Author: Barbara

Avid reader/reviewer of historical romance and historical mysteries.

Rags of Time by Michael Ward

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Historical Mystery, Jacobean/Stuart Era (1603-1714)Leave a comment

rags of time (1) finalSeries: Thomas Tallant Mysteries #1
Publication Date: (Original 7/9/19 – Re-Release soon)
*** 3.5 Stars ***

Historical mysteries are my favorite and the book-blurb sounded very interesting, so I was happy to get the opportunity to read it. I rarely read a book that takes place during this period – 1639-1640 – and those I have read have always been from Scotland’s side. Reading from the English perspective was quite interesting. The times were turbulent with the lead up to the English Civil War that would begin in 1642. The tensions between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians were moving into more strident and violent territory. The Puritans were fighting the changes in the church and there were riots everywhere. Poor Thomas Tallant chose this time to return to England from two years away and was immediately embroiled in the death of a fellow merchant. Things were definitely in the realm of mob rule and Thomas and his family were in mortal danger.

The prologue shows the murder of wealthy wool merchant Sir Joseph Venell – and a very strange murder it was. The man, Mr. Robert Petty, who is investigating the case more or less demands that Thomas look at the wounds and the scene to see if it could have been done by Peregrine Falcons. Thomas is bewildered because, while he has had exposure to hunting falcons, he doesn’t have any and assures the investigator that falcons couldn’t attack in that manner. The investigation goes on – more strange deaths occur – and Thomas is more and more under suspicion. The magistrate is determined to convict him, but the investigator is a bit more circumspect. As time goes along (over a year) they try to bring Sir Ralph Tallant, Thomas’s father, into the crimes. Luckily Tom has his best friend Edmund Dalloway to save him time and again.

Thomas also meets the lovely Elizabeth Seymour and is very attracted to her. Over the course of the year, they draw closer and closer. Elizabeth is a very smart lady who studies astronomy, mathematics, etc. and loves solving puzzles. That is a good thing because she’s going to need all of those skills to help save Thomas.

While I enjoyed the story, it was a very, very busy one. It definitely isn’t fast-paced and frankly, I didn’t care for most of the people who populated the pages. I really liked Thomas’s mother and I enjoyed Elizabeth’s intellect. I’m sure I was supposed to like and respect Sir Ralph, but I didn’t care for him. He seemed to support his radical son, Peter, in whatever he did, but he was always on Thomas’s case telling him how impulsive he was. To my view, the things Thomas did were all he could do in that situation and it wasn’t fair for his father to chastise him. I didn’t see Thomas as an investigator at all. He just floated along on the surface and let things happen to him and when they did, he let someone else save him – until Elizabeth finally handed him the solution on a silver platter.  Perhaps Thomas will take a more hands-on approach to future investigations in the series.

I did enjoy reading the story because it was from a period about which I rarely read. The author conveys the tensions and dangers very well. Like the US Civil War, it was brother against brother – friend against friend – and never knowing who was on which side or who you could trust. It will be interesting to see this author’s second book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby by Vanessa Riley

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Regency Era (1811-1820)2 Comments

A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby (Rogues and Remarkable Women, #1)Barbara’s rating: 3.5/4 of 5 stars

Series: Rogues and remarkable Women #1
Publication Date: 6/30/20
/Number of Pages: 320

This was my first book by this author and it was a very enjoyable read. The storyline was unique for the Regency period and it was well presented. One unusual thing in the story’s presentation was that it alternated between first and third person which may bother some readers, but not others. While this wasn’t an unusually long book, I felt as if it took me a long time to read it – even though it didn’t. I’m not sure why that was – just me I guess. The story moved along at a good clip and it was well-plotted, but I did think the villain was a bit of a fizzle. While there was both a romance and a villain, I did feel that they were subservient to the story the author wanted to tell – which was the treatment and lack of acceptance of people of color during the Regency period.

Busick Strathmore, Duke of Repington, was severely wounded and lost a limb at the battle of Badajoz. He was Wellington’s right-hand-man and dearly wants to get back to the battlefield. I did come to like Busick, but it didn’t come easily. I think that was mostly because he seemed to be a cardboard caricature of a dedicated military man. I loved his determination to care for and protect his new ward, Lionel Jordan, who is the son of his much-loved cousin, Colin.

Patience Jordan was a lovely character and I admired her courage and loving heart. I liked her as soon as she graced the page. Just after the death of her mother, she fell madly in love with Colin Jordan. Almost as soon as they married, they left her West Indies home, Demerara, and traveled to Colin’s home in England. Patience did all she could do to please Colin – she adopted English ways, she perfected her speech, but Colin always left her at home in the country while he lived mostly in London. He explained that he was doing it to protect her because as a Mulatto (or Blackamoor – I was never sure which) she would be ridiculed and not accepted.

When Colin committed suicide, his uncle, Markham, swooped in and took over. He put Patience in Bedlam and took over custody of Lionel. The story is about Patience doing whatever she had to do to gain custody of her son and to escape England. You’ll love how selfless, brave, and loving she is.

There wasn’t much time spent telling us exactly what The Widow’s Grace society is nor how it came to be. We are to just accept that it exists and that they found and rescued these two ladies from Bedlam. I really wish that there was more focus on who Patience was as a person rather than what she was. I understand that the author wanted to focus on the story as a person of color, but that isn’t all she was. I wanted to get to know and like her for who she was, and there was some of that – just not enough to suit me.

We got to meet the featured characters of the next book and I liked both of them. They are both mixed-race as well and are struggling to find acceptance within London society. Since I liked both characters in this book, I’ll give the next one a read as well.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.