Review: UNIQUE 1600s SALEM HISTORICAL ROMANCE WITH FLAMES
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 20, 2014
Witchcraft is afoot within Salem, with rumors, jealously, a black "Devil" house & 2 people who can't keep their hands off & clothes on one another!Lydia Colson is a woman with many secrets & lives in the Salem Village. She talks of a hubby who travels for work, helps with all the ladies functions & works as a midwife & doctor if needed. The truth is her abusive husband is dead by her own hands, so she keeps her head down within the Puritan community & lives her life alone.Henry Dunham is from a rich family, but he is on a mission to find his half brother for his mother, before she gets any sicker. Plus he has become disillusioned by the whole rich world & would love to live a simpler life. As he is traveling with his huge & misbehaving steed, Willard, the big boy gets spooked & now Henry is laying on the ground with his foot caught in the stir up.That is how these two lonely people meet, as Lydia calms Willard, untangles him & helps the injured Henry to her home to heal. When they get to her simple home, he knows she is lying about a husband, questions her & she confesses that he is dead. Lydia examines him, half unclothed, as the village busybody, Rebecca Mather, storms into her home! Henry listens to words like adultery & death, opens his mouth & claims to be her traveling husband. Lydia is shocked, but has no time to fix it because a young mother needs her help.Henry will not allow her reputation be ruined, so they talk about handfasting, he claims her as his wife & with hesitation, she claims him as her husband. They do have an amazing chemistry & Henry can't keep his hands, lips, teeth & his third leg away from her. In Salem there is "so called" witchcraft afoot & with a helpful gossiping & jealous wife, 4 spoiled sisters, Lydia riding Willard, the huge "Devil" horse, through the village, their decadent passions released, a revenge filled enemy from both their pasts & a mysterious stranger looking for Lydia to make their worlds explode with untruths. With all the false witchcraft accusations, will Lydia be safe? What will Henry be willing to lose for his Lydia? Can Lydia's past destroy her new love? Who will slap Rebecca Mather upside her head? Oh, PICK ME!This is my 1st Sarah Ballance book & it takes place in a world that I that loved to explore in my high school years. Salem was a town filled with bullies, greed, spoiled & scared children, racism & gossip galore, not so Christian to me. Ms. Ballance brought this world to life for me, with the Goody this & Goodman that & all the untruths flying around. Lydia was an abused woman, but she discovered her deep inner strength. Henry is a great rich boy hero with a heart for a simpler life & that takes a strong person to walk away from money for happiness. This may of been Salem, but even they had passions & desires & these two had the straw mattress in flames. Now the gossiping harpy, Rebecca, made me so mad that now I have dent in my Kindle, from pulling her head thru the screen to slap her hard! This my 1st 1600s American historical romance & I loved this unique world. Ms. Ballance showed the hateful side of Salem, but she also showed the warm friendships & the neighborhood of helpful hands that many historians forget. I also want to THANK her for bringing back my high school days & the many library memories! I left my 1800s reading COSMOS, find a Salem world of friends & rumors & DISCOVERED a new voice in romance that I enjoy! Ms. Balance gets a score of 4 fingers up & 7 toes & I can't wait for the next book.This book received for my honest review.