REBEL

Love and longing in Reconstruction-era New Orleans.

It’s 1867, and Valinda Lacy has traveled from New York to
Louisiana to teach former slaves. After a series of misfortunes—the barn she’s
using as a schoolroom is overrun by vagrants, she’s assaulted by soldiers, and
her landlady throws her out onto the street—Val is welcomed into the LeVeq
family. Jenkins fans may remember the name LeVeq from an earlier trilogy
(Captured, 2009, etc.). Now, the author returns to New Orleans to launch
her Women Who Dare series. Val is a winning heroine, and Capt. Drake LeVeq is
an excellent match. He admires her sense of independence, she respects his
kindness and generosity, and—of course—they are both wildly attracted to each
other. The evolution of their romance has an organic flow. Jenkins doesn’t
create elaborate contrivances to keep her characters apart. Val has been raised
to expect neither love nor passion. Even when Drake introduces her to pleasure
she’s never imagined, she’s reluctant to give away her freedom. For his part,
Drake is wounded that she doesn’t immediately return his affections when he
makes his devotion to her known. As Jenkins’ readers will expect, the love
story is interwoven with a great deal of historical detail. She offers a vivid
portrait of life during Reconstruction, and New Orleans is revealed as the
unique place it is. There is colorism and classism and tension between old
Creole families and former slaves, but there is also a great deal of
opportunity for ambitious women. This is a huge part of the city’s appeal for
Val—this, and the amazing food. So often, stories drawn from the African-American
past deal largely with struggle, and Jenkins does not shy away from depictions
of injustice and violence. But she also gives us characters who are able to
thrive and love and find their ways to happy endings.

A satisfying start to a new historical series from one of
romance’s finest writers.