3 out of 4 stars
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Creole Moon, The Betrayal is a supernatural novel written by S. T. Holmes.
Told in the third person perspective, the book is about Sgt. George Francis Genois, an officer of the Confederate Army. Set in Louisiana sometime in 1800s, the story begins at the eve of Gerald’s wedding. Gerald is George’s twin brother who marries his beloved Annabel. Unlike Gerald, George has a strong aversion to the idea of marriage. On Gerald’s wedding day, George stealthily leaves the festive celebration and ends up in town where he finds himself under a spell. The spell makes him fall in love with Jewella, half-sister to his childhood friend Robert. Overjoyed to see his friend again after a long time, Robert invites George to dinner. The dinner ends up with George asking for Jewella’s hand in marriage. Aware that he is under a strong love spell, otherwise he would not get himself in such a situation, George tries to put things right by talking to Jewella alone, but every time they are together, George hears imaginary drum beats and he ends up courting Jewella even more passionately. Before the wedding took place, however, Jewella is seized by authorities for subversive activities. George looks for anyone who can help Jewella. Finding none, he tries to solicit the help of Mamuska, the Charmer, and his wife Ophelia, who live by the swamp.
The book started off as very interesting and remained so until the last page. The author had a way with words that made the story suspenseful, creepy and at times, scary. The descriptions of the setting, whether the swamp or the city, were vivid and eerie.
However, though the book had a very interesting plot, the multiple subplots made the story somehow convoluted. Moreover, back stories on the characters were not provided. I also believe that George’s was the only developed character. Even Jewella, who I consider to be a main protagonist since she was George’s love interest, was not fully developed nor was a back story on her lineage supplied.
Furthermore, I noticed several errors throughout the entire book like using ‘guess’ instead of ‘guest’, ‘mean instead of men’ and ‘dinning instead of dinner’, among others. Those errors, on one hand, can be easily corrected. The back stories, on the other hand, may (or may not) be provided on the next book, Creole Moon, Book of Roots. The fact that this book is part of a series was mentioned at the very end of the book and since there was no reference to prior events, I assume this book, Creole Moon, The Betrayal, is the first in the series.
I give this book the rating of 3 out of 4 stars. Though I enjoyed reading the book and it kept me absorbed the whole time I was reading it, I would still prefer it if the author included back stories on the characters especially on Jewella since she played a very important role not just in George’s but also in the Charmer’s life. Still, this is a very interesting and enjoyable book and I recommend it to fans of supernatural and suspense novels.
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Creole Moon The Betrayal
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