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A review by readingwithmerb
Night Song by Beverly Jenkins
3.0
I really wanted to enjoy Beverly Jenkin’s debut novel, but it’s probably my least favorite work from her that I’ve read so far. We follow school teacher Cara, whose grandfather was killed by union soldiers in her childhood, leaving her to harbor the trauma since. When she finds herself attracted to a union soldier Chase, she starts to question herself and what it is she really wants in life.
I actually really loved the start of this, seeing Cara and Chase flirting and learning to trust each other. But once it got to the traumatic scene (TW for miscarriage), I found the story kind of spiraled and became a little distasteful. Whilst both characters had their flaws and did some questionable things, Chase’s behavior was honestly pretty toxic, and for a while there the story was really melancholy, and left me not actually rooting for the couple (but for a historical romance published during this time, it was actually pretty good). I also found the story dragged, and I find most of Jenkin’s works I’ve read have gotten into this funk as well, where the couple are together and the story kind of becomes stagnant, and it feels a little aimless. She does always finish her books with a bang though, and this was no exception. The antagonist in this was bloody horrible, and definitely a memorable one. So yeah, this was a bit scattered and questionable in parts, but overall still entertaining and moving.
~ I read this for Becca’s Bookoplathon 2021 ~
I actually really loved the start of this, seeing Cara and Chase flirting and learning to trust each other. But once it got to the traumatic scene (TW for miscarriage), I found the story kind of spiraled and became a little distasteful. Whilst both characters had their flaws and did some questionable things, Chase’s behavior was honestly pretty toxic, and for a while there the story was really melancholy, and left me not actually rooting for the couple (but for a historical romance published during this time, it was actually pretty good). I also found the story dragged, and I find most of Jenkin’s works I’ve read have gotten into this funk as well, where the couple are together and the story kind of becomes stagnant, and it feels a little aimless. She does always finish her books with a bang though, and this was no exception. The antagonist in this was bloody horrible, and definitely a memorable one. So yeah, this was a bit scattered and questionable in parts, but overall still entertaining and moving.
~ I read this for Becca’s Bookoplathon 2021 ~