Sandy M’s review of The Secrets She Carried by Barbara Davis
Contemporary Romance published by NAL Trade 1 Oct 13
I think it’s my new-found hobby of genealogy that heightened my curiosity when I read the blurb for this book, telling me I’d be in for a very delicious story. Connecting with your past, finding out the truth, discovering where and who you come from has a way of fascinating folks, who then become addicted to searching for more ancestors and even more ancestors. Our heroine, Leslie, comes to that point in this story, wanting to know more and more. Though her search is slightly different than what genealogists do, it still has the same impact.
Having been away from Peak Plantation in North Carolina for thirty years, Leslie is now forced to make an appearance for a clean break once and for all. It’s been a year since her estranged grandmother passed away, and now Leslie is informed by an attorney if she doesn’t get herself to the plantation, she’ll lose it all to someone else. Straightening her spine, she makes her way to the Peak, where memories and secrets, both good and bad, overtake her, especially those of her mother.
Jay Davenport is the who one was at Maggie’s side when she died, at her funeral, and who has kept the new vineyard going for the last year. With Leslie’s arrival, he’s not sure what’s going to happen, if all his dreams and hard work are about to take a nosedive. Their first few meetings don’t go well, and when Jay is made to see things from Leslie’s point of view, he knows they have to start over. Thus begins a new friendship that slowly develops into a love to last a lifetime, which is something that runs in Leslie’s family.
After agreeing to stay at the Peak and help out with the marketing of the new winery, Leslie finds a bit of peace with one part of her life. But when she stumbles across a lonely grave sitting high above the main house, with the beautiful inscription, I shall but love thee better after death, her need to know who’s buried there becomes her number-one obsession. So as she gets re-acquainted with her home, gets to know the new folks who now make up her life, and gets working on launching a new business, Leslie searches, investigates, interviews, and scours where she can to dig into the pasts of people who lived, loved, and died at Peak Plantation. Her family. A family she never wanted much to do with before, but now that’s all changing.
In between all of this, the reader is given their own glimpses into the past with intermittent chapters from Adele, who came to the Peak in the 1930s as a companion to the lady of the house, Susanne Gavin. This woman is a piece of work. She’s pregnant, and the hope is she’ll deliver a live child this time around. You can feel the tension between Susanne and Henry, her husband, who is a fair, hard-working man all those around town like and admire. Tasting Susanne’s bitterness and punishments, Adele sympathies lie with Henry, and she begins to try to make his home life just a little easier, and eventually love blossoms. When they say love is everything, love transcends time and other such sayings we all take for granted, in this book it’s all meant and felt to the bone, deep into the soul.
Little by little, Leslie and Jay, even when going through trying times of their own, discover exactly what happened to those at Peak all those years ago. It’s not easy going and though it’s a story full of love, it’s tragic as well. And the result Leslie and Jay end up with isn’t quite what everyone expects, especially Jay as he remembers his last days with Maggie. The genealogist in me agrees with Leslie, I want more information on the son they discover. Curiosity keeps the past and the future alive. Jay and Leslie work together very well, even when ironing out their differences. I like that so much in a hero and heroine; no big misunderstandings, just issues to resolve and a lot of work to do in any good relationship, and they definitely have one.
I highly recommend this read. Ms. Davis has a wonderful voice, creates characters with so much depth and a storyline that burrows into a reader in a number of ways. This is her debut book, she’s slammed it out of the park, and I will definitely be reading whatever she releases in the future.
Grade: A
Summary:
When a young woman returns to North Carolina after a thirty-year absence, she finds that the once grand tobacco plantation she called home holds more secrets than she ever imagined.
Though Peak Plantation has been in her family for generations, Leslie Nichols can’t wait to rid herself of the farm left to her by her estranged grandmother Maggie—and with it the disturbing memories of her mother’s death, her father’s disgrace, and her unhappy childhood. But Leslie isn’t the only one with a claim to Peak.
Jay Davenport, Peak’s reclusive caretaker, has his own reasons for holding onto the land bequeathed to him by Leslie’s grandmother. Before she died, Maggie hinted at a terrible secret surrounding Adele Laveau, a lady’s maid who came to Peak during the 1930s and died under mysterious circumstances. Jay is haunted by Maggie’s story, yet the truth eludes him—until Leslie uncovers a cryptically marked grave on the property.
As they delve into the mystery of Adele’s death, Leslie and Jay discover shocking secrets that extend deep into the roots of Leslie’s family tree—secrets that have the power to alter her life forever.
Read an excerpt.
