My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I am so glad that I accepted this blog tour for Tainted Harvest By E. Denise Billups.

I had earlier read Keepers Of The Gate by the same author and knew that I was definitely going for a journey with this. Tainted Harvest is of course a journey but one that evokes all kinds of emotional upheaval.

E. Denise Billups writes exceptionally well in bringing the Magnolia Sunrise at Natchez alive, brimming with equal parts beauty and the ugly. While it is Simone whose travel assignment takes us to Natchez, it is Delphine who then captures our heart and shreds it to pieces. As the plight of the slaves during the 1860s comes to light, the readers are made to cry and hope along with Delphine as she fights against fate to escape the drudgery of her life. The heartbreaking tale of her struggles has been captured so wonderfully by the author that for a time, the words do become blurred with the sheen of tears in the reader’s eyes especially knowing that her pain is that of a young girl, not even 15 yrs old. To endure the trauma that is being heaped on her young shoulders, Delphine shows such incredible strength in carrying on and never letting the hope of a better life die.

Mixing up genres is not always easy but the author’s writing makes it feel so, the paranormal elements with a bit of gothic and historical details blended so perfectly to provide the reader with one delicious smoothie. Simone and Delphine are both characters that one can root for, even though Delphine’s story gets an ending in this book #1 of Simone Doucet Series, I can’t wait to see which part of the history we get to travel with Simone in the upcoming book in the series. There are some lovely threads that the author has opened up in the story with Simone, her psychic ability, her grief in losing her mother, and of course I would want that snippet of romance mentioned to develop wholly too.

Many thanks to BlackThorn Book Tours and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.

She escaped servitude for a worse fate. Now she wants everyone to know what happened.

 Travel writer Simone Doucet is searching for a meaningful life, but she hasn’t found a purpose yet. But after she accepts an assignment that takes her to Magnolia Sunrise – a historical bed-and-breakfast on the bluffs of Natchez, Mississippi – strange events begin to take place.

 Frightful images of a young slave girl, Delphine, haunt her nights. The first night at the B&B, Simone is transported to 1863, antebellum Natchez. Through spectral eyes, Simone sees Delphine’s history; the horrors she witnessed and was subjected to.  Delphine wants everyone to know what happened to her, and she won’t stop haunting Simone until she tells her story. But why has Delphine chosen Simone, and will this awakening bring new purpose to her life, or open up more untold mysteries to be discovered?

This post contains affiliate links for products and services I recommend. If you make a purchase through those links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

GOODREADS

This review is published in my blog Rain’n’Books, ##Goodreads, ##Amazon India, ##Book Bub, ##Medium.com, ##Facebook, ##Twitter.

View all my reviews