I recently finished my NetGalley copy of Alison Weir's fabulous new novel JANE SEYMOUR: THE HAUNTED QUEEN. Wow, what a fantastic story. I've always thought of Jane Seymour as a mousy, quiet woman. A woman who was the antithesis of Anne Boleyn. The calm after the storm. Well, this book throws all my preconceived ideas out the window. I have no doubt she was the calm after the storm that was Anne Boleyn, but she was no shrinking violet, either. The Jane Seymour portrayed by Alison Weir (one of THE BEST historical novelist I've ever read), is a calm, but highly intelligent young woman. One who happened to catch the eye of Henry. The only woman who was able to give him the son and heir he required and craved. She was full of life and joy, but the title tells it all. She was haunted. There is an element of the supernatural in this book. She is haunted by a dark figure; she feels partly responsible for the death of ...
About Return to the Outer Banks House
Publication Date: December 10, 2014
Kill Devil Publishing
Formats: Ebook, Paperback
Genre: Historical Fiction/Romance
She was the spirited daughter of a North Carolina plantation owner, and he was a poor fisherman who she tutored on the porch of her family’s Nags Head cottage. When we last saw Abigail Sinclair and Ben Whimble at the close of The Outer Banks House, they’d overcome their differences in life stations and defied convention to begin their new life together.
But now it’s seven years later, and Return to the Outer Banks House finds the couple married and in hard times—riddled by poverty, miscarriages, and weakened family ties. The strong bonds that once held them together have eroded over time, and their marriage threatens to unravel, particularly when relationships from the past and ambitions for the future find their way into the mismatched couple’s present predicament.
Can their love survive? Or are the challenges they face insurmountable? Return to the Outer Banks House carries readers back to 1875 to answer these questions and explore the ebb and flow of a rocky marriage set against the enchanting North Carolina shoreline. Replete with history, intrigue, and plenty of maritime drama, it’s an evocative tale of struggle in the Reconstruction-era South.
Praise for Return to the Outer Banks House
“…Set between 1875 and ’76, Ducharme’s story—this being the sequel to The Outer Banks House (2010)—is about love and its many faces, from young and reckless to unrequited. Specifically, she explores the unlikely passion that forms between smart, affluent Abigail Sinclair and uneducated, penniless Benjamin Whimble. The people of this tightknit island community on the Outer Banks, off the coast of North Carolina, are connected by their collective poverty and abiding love for the sea. Outsiders are generally unwelcome…” – Kirkus Reviews
Buy Return to the Outer Banks House
About the Author
Diann was born in Indiana in 1971, but she spent the majority of her childhood in Newport News, Virginia. She majored in English literature at the University of Virginia, but she never wrote creatively until, after the birth of her second child in 2003, she sat down to write The Outer Banks House. She soon followed up with her second book, Chasing Eternity, and in 2015 the sequel to her first novel, Return to the Outer Banks House.
Diann has vacationed on the Outer Banks since the age of three. She even married her husband of 10 years, Sean Ducharme, in Duck, North Carolina, immediately after a stubborn Hurricane Bonnie churned through the Outer Banks. Conveniently, the family beach house in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina provided shelter while she conducted research for her historical fiction novels.
She has three beach-loving children and a border collie named Toby, who enjoys his sprints along the shore. The family lives in Manakin-Sabot, Virginia, counting down the months until summer.
For more information visit Diann Ducharme’s website. You can also follow Diann on her blog, Twitter, and Goodreads.
my thoughts
Unique. While I don't always expect a 'happily ever after' I was unprepared for the ending of this story. I enjoyed reading about Abby and Ben in THE OUTER BANKS HOUSE, and I was looking forward to reading about their wonderful life together. Well, things don't always go as planned. Abby and Ben face many trials throughout their married life. We also meet a new character, Eliza Dickens. I don't like her. Didn't like her from the first page. Makes it somewhat difficult to read the story when you increasingly dislike one of the main characters.
Without going into too much info and spoiling the ending, I must say this is a well written book. I had a mental image of each character and 'heard' each speak while reading this story. It is written from the viewpoint/narration of each of the main characters.
I think, while I found the ending tragic, each of the characters would have been happy with his/her decisions. As with the first novel, the descriptions of the Outer Banks are fabulous.
A perfect ending to Abby and Ben's story, and a perfect beach read.
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