Blessings on Fran Lewis for this lovely review of Her Dear & Loving Husband. Hey, it got a rating of Five Diet Cola Cans Filled with Professor James Wentworth’s Favorite Brew! How can you beat that?
Her Dear and Loving Husband
Author: Meredith Allard
Reviewed by Fran Lewis
Close your eyes. What do you see? Do you see trees, the sunset, flowers, and the events of your day? Keep them close and imagine seeing images so terrifying, so horrific you are not sure whether you are imagining them or reliving events from your past. What would happen if your present life were linked to events that happened in the past? What would happen if you were actually a victim of one of the most tragic events in American History? In 1692 the Salem witch hysteria began. The accusations of witchcraft, the arrests, and the executions were an extreme expression of deeply felt moral divisions.
Every night when Sarah Alexander closes her eyes she has visions that would terrify anyone. Picturing herself in prison, on trial and accused of being a witch she relieves the events not realizing that what she sees just might be true.
Sarah works in a college library. Meeting Jennifer and her friends will forever change her life or possibly renew her old one without knowing it. James Wentworth is a professor at the college where she works. James has a secret past that he wants to share with Sarah but hesitates. James lost his wife Elizabeth many years ago. Well, how about in the 1600’s during the Salem witch trials. James is 300 years old and does not look a day over 30. Just how does he get away with this and what is his story remains to be revealed.
The Puritans from England came to live in Massachusetts escaping religious persecution in England. These people had a strict moral code that they lived by and old -fashioned religious beliefs. Anyone that deviated or was different was accused of being a witch. Between the years of 1690-1692 the hysteria began. Many young girls became enamored with an Indian slave named Tituba who told stories of natural magic and island culture. When some girls became afflicted and called witches they were arrested and place in jail accused of being in league with Satan. Here is where our story really begins as we meet and get to know Professor James Wentworth, Timothy and many others who have a hidden secret that would rock the inner core of those he works with, his students and many others if the truth came out.
As you read the story the author brilliantly flashes between the past and the present as Elizabeth tells her story from start to finish. Her wedding to James, her fear of giving birth during this difficult time and the knowledge that some of her close friends were arrested.
Would you want to be immortal if it meant you could not stay in one place very long and you could not share your life with anyone different from you? How would you deal with living forever? One reporter named Hempel is out to find out the truth about James. What his secret is and what will happen if and when he shares it with Sarah will change everything for both of them.
Instantly drawn to each other almost like a magnet whose pull is so great the magnetic pull so great the objects will never separate. Imagine that kind of pull between two people that are instantly pulled together. One who feels the pull right away and the other trying to figure out why? Can you hear Elizabeth’s voice as Sarah recounts her dreams?
Each event in the present is linked to one in the past. As the author relates Elizabeth’s trials, fears and hopes that she won’t be next. Recounting her friend’s hanging and expressing her true inner fears allows the reader to experience almost first hand the unfairness, the prejudice and injustices inflicted on so many innocent women while those that really were demons or witches went roamed freely. Bringing to the present we realize that Hempel is a witch hunter who wants to know too much about James. How will he deal with this and how will he rid the world of this man still remains to be seen.
As Hempel’s article comes out hunting for the truth about vampires living in Salem and witches too. Sarah’s dreams haunt her day and night as we hear Elizabeth’s voice coming through. Faced with many questions, remembering a past she did not know she had, reliving the witch trials as if they were today, Sarah makes a hard and fast decision that would change the course of her life forever. Would you want to go back in time and find out if you were the reincarnation of someone else? Would you want to relive the past in order to be able to understand your present?
Take a trip back in time with Sarah as Martha leads her on a journey that would transform her every being and link her tightly with James. But, what will that mean for her and does he accept her as Sarah or Elizabeth? The Puritans tortured, hanged and abused those they thought were witches or possessed with demons. The Puritans did not heed dissent and the trials were not fair. The judges were hardnosed. The end results tragic and those who pleaded guilty were better off than those who claimed they were innocent.
If Sarah decides to bond with James what would that mean for her? Would she be turned the same way he was? Can a human live with a vampire? Would you? Who are they really? What is their common link?
Author Meredith Allard brings to light a time period where tempers flared, injustice reigned, if you were different or did not adhere to the Puritan ways accused and hearsay, rumors and lies convicted the innocent. The history is real. The events so graphically and vividly described the reader becomes one with the story and so enveloped in the plot experiencing the events first hand. As Elizabeth recounts her time with James, her torment in her dank and dark cell, the reader can feel the pain; understand her fears and relives through Sarah’s eyes as recorded in her journal.
One man would be relentless and not give up until he learns the truth about James. One woman who would risk it all to make sure she never loses the happiness she has just found. Dared to come out during the day by one reporter hunting for vampires and thinking he might have found one, what will happen to James? Should he risk his life just to appease this reporter? What happens will surprise the reader? This is a story about friendship, loyalty, trust, understanding and definitely true love as two people born in two different centuries come back together and try and find happiness in the most unique and unusual way? But will they? Will James survive his encounter with Hempel or will he die from the sunlight? Will Sarah allow herself to be turned or remain mortal? How and why did James turn? Who turned him and why was he left to fend for himself? What happened 300 years ago that made him feel he was nothing more than demonic? What is their final fate? Read this outstanding novel by Meredith Allard and you decide: How far would you go to protect the man you love? How long would you wait for happiness? An ending that leaves the reader with many unanswered questions? What will happen to Sarah and James? Only the author knows for sure and of course: Geoffrey! Close your eyes: Can you see the past? What lies ahead for you might be what happened in the past? Let Martha read your past and find out if it is part of your present! Past life regression: Are you ready? Martha is ready!
This book gets Five Diet Cola Cans Filled with Professor James Wentworth’s Favorite Brew!
Reviewer: Fran Lewis