River Running

Eden
Reign
Genre: 
Paranormal

HISTORICAL:  After his side loses in the war, Firemage Jackson Coal swallows his beliefs and returns home to his family’s indigo plantation. Secretly trying to raise the illegal half-mage child of his best friend while finding the cure to a deadly curse that clings to his skin. Jackson isn’t sure who to trust but finds himself drawn to the governess, Manda Rivers, he hired for his ward, Grey. Manda immediately falls for Grey and Jackson, but she is hiding her own half-mage status. With a secret Arcana society out to destroy Jackson and take his plantation, being in the household of a rebel threatens her secrets as well. In a fight for rights for mundanes, half-mages, and love, those in power will do anything to keep their power, but will old secrets be the end of Jackson and Manda or their salvation instead?

A fantastic fantasy version of the Civil War gone wrong, “River Running” takes a familiar setting, gives everything fantasy names, flips the American Civil War result and throws in magic and romance. From the start, the steady pace, world building, characterization, and plot elements all engross the reader and set the stage for even more development. Full of secrecy, action, passion, and the elegance and pomp of earlier days, this book will keep surprising the reader in a good way but still manages to make this a stand-alone book in a series. Overall, this is a winner and readers will eagerly anticipate book two.

Sarah E Bradley