Customer Reviews

Moonlight and Memories (Onyx)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Eavin O'Flannery grew up in her mother's boarding house. To escape the crude advances of bawdy patrons, Eavin disguised her heavenly body under ugly sack dresses. When the golden opportunity came, Eavin Marie O'Flannery married Dominic Dupre. She hoped for a safe sanctuary.

Their brief marriage was a failure -- sexually and spiritually. Now widowed, Eavin vows she will never be the outlet for another man's relief. Selectively, Eavin appeals to her late husband's family for shelter. The year is 1812 and Eavin leaves Baltimore and her miserable life.

In New Orleans, Nicolas Saint-Just, Dominic's brother-in-law meets Eavin at the wharf. Saint-Just owes the Louisiana plantation where Eavin will launch her virtuous survival.

But Patricia Rice's pen scratches in, and soon after Eavin arrives, Nicholas' wife dies in childbirth -- and Rice's romantic experience dawns . . .

Applying the backdrop of war and the threat of a British invasion, Rice writes a terrific, descriptive story. Her pen paints the sultry, steamy scenes of New Orleans in the early part of the nineteenth century. The author beautifully collects and frees her characters. Eavin is a tender Irish young woman with a wicked tongue. Her words are a joy to read. Nicolas Saint-Just is a dark French aristocrat, with a sinful disposition. His words are a thrill to read.

Yes, this is an intriguing dusky story, with one unmerciful drawback - the last fifty pages. Here it seemed as if the plot got away from the author. The zigzagging storyline became a hodgepodge of events. Good grief, what happened to the quiet, alluring activity of the sensual plantation?

Grace Atkinson, Ontario - Canada.

This is one of those "damaged people save each other by falling in love" books. I thought it was well done.

Eavin is sweet but has low expectations from life. She has been mauled by brutes in the past, including her stepfather, the men at her parents' boarding house, and her insensitive, immature first husband. Now all she wants is a home and whatever fragments of a family she can cobble together. A gloomy mansion, an orphaned niece and monstrous widower sound just about right to her.

Nicholas has been betrayed throughout his life, and also has low expectations of love and family life. He tolerates Eavin's presense because it is convenient. Her dowdy clothes and shy manners are not appealing to him. But circumstances bring her out of her shell, and over time he finds himself drawn to her. Eventually these two unhappy people find their own special bliss.

The historical setting was great fun. You've got to love the pirate Lefitte. And it is always satisfying to watch the British get chased out of New Orleans by Andrew Jackson and his fighting Kentuckians.

An enjoyable book.