The Crimson Bloom

Georgia Gold #3

by Denise Weimer

With her husband Devereaux Rousseau now a captain commanding Savannah's elite Oglethorpe Light Infantry on the Civil War battlefields of Virginia, Carolyn Calhoun Rousseau must prove her own backbone as she operates the family's last functioning farm in the hills of Habersham County. She draws on the support of her best friend, Mahala Franklin, half-Cherokee granddaughter of a local inn owner. Mahala battles her own frustrations with Jack Randall, rival hotel owner and coastal shipping magnate. Jack's continued reluctance to commit threatens to drive Mahala into the arms of her Cherokee childhood sweetheart, Clay Fraser. Then, tragedy brings Mahala and Carolyn to Savannah just as Sherman advances on the city -- and forces everyone to confront their true feelings. Will Jack abandon his ship and its profits to the Yankees in Wilmington Harbor in order to guide them on a perilous wagon journey across Georgia, or will he abandon the woman he claims to love, but whom he now knows also has feelings for another? And even if Mahala reaches safety, could her discovery about her father's long-ago murder and missing gold prove far more dangerous than the war?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical

240 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2014

About the author

Denise Weimer writes historical and contemporary romance from her home in North Georgia and also serves as a freelance editor and the Acquisitions & Editorial Liaison for Wild Heart Books. A mother of two daughters, she always pauses for coffee, chocolate, and old houses.

Reviews

[Katrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

#MMDReading #MMDChallenge A Book In The Backlist Of A New Favorite Author

[Cindy Huff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engrossing

I was so invested in the story and the characters. I felt like I was there. I can't wait to read book #4.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series. You really get involved with the characters and feel like you are part of the story.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where I got the book: review copy provided by publisher. This review first appeared on the Historical Novel Society website.

The Crimson Bloom is the third in the Georgia Gold series. It primarily follows the fortunes of two women, Mahala Franklin and Carolyn Rousseau, during the Civil War years in Georgia. Both women are loved by two men: In Carolyn’s case she has married one of them, Devereaux, and his brother Dylan must make peace with her choice and also square his conscience as a pastor with the urge he feels to fight for the South alongside Dev. Mahala is torn between blockade runner Jack Randall, whose family may have difficulty accepting her Cherokee heritage, and Clay Fraser, of mixed blood like her, who joins up with a native regiment.

This family saga will please fans of Eugenia Price’s Georgia-based novels. In some respects it picks up where Price’s Savannah Quartet leaves off, detailing the hardships endured by both fighting men and those left at home as the South fights for its doomed cause. Threads from previous Georgia Gold novels run through this installment, including divergent attitudes toward slavery, the mystery of Mahala’s father’s death, and the disappearance of his fortune in gold.

Considering so much is going on, the tone of The Crimson Bloom is remarkably understated, a gentle and undemanding read with a sense of inevitability to the destinies in store for the characters. Some of the clichés of the South’s Civil War story are there in the quiet dignity of the women, the terror inspired by the advancing Union troops and the loyalty of many of the freed slaves (although there is, I’m glad to report, one mass desertion). Weimer handles the multiple points of view well and keeps the reader engaged, although I wished there hadn’t been a cliffhanger ending.