REVIEW:
Omnific Publishing|Trade
Paperback|ISBN: 978-1-936305-46-9
Twenty-five-year-old
Coral Sinclair was aboard a cruise ship crossing the Indian Ocean on her way to
Kenya. Sadly, her father, Walter Sinclair
has passed away and she is now returning home to her inheritance which is the
plantation she had once called her childhood home. The plantation is called, Mpingo which means ‘The
Tree of Music’ in Swahili. Coral’s
family had originally been expatriate settlers there.
Coral was only
nine-years-old when she’d left the plantation due to her parent’s divorce. It was no secret that Walter not only loved
his wife, Angela but many other men’s wives as well. The most difficult part of the divorce for,
Coral, other than missing her father, was attending an English school. After roaming the wide open plains of Kenya,
she felt cooped up and trapped in the school, and never got quite used to
it.
When, Coral was
sixteen her mother married a man named, Edward Ranleigh – a happy-go-lucky man
whom, Coral hated in the beginning. She
just could not imagine anyone ever taking her father’s place especially where
her mother was concerned. But, she
eventually came around after he taught her how to ride and sail.
The year after her
mother and Edward were married, they gave birth to a set of twins – Lavinia and
Thomas. This was another huge adjustment
for Coral to make. She wanted to move
back to Kenya but those plans were very quickly waylaid by her mother.
Coral is finally
home at the plantation and Aluna, her childhood caregiver is ever so happy to
see her, it had been years since they’d seen each other and their meeting again
was sweet. Coral also met someone else,
Rafe, a friend of her father’s. He was a
handsome, striking looking man with a bad reputation as being a womanizer. Aluna was constantly trying to instill in
Coral what a horrible man, Rafe was.
She, with her African superstitions full heartedly believed he was evil
and dangerous and that he would end up hurting, Coral badly. Aluna, told Coral: “You’re like a moth
attracted to a fire. Your wings will get
burned. He is an afiriti, a devil. He has cast a dua over you, and you will need
a kizee to free you. Believe me, my
little one, there are stories about him, many stories going among the people.”
Coral had grown up
her first ten years in Africa and the Africans had a sixth sense about people,
it was all part of their culture.
Therefore she could not dismiss so easily Aluna’s superstitions, and her
words to Coral had struck a chord. When
she thought deeply she realized that she really knew little about Rafe other
than his womanizing. Something in the
back of her mind told her there was “something about him – something primitive
and dangerous – warning her to retreat while there was still time.”
Hannah Fielding is
a wonderful storyteller and she drew me into the love relationship between
Coral and Rafe in no time making me regret having to remove my eyes from the
page for even a moment.
I so enjoyed the
descriptive prose throughout the novel.
I could picture in my mind’s eye clearly, the massive open plains, the
wild animals like the silver backed gorilla, the black and white rhino’s, the
antelope, black lion and other animals.
It was an exciting feeling to get lost in the wilds of Africa.
Burning Embers isn’t the type of novel
you simply read – it is the kind of book you devour! Once you’ve begun reading this you’re going
to find it impossible to put down. You
will totally and wholey lose yourself in Coral and Rafe’s world. You will root for these two very, very
special people to love each other and forgive each other’s shortcomings and
past histories. By the end of the story,
if you’re anything like me, you’ll be clutching and shredding Kleenex in your
hands.
Burning Embers is one of the most
beautiful and powerful love stories I’ve read in quite a while. Well-done!
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