Desperate Reflections (Fury Falls Inn)
Alabama in 1821 is still rustic and not far removed from the complete wilderness which still encompasses most of the North American continent. The Fairhope family, proprietors of their bucolic Fury Falls Inn, are trying to transform their business into an elegant establishment in anticipation of the upcoming visit of a United States Senator. But with their mother recently deceased, there are other even more pressing and weird concerns for the family. For one thing, their father is off on a mission, and there are brothers who must be summoned home. On top of that, two strange and threatening aunts, their late mother’s sisters, decide to pay a visit with an intent to entice Cassie Fairhope to come away with them to form the third in a perfect trinity of immense witchcraft powers. Even though she’s a ghost, Cassie’s mother, Mercy, is endeavoring to prevent this accumulation of bad-intentioned witchcraft, along with some of the Fairhope brothers and friends.
This book is 3rd in a six-book series. It can best be described as a supernatural early-American romance. Indeed, it is a mega-romance which also includes brotherly and sisterly love and abiding friendship among friends, family members and co-workers. But there is a killer on the loose. It seems everyone is a witch of some type, but some don’t even know it. The dialogue occasionally seems glib for the time, and there are echoes of Tolkien in a magic ring that “can cause great damage.” But I very much liked the descriptions of men and women’s fashions of the time and sumptuous descriptions of early 19th-century cooking. Forebodings and warnings add even more spicy suspense, but since it’s part of a longer series, there is no ultimate resolution here. Recommended for fans of romance and fantasy.
