked how he just fit with Selah, that their relationship was sweet and paced nicely without being forceful. I also adored him more because of how he handled the evil Nathan who is trying so hard to blackmail Selah. But Henry chewed him out nicely. In the end I was super surprised about Henry’s background and am hoping for a continuation story about what this major secret with reveal.Overall this was a fantastically written debut, characters were strongly developed, as well as the plot was perfectly paced and full of twists that caught me by surprise. The best part beside the cute and clean romance were the villains; I was always guessing and so shocked about who the culprit was. I look forward to more writing from Edgren and hoping that she continues this series.RECOMMENDATION:This is a young adult novel, with mystery, fantasy and clean romance all bundled together. Fans of The Sweet Trilogy by Wendy Higgins and the Covenant series by Jennifer Armentrout will love Goddess born by Kari Edgren.