Delighting in Your Company by Blair McDowell

Greetings!  Dead Memories by Angela Marsons is out today.  It is the tenth DI Kim Stone Crime Thriller.  They are wonderfully fast paced suspense novels.  When You Are Near by Tracie Peterson comes out on March 5.  It is the first book in the Brookstone Brides series. 

Delighting in Your Company is the latest novel by Blair McDowell.  Amalie Ansett has just gone through a rough divorce and was forced to sell her family home.  She is cleaning out her mother’s sewing room when Amalie comes across an unopened letter from Josephina Ansett from St. Clements Island.  Amalie contacts Josephina and arranges to visit.  Amalie is taken with the island and her newly found relation, Josephina.  One day Amalie notices a man dressed in old fashioned garb whistling as he walks along the beach and stops to chat with him.  Josephina shares the family history with Amalie who is surprised to discover that she looks just like a two hundred year old ancestor, Amalie Ansett Benstone who has an intriguing history.  Curious to know more about her forebearer, Amalie digs through the local historical society archives.  A slave ledger provides Amalie with a vivid dream and the discovery that Jonathan is a ghost.  Jonathan was to marry the original Amalie, but a terrible tragedy happened.  To help Jonathan, Amalie must go back in time to 1810.  Amalie will need to use what she has learned from the archives and Jonathan.  Is it possible for Amalie to change to past?

Delighting in Your Company in an intriguing paranormal romance.  The book begins with Amalia in Los Angeles and then travel with her to St. Clements Island.  The story fluctuates between the present and the past.  Jonathan’s story unfolds and then we have Amalia traveling back in time with him.  There was some repetition as Amalia traveled back to fix the past.  She had to learn from her mistakes (reminded me of a recent episode of The Flash).  I like Blair McDowell’s conversational writing style.  It has an ease to it that helped me to become immersed in the story.  The author did her research for this tale.  We get to experience life on this remote island in the early 1800s where sugar plantations thrived thanks to slave’s hard work (unfortunately).  Slaves were sold on the island and some owners did not treat them properly.  Women were also treated as property and they had few rights.  I like how we get to see the past from a modern woman’s perspective.  Delighting in Your Company held my attention as this emotive story played out.  I kept wanting to find out what would happen next.  I admit that I was not a fan of the descriptive steamy intimate scenes (they took the novel in a different direction).  Delighting in Your Company gets more stimulating as the story progresses.   I appreciated the author’s epilogue that wrapped up the various storylines.  I am giving Delighting in Your Company 4 out of 5 stars (I liked it).  Delighting in Your Company has romance, mystery, history, a ghost, time travel, tropical island, desire, and lovely characters.

Blair McDowell has also written Where Lemons Bloom, Romantic Road, The The Memory of Roses, and Fatal Charm.  Tomorrow I will be a part of the Celebrate Lit Tour featuring Ladies of Intrigue by Michelle Griep.  Three 19th Century romance novels in one book. I will be sharing my review and they are hosting a giveaway.  I hope you will join me.  Take care and Happy Reading!

Kris
The Avid Reader