At First Sight — Parris Afton Bonds, Author Christmas comes to a difficult time of life for a lovely, brave young woman, a strong treacherous man, a struggling New World and plenty of folks in between.
Even though the throb of revolution hasn’t begun in 1649, the conflict between philosophies, doctrines, politics and grasping intentions adds to what seems to be a harsh life. There are adventurers, others who flee for their lives and those who would with ‘righteous indignation’ deliver those fearful ones up for ‘trial’. There is an amazing amount of ridiculous judgment on the day to day level. Christmas is definitely something to be done on the ‘sneak’ and with great subtlety, even in a seemingly distant forest location.
I could appreciate the solitude of the Virgin Queen Tavern away from the ‘maddening crowds’ even though danger lurked at every turn.
Through all of this, the author weaves a romance that seemed doomed by that hunted and hunter aspect. Justice and mercy win out to bloom into one of those ‘at first sight’ romances which dreams are made of. And in the face of criticism and possible legal punishment, Christmas comes and brings a promise of future Christmases.
The only thing I would have done differently would be to have more…there is so much story to be pressed into a novella! Using a different slice of past time than you might expect in historical fiction, this book brings a little passion, little violence, profanity and is generally flinch-free. A good pleasure read from an author I’ve become ‘virtually’ acquainted with.
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