Review: A Keeper
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 15, 2013
Review Savage Destiny ****Set against the backdrop of the mid-seventeen hundreds, while the British and the Virginians fight the French and the Indian tribes allied with them, Phoebe Conn has woven a fascinating tale of the Barclay family of Williamsburg, Virginia. Elliot and Byron Barclay bring home Hunter, an Indian scout employed by the Virginians. Alanna, a cousin raised by the family after her own parents and siblings were murdered by a vicious northern tribe, is terrified to see an Indian in her aunt and uncle's home. Not so Melissa, the Barclay's flirtations daughter, who makes a grave error in judgment and tempts Hunter, who falls for her. When their brief affair leads to pregnancy, Melissa panics and marries a British Army Captain, hoping to pass off the child as his. That hope fails when the babe is born as dark as his father.The only members of the Barclay family who acknowledge the newborn are Alanna and Elliot, who feel Hunter should know of his fatherhood. When attempts to contact him by letter fail to bring him to meet his son, the two cousins set out for New York state and find the man. To her surprise, Alanna finds herself as captivated by Hunter as was her cousin Melissa, whom Hunter now despises to the point he has chosen not to acknowledge his son any more than the other side of the baby's immediate family. Now, desperately in love with Hunter, and deeply loving Christian, the infant she has watched grow from day one, she wants both him and Hunter, but until he can agree to accept his child, to forgive and forget past slights and insults, she fears her longings will never be met and that she is destined to be denied the real family she longs to create with Hunter and Christian.Be prepared for ferocious battles with plenty of blood and death on both sides, for love, laughter and tears as you wend your way through this complex story filled with many different characters, all of whom have contrasting and conflicting personalities, but who also blend into an amalgam that highlights the life and times of the historical period.