Along Came A Soldier

Two small villages in Cornwall, 1820 have been feuding for years after the murder of Charity Perrow's mother.  Jethro Ennor's father was accused but acquitted of the crime.  Now, Charity takes care of her father and brothers, but feels trapped in her home.  Jethro is a farrier who desperately wants to leave his violent and drunk father, but needs to wait until his little brother is of age.  While roaming the woods collecting mushroom for the town bonesetter, Charity and Jethro meet without knowing who the other is.  Even after they find out, Charity and Jethro can't stay away from one another.  However, another danger lurks in the woods.  Henry Blight, a returned soldier from Waterloo has come back to seek revenge against those who made him commit an unspeakable act years ago.  

Along Came A Soldier is a complex and intriguing historical murder mystery paired with romantic suspense. The characters were interesting and caught my attention early along with the tensions between the two towns.  Charity is caring and  adventurous.  Jethro is impulsive and rough around the edges.  Together,  Charity and Jethro make a perfect pair. Henry is haunted, showing signs of what we would call PTSD, but still wanted to right his wrong from the past making him a sympathetic villain.  I also loved Grace's knowledgeable, meddling and well-meaning character, although I don't know why her boobs had to be described every time she moved.  The mystery also pulled me along, though I had the gist of it pretty early, element were added to the very end for an unexpected and satisfying ending. 

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

Will a years old feud be the end of their romance and threaten their life ...

This is an unusual read, a historical romance with a dark twist mixed with a sleuth tale. Even more out of the ordinary with more points of view than the classic main characters and eventual villain.
Why I was a bit confused at the beginning, Jethro and Charity are easy to follow, victims of their father’s ire and feud, but Henri, he lives many life at the same time, the past colliding with the present, his nightmares filing his days, his call for revenge meddling everything. Then there is Grace, the bonesetter who is the sleuth of this story, full of sass and knowledge, the heirloom of this inquiry.
And to these four protagonists, there are Joseph, a kind of autistic young man, Charity’s younger brother and William, an albino.
The book is in some way set in two parts, the presentation of the many characters and the development of the romance between Charity and Jethro, then the investigation post murder.
Jethro wants freedom like Charity, and while she, has a woman is encaged by the sex condition, he can’t run away until his younger brother comes of age.
Yet, both recognize a connected soul from their first encounter, and while their fathers’ hostility nearly tore them apart, they also understood they were not their parents. Charity finds the strength she was looking for in Jethro’s embrace when he for the first time feels like he is enough, deserving to be loved.

Grace, healer, midwife, bonesetter and kind of doctor for their small communities, is the link between the many characters, she observes and deduces. While living in the fringes, she is a very important character, the one everyone turns to when in need. She is also a very avid of life person, while she has loved and lost, she still devours life, with maybe a bit too much eagerness.
Then Henri, he is the villain I should hate but in fact I pity him, the true villains are the ghosts from his past. And while his revenge causes many damages, he also offers a kind of peace to his own demons and those he wronged.

Mrs Brenda Davies with this complex tale had me captivated, on wonder how she might save her heroes when everything looked lost.
4.5 stars for a very unconventional romance.

I was granted an advance copy by the author, here is my true and unbiased opinion.