Thorns of Eden

De: Diana Ballew

Narrado por: Reagan Boggs

Duración: 9 h y 43 m

Resumen del Editor

Major Rayce Hampton is the Confederacy’s final hope to turn the tide of war. Haunted by heartache of generations past, love is the last thing he has on his mind when he meets Eden Blair. The emerald-eyed beauty is as headstrong as she is tempting, but Rayce must keep his wits - and his secrets - as he executes his dangerous undercover mission to save the South.

Accomplished nurse Eden Blair has secrets, too, only she doesn’t know about them yet. Stung by her fiancé’s betrayal, she has no reason to trust the scandalous Major Hampton. But as Yankee troops close in, Eden must take refuge in the major’s mysterious ancestral home, leading her into the shadowy corners of deceit and desire, where endless love lurks within every soft whisper.

©2015 Diana Ballew (P)2019 Diana Ballew

I remember this book.

Read this back when I was a young teen, Can't believe I found it in on audible. Nice to experience the book again.

:)

This was an interesting, entertaining, and steamy story about love, loss, survival, tolerance, trust, and hope. As a Yankee, I can't vouch for the accents, but they seemed believable to me.

I listened to it at 2x speed.

I was given an ARC copy of this audiobook, but that neither affected my opinion nor my review.

An enjoyable, passionate listen

I will start out by saying this book is not my usual go-to romance; I'm more of a Regency or Victorian era listener. That said, I enjoyed this book more than I initially expected to - the story was suspenseful and didn't drag, I cared about the characters of Eden and Rayce, and was rooting for their HEA! At the end I was surprised and saddened that the book was over! I wanted to stay with the characters a little longer.

The narrator's voice is soothing and easy on the ears, even though going into a story set against the Civil War I was afraid at first this would sound too much like the dated, cringe-worthy dialogue in "Gone With the Wind" – Southern accents for all the characters were well-executed and Reagan Boggs' voice is a great match for the story. I will give this a re-listen for sure... her performance was top-notch and added to the story, making it all the more enjoyable.

I definitely recommend this title! Diana Ballew has crafted a passionate, enemies-to-lovers tale that I thoroughly enjoyed. A+ to both author and narrator.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

The steam comes right off the pages!

As always, I have to state that this book was given to me for free in exchange for a review.
I always like to state that this does not impact my review or my opinion of the book. My reviews are honest and my own opinion of the story, performance, and overall thoughts on the book.

RAWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.....

The lush and richly textured setting, a spunky, romantic heroine, and a dashing, daring hero are woven together within the pages of Thorns of Eden by Diana Ballew.

The romance between Eden and Rayce begins with Rayce choosing Eden as his next affair. Our courageous heroine, though wounded and longing for love and romance, sets him in his place. Thrown together again because of a family connection, he pursues, she resists - until she realizes she can't live without him. He makes her feel alive and safe and secure in her recently turned upside-down world. Drawn to Eden's bold spirit as he never had been before, Rayce soon realizes that he wants her for more than one night, he wants her for a lifetime.

The author's descriptions drew me back to the time when our country was split in two by war, making me feel like I was actually there, an observer to the action. The story has everything a romance reader could wish for - great characters, a touching romance, and sizzling love scenes. The book is a lively and entertaining read, keeping me enthralled from start to finish. I look forward to reading more from this author.

I am a virgin romance novel reader. It has never been my genre of choice but when a friend recommended Thorns of Eden, I gave it a chance. Let me tell you, I could not put this one down. I am a now a bonafide historical romance fan and cannot wait to read the next novel by Diana Ballew. Her characters are likable and engaging and the witty flirtations between the spirited Eden and dashing Rayce are fun and entertaining to read. I love how Ballew crafted the character of Ann, a snarky and insecure woman who is oh so fun to hate!

As a southerner, I enjoyed the lush descriptions of life in the south. The stately Manor with the sweeping lawn, the molasses cakes, the "aroma of fresh mint, rosemary, and lavender" as well as the sounds of "melodic birds" all made my senses feel like I was actually experiencing the South during that time period. The harsh reality of the Civil war provided a dramatic background to the growing love story.

And the love scenes, oh Lord, if I knew what the vapors were, I would probably be having them after reading those scenes. Dare I say they are passionate and sizzling!!!

This book captivated me from the first page. From the start, Ms. Ballew's lush description of Virginia during the Civil War placed me squarely in the time period, and I could vividly imagine the events transpiring as they did.

Loved it

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review. I loved this story. The characters were well written with a very interesting story line. The description of Richmond in the Civil War 1862 was a very well done.

Highly problematic elements

Amanda Lyn here again from your favorite romance audiobook review source, Sounds Like Romance.

I'm going to have to tackle the performance first on this one because I've got a lot more to say about the story, most of it not good.

Reagan Boggs has a lovely southern drawl that is pleasant to listen to and she adds in little sighs, yawns, and laughter to the dialogue to amp up the delivery of the characters' actions and personalities. She seemed to struggle with maintaining consistency among the female character voices and lacked truly unique intonations for most of the cast but, overall, provided a lovely listening experience.

Regarding the story, I will preface this by saying that Ballew writes lyrically and beautifully, but I was unable to overcome the HIGHLY problematic elements in this story.

***

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD - TW FOR TOPICS OF SLAVERY AND CHILD RAPE

***

We have a heroine who, despite her sheltered life, never takes the initiative to educate herself about the intricacies of why the South and the North have gone to war, and is completely ignorant about the problems with slavery. Throughout the book she refers to her family slaves as "family" and yet never comes fully around to free them or pay them wages. They also don't move with her to her temporary housing, making the reader wonder why, if she considers them family, she would leave them behind.

The hero in the story is mildly progressive, having freed his slaves and paying them wages, aware that a large part of the war is over the issue of slavery. However, as a spy for the Rebel army at one point in the book, he blames the North for being the cause for the South having slaves and it was such a cop-out for the South not taking responsibility for not only using slavery but abusing it that it turned my stomach.

Perhaps about midway through the book, we learn that the hero has a half-sister who is Black and is living in hiding in his house, posing as a servant, who is also presented as odd for her cultural religious practices. Despite learning this fact, the heroine continues to treat her as a servant despite knowing her connection, further removing the heroine from any sort of relatable plane for me.

To cap things off with content that would have made me hurl the book against the wall if it weren't digital, we have a character who was sent away from the South and ended up as a Union soldier. The reason for him being sent away? He raped a 14/15 year old slave girl. This character suffered no real repercussions and, later, was even given the opportunity to enlist with the Rebels after deserting his post in the Union army. This unforgivable portrayal of violence against a black CHILD resulted in this white man initially being sent away and, later, the heroine heals him when he's sick and then, along with the hero, lets him escape. When the man is on his death bed, the heroine is tries to comfort him and mourns his loss when he passes. The unacceptable nature of how this played out--trying to portray a f*cking rapist as sympathetic--was the last straw for me.

The author had so many opportunities to not rely on slave stereotypes, to have her heroine take some initiative to change the ways she thought about slavery, to engage in ongoing discussion about how it was something that had to change, and didn't. Instead, she focused on trying to make the Rebel army a sympathetic cause and how the push-pull of the romantic relationship blurred the edges of doing the right thing.

I sincerely doubt this author utilized Black sensitivity readers for this title and it shows. I cannot recommend it to anyone.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.