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Her Loving Husband’s Curse
Book Two of The Loving Husband Trilogy
By Meredith Allard
How far will you go to protect the one you love?
Finally, after many long and lonely years, James Wentworth’s life is falling into place. Together with his wife, Sarah, the only woman he has ever loved, he has found the meaning behind her nightmares about the Salem Witch Trials, and now they are rebuilding the life they began together so long ago.
But the past is never far behind for the Wentworths. While Sarah is haunted by new visions, now about the baby she carried over three hundred years before, James is confronted with painful memories from his time with the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears. Through it all, the persistent reporter Kenneth Hempel reappears, still determined to prove that the undead walk the earth. If Hempel succeeds in his quest, James and Sarah will suffer. Will the curse of the vampire prevent James and Sarah from living their happily ever after?
How long would you wait for the one you loved?
James Wentworth has a secret. He lives quietly in Salem, Massachusetts, making few ties anywhere. One night his private world is turned upside down when he meets Sarah Alexander, a dead ringer for his wife Elizabeth. Though it has been years since Elizabeth's death, James cannot move on.
Sarah also has a secret. She is haunted by nightmares about the Salem Witch Trials, and every night she is awakened by visions of hangings, being arrested, and dying in jail. Despite the obstacles of their secrets, James and Sarah fall in love. As James comes to terms with his feelings for Sarah, he must dodge accusations from a reporter desperate to prove that James is not who, or what, he seems to be. Soon James and Sarah piece their stories together and discover a mystery that may bind them in ways they never imagined. Will James make the ultimate sacrifice to protect Sarah and prevent a new hunt from bringing hysteria to Salem again?
Her Dear & Loving Husband is part historical fiction, part romance, and part paranormal fantasy. With elements of Twilight and The Crucible, Her Dear & Loving Husband is a story for anyone who believes that true love never dies.
Double, double, toil, and trouble. That’s how I used to picture witches, like the three witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth—craggy-faced crones standing over a bubbling black cauldron calling out their spells and curses. I learned differently when I wrote Her Dear and Loving Husband. Mainly, I learned the word witch is a lot bigger than I thought.
I have this odd habit of writing about topics I’m not all that familiar with before I write about them. I would certainly put witches in that category. I had a lot of research to do about the Salem Witch Trials before I wrote my Loving Husband books, and I was surprised to learn the Salem witches weren’t witches at all but normal people like you and me who were falsely accused of witchcraft for unfortunate all-too-human reasons. As I thought about how to incorporate the story of the Salem Witch Trials into my present-day vampire story, I decided two of the supporting characters would be Jennifer and Olivia, a mother/daughter duo who are Wiccan, but there’s more to them than nature worship. For my research for Her Dear and Loving Husband, I had to read up on what a Wiccan was and how the word witch associates with it. After I read about Wiccans, I began to see how Jennifer and Olivia could show the best of what it means to be Wiccan…and a witch. They have their ceremonies celebrating the seasons with their coven, and Jennifer, as the high priestess, is even licensed to perform weddings in Massachusetts. But then sometimes bottles shatter suddenly, there’s Olivia ability to read the prophecies during psychic readings, and there’s something odd about Jennifer’s intuition…
As I researched the present-day town of Salem, Massachusetts, I learned that Wiccans, witches, and spirituality are a huge part of life there today. In the book, Olivia has a shop like The Psychic Eye—one that sells incense, crystal balls, prayer beads, and books of spells. I was so excited to learn (and see for myself when I was in Salem) that there are many such shops there. There’s a strong Wiccan community in Salem, so Jennifer and Olivia fit right in. Where in 1692 Salem wasn’t a great place for witches (or the people accused of being witches), in 2012 Salem and witches go together just fine.
That works out well for Jennifer and Olivia. They help James, the vampire in the story, understand his connection to the past in a way only they can. After all, who sees things more clearly than a witch?
I quite agree.
What I Liked:
When I started reading Her Loving Husband's Curse, I was ready for a witchy read, but nothing prepared me for the depth of feeling Meredith Allard put into this book. The description of the Salem Witch Trial museum and the events from the trials themselves made tears come to my eyes, as did the nightmares from the main character, Sarah. I have thought about this period in history and it makes me very sad and bitterly angry that women and yes, some men were treated in this fashion.
I also loved the devotion between James, the husband and Sarah, who was Elizabeth in the time of the trials. This book was very moving in a Twilight-esque sort of way with the timelessness of the love between two people surmounting incredible odds.
What I Didn't:
Not a thing. I will be waiting for more from this author.
Overall:
This book pulled on my heart strings. References to witch trials and the agony suffered by innocents always do. This one in particular really grabbed at events from the past and breathed new life into horrors long forgotten. Combine that will an epic love story, I found myself tearing up and reading faster and faster. This is a great read and I will be looking forward to more releases from this author.
About the author:
Meredith Allard is the author of Her Dear & Loving Husband and the executive editor of The Copperfield Review, a journal for readers and writers of historical fiction. Her short fiction and articles have appeared in journals such as The Paumanok Review, Muse Apprentice Guild, Wild Mind, Moondance, and Writer's Weekly. She has taught writing to students aged 10 to 60, and she has taught creative writing and writing historical fiction at Learning Tree University and UNLV. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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