All Things Sacred
by B.R. Jones

B.R. Jones has written a real page-turner with “All Things Sacred,” a cross-genre romance and suspense novel set in the rich plantation country of South Carolina. Her heroine, Kendall, enters the novel on the run for her life. She stops long enough to help a young woman being accosted alongside the highway and is rewarded for her effort by being shot and then run over by her own car, which is then stolen by the assailant. When she awakens in the hospital, she has no recollection of the incident or of who she is, for she suffers from retrograde amnesia. At her bedside is a stranger who turns out to be Jackson Coley, the hero of the story. He finally convinces her to come to his home to recuperate, for it was his sister whom she befriended alongside the highway. When she is able to travel, the two head out to his plantation, the family inheritance now worked by Jackson and his sister and brother-in-law, Casey and Tom Sandford. They all live together in a magnificent mansion reminiscent of Tara from Gone With The Wind, and one can summarize Jackson's feelings for the plantation with the same haunting words as those of Gerald O'Hara: “Land, it's the only thing that matters, because it's the only thing that lasts.”

B.R. Jones allows the heroine to slowly regain her memory while she fleshes out her character and develops the characters in the Coley family and Cynthia, the jealous wannabe fiancé of Jackson who lives on a nearly farm. In the meantime, Kendall endears herself to the family by taking over the housekeeping chores and turning the mansion from a house into a home. She loves the land, as does Jackson Coley who is a widower, making a profound impression on him, and they find themselves falling in love, although the relationship is rocky.

Enter the antagonist, the same person from whom Kendall was originally fleeing. He has located her and has come for money he thinks she has and intends to take it, even if he has to kill her in the process. We learn that Kendall was an insurance executive and was married but now is a widow also, thanks to the antagonist.

The novel is complete with more twists and turns than a mountain switchback highway, keeping the reader guessing in this exceptionally well-crafted and well-researched story. The author deftly unfolds the mystery a piece at a time, leading the reader to wonder what will happen next. B.R. Jones's ability to create believable, flesh-and-blood characters with whom the reader can identify is first rate. What flaws exist in the manuscript are minor. A couple if oversized indents in places, the headers are squeezed a bit, and a few typos, but certainly nothing to detract the reader from a very well written and fast-paced story with a satisfying ending.

Gloomwing Review by Steven M. Ulmen

Pages: 264
Softcover ISBN:1-4116-6856-1
E-Book ($4.50) and Softcover ($14.32) available at http://www.lulu.com/content/182691

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