Book Review: Veil of Pearls

NOTE: I did not finish this book, so I can only give my opinion on the part I read.

(I'm sorry, I was not able to get a photo of the book, but you can see the cover in my Shelfari)

Review by Marianne 

Title: Veil of Pearls

Author: MaryLu Tyndall

Rating: 1/5
Age Recommendation: 16+

Plot: It's the early 1800s and Adalia Winston is 1/4 African American. After running away from Barbados and her past as a slave, she travels to Charleston, South Carolina. Her light skin hides her past, and she becomes an assistant to a doctor. While staying there, she meets many interesting people, including the young Morgan Rutledge.

Morgan Rutledge is the son of one of Charleston's wealthiest families. He leads a life of pleasures. Parties and plays every night. Then he meets Adalia Winston. The strange young woman with a heart for slaves. And unaware of her genes and past, he becomes enamored.

I did not enjoy this book. When I bought it, I had high expectations. It did not meet them at all. I was very interested in the story-line and so I bought it pretty much as soon as I could. I was exceedingly disappointed. The plot altogether though, was interesting.

Characters: I felt like the only truly trustworthy and very kind hearted character was Adalia. Even Morgan disappointed me on numerous occasions. The suitor or hero of the book is NOT supposed to be a womanizer who always smells of wine or some other alcoholic beverage.

Emotions: This book was not a favorite. The overall emotion that I felt the whole time I was reading was discomfort. I was hoping for a sweet romance with a bit of mystery and excitement.

My Thoughts: I was very disappointed in this book. I would not recommend it to anyone and I will not read another book by this author. Harshness is not my intention, but it really was awful. I was sure that since it was labeled "Christian Fiction" it would be totally safe. I was totally wrong. As I said before, Morgan was a womanizer. He changed when he met Adalia but even then he constantly smelled of wine. Morgan's brother, Hadley was an even worse womanizer. His behavior towards females was absolutely unacceptable. There was also a kissing scene that got very descriptive. That was when I stopped reading (about halfway through). The story line was really cool, I was sure it would be a great book. It made me really sad to see that "Christian Fiction" was able to contain such... lustful ideas and scenes. I recommended it for ages 16+ for the following reasons:
1. This book contained a lot of drinking. Several of the men constantly smelled of alcohol.
2. There wasn't very many kisses (I only got to the 2nd. one), but they contained EXTREME description. The thoughts going through the characters' minds were VERY lustful, and I couldn't tell where it was going to go from there. That's when I stopped.
3. There was a scene that described Adalia as she remembered some of the things that had happened to her as a slave. It mentioned that she had been the master's "favorite" and that he had stolen her innocence and purity. Which sent the message that he behaved very inappropriately towards her.
I just felt that not only did the story get lost in kisses, drinks, and inappropriateness, but God did too.

(There is no Favorite Quote from this book.)