Blurb:
By virtue of
her profession as a midwife, Tabitha Eckles is the keeper of many secrets: the
names of fathers of illegitimate children, the level of love and harmony within
many a marriage, and now the identity of a man who may have caused his wife's
death. Dominick Cherrett is a man with his own secret to keep: namely, what he,
a British nobleman, is doing on American soil working as a bondsman in the home
of Mayor Kendall, a Southern gentleman with his eye on a higher office. By
chance one morning before the dawn has broken, Tabitha and Dominick cross paths
on a misty beachhead, leading them on a twisted path through kidnappings, death
threats, public disgrace, and…love? Can Tabitha trust Dominick? What might he
be hiding? And can either of them find true love in a world that seems set
against them? With stirring writing that puts readers directly into the story,
Lady in the Mist expertly explores themes of identity, misperception, and
love's discovery.
Donna's Review:
Lately,
I have a knack for picking up an author’s first book. It’s not on purpose, I
assure you. It’s just a quirk of fate.
Lady in the Mist is the first work of
Laurie Alice Eakes, and it is the first of her trilogy titled The Midwives.
Overall,
the book was a likeable read. The characters of Tabitha Eckles and Dominick
Cherrett are endearing. I liked the fact that while Tabitha really wanted to
marry and have children, she was devoted to midwifery and her role in the
community. I liked the time period, just prior to the War of 1812. The
plot pacing is well done and moves along.
However,
the whole of it, characters, plotting, and prose, was not well focused. At
times I had to reread to understand not only what a character said, but where
the plot was going. While the external goals are clear, the characters seem to
have several issues internally they are dealing with. Tightening these elements
by focusing on one or two specific goals would have made the book not only more
enjoyable but would have driven the plotting forward in a clearer way.
I
also had trouble picturing Dominick Cherrett as an Englishman. The name
sounded French to me, and I am pretty sure the English, after the Reformation,
did not name their boys Dominick as it smacks of Catholicism. There was also
not enough build up to the relationship between Dominick and Tabitha. All of a
sudden, Dominick is in love with Tabitha. She seems to love him from the
start.
This
is a Christian historical romance, so readers should be aware of that. At
times, the religious angle was lengthy and the ideas, again, were not clear.
Long internal dialogues in fiction between a character and God in which
they suddenly have an ephiphany of sorts almost always turn me off. It is not
realistic except in a few cases. No specific church or denomination was
ever mentioned. Dominick, of course, would have been Anglican having been an
Englishmen, but nothing was ever mentioned of Tabitha’s church denomination.
This would have created a huge conflict and should have been explored, or at
the very least, explained as being a non-issue. If she was Episcoplian (the
American counterpart by this point in time of Anglicanism), that should have
been mentioned as well.
I
did, very much, like the ending, especially the way in which the story issues
were finally resolved.
Three Roses for this one, because there is enough good going on to encourage me to
pick up another book in the series, or even another by Eakes.
Length: 416 Pages
Prices:
Print: $12.41
Digital: $5.99
Thanks
for visiting—Rose, Julie, Donna and Rochelle
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