Cover Image: Thandi's Love: A Novel

Thandi's Love: A Novel

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I seem to have read, or seen on a screen, the basic premise of slaves seemingly well treated by the plantation owner Tom, a friend of Thandi and her brother Isaac who are 'recruited' to help with the best cotton crop for years. Into this threesome mix is Tom's wife Anna who assumed the mantle of the 'wicked witch'.

Set in the deep South in the 1800's, the writing is superb with vivid descriptions of life at the time - without the usual graphic stuff.

Would it make a good film?

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As a story about a love affair between a married white man and a mulatto slave girl, I thought it had a lot of potential. But somehow that potential wasn’t really fulfilled. I didn’t get a sense of the dangers awaiting Thandi.
On the whole, she lived rather a charmed life, and the horror stories lived by slaves of that time didn’t seem to touch her. We are told that both Tom and Thandi are risking much to be with each other. But we don’t see them having to pay for the consequences of their actions.
There are a few very detailed and rather graphic descriptions of love making, and one description of a rape scene, which I found gratuitous and unnecessary.
I also found one mistake that seems to have skipped past the author’s eye. Thandi sees a portrait of a mulatto woman who Victor identifies as Elena, his dead wife. A few paragraphs later, Thandi thinks, “In a strange way, he resembled his mother. The two shared the same complexion, large brown eyes.”
Overall, the book was a simple love story. The author has drawn the characters well. We understand the predicament of Tom and Thandi and feel their helplessness. Even the minor characters like Ben, Tom’s overseer, and Esther, his housekeeper, are drawn well, imbued with feeling and kindness.

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This was an amazing read! I loved this book as I am a fan of IR romance especially when it is historical. I was glad that all worked out well in the end for Tom and Thandi. But I didn't like how she treated Victor, he treated her like a queen. And in the end, he was a true friend. I would love to read more from this author! I voluntarily read this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

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This is set in the deep South during the mid 1800's. The book vividly shows the mindset of the time and how things that were accepted then are certainly not ok now. It's a forbidden romance in a time when social niceties did not all interracial dating. A forbidden romance where a torrid love affair between beautiful mulatto slave Thandi Boran, and her married master, Tom Lexington existed. The story has a lot of drama and kept me quickly flipping pages. I hope to see more books by this author soon.
Pub Date 21 Jan 2017
I received a complimentary copy of this book from BooksGoSocial through NetGalley. Thank you
All opinions expressed are my own.

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A really good Historical romance about the south and the slaves and owners.
Like Victor and how he felt about Thandis and how he handled the devastating news about Thandis and himself.
Good story,characters and romance.
Enjoyed reading.
Voluntarily reviewed

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Set during the days of slavery, Thandi and Isaac grew up as slaves but were best friends with Tom, the young son of the plantation owner. Being separated for a long time, Thandi and Isaac came back to the plantation where they were children. Now they are all grown up. Tom insists that they stay in the main house as they were more friends than master and slave. Tom is married to a woman who is mean and nasty to her husband and all the slaves. Thandi who is half white has grown up to be a gorgeous woman in love with Tom. . That love is consummated one night but there is a secret that Tom learns about that will cause them to never be together. Thanks goes to live with Victor, a rich man who has everything but Thandi. So many secrets and lies that keep true love from flowering. It's sad as people are bought and sold like livestock. Tom was a good plantation owner but he owned Thandi and Isaac.. Events take place that uncover all the secrets. I was in pain with Thandi. Sometimes it was hard to read but we'll worth it as it is a love story. I received this book from Net Galley for an honest review and no compensation.

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This book is set in the South in the 1800's in the time when the rich has slaves and the arrogant treat them very poorly.

Tom Lexington grew up on a Cotton Plantation. His parents were good loving people who treated their slaves very well. Thandi and Isaac were the children of a slave who worked for Tom's Aunt Lacey. They spent many years together as children, running free and getting up to all manner of mischief. As the years went by, they all grew up and after the death of Tom's father, his uncle Daniel put his money up to help with the debts on the plantation and keep it going.

After a very prosperous cotton season, Tom calls on his Aunt to help out with slaves to bring the cotton in. He couldn't hold back his joy when the carriage doors open and his good friends Thandi and Isaac alight. The staff were amazed when Thandi and Isaac are informed that they are to stay in the mansion and Tom's wife Anna is particularly verbal in her opinion of this and therein begins her very cruel treatment of Isaac and especially Thandi.

Anna can see how close the three are and is suspicious of every moment Thandi and Tom spend together and after consulting her equally cruel father Daniel, steps are put in place to rid the mansion of Thandi and thereby sever any closeness between the friends.

This is a well written book, showcasing the terrible ideas that the rich have all the privileges over the poor and black slaves. I particularly enjoyed that this book didn't show the violence against the slaves which for me made it so easy to read. There are some interesting twists and although there are moments of intense intimacy and graphic, they no way deter from the beautiful story.

I enjoyed every word and look forward to more stories about this family saga from Angel Strong.

Thanks to Netgalley and BooksGoSocial for the opportunity to read and review this book.

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I usually try to stay away from period piece romances but for some reason this one caught my eye.This book was set in the era of slavery when some slaves were granted their freedom while others were still entrapped in it.We meet slave owner and master Tom who is not the typical white owner , but who had befriended and interacted with two sibling slaves, Isaac and Thandis during his upbringing. He had maintained contact with these two slaves and during this time had requested their assistance in the harvesting of his bounteous crops.Their arrival brings a shift in the household hierarchy and marital discord, and we find opposition to their presence in Tom"s wife and father-in-law.The book leads us through some blurred lines, plot twists and turns that if you read between the lines you may get an inkling of what is coming.The author spins a great novel and while I did not find myself obsessing to finish the book, I was intrigued enough to want to finish it.Some of the language was a bit offensive but I acknowledge that the author was trying to stay true to the reality of life during those times.The lack of breaking up two words(shecouldn't instead of she couldn't) proved a bit of an annoyance mainly because of its frequency but overall this was a pretty good read.

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A mostly enjoyable story. I did find some parts of it kind of boring. I liked it well enough.

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I loved this story it’s about a forbidden love between a Southern slave, and her owner. Thandi Boran and Tom Lexington bonded as children, but that transferred into something stronger with age. This story has lots of drama, but kept you invested. You can’t go wrong with this fantastic story, it was written beautifully. It’s a must read!!

*received this ARC from Netgalley
https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R1RDIEQRRF8NW?ref_=glimp_1rv_cl

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As an avid reader of historical fiction I enjoyed reading this debut novel. Angel Strong wrote a beautiful story of loving the wrong person in the time of slavery and overcoming social barriers and power hungry individuals. It is not a light story, it is very real at times, yet at points I do feel that the author could have gone a little darker although I do understand that this is a romance novel. At times I was a little frustrated with the main character, Thandi, to me it seemed that although she was described as strong willed and feisty I never really felt that her actions showed it; or perhaps I am just being biased because as a reader I came to care tremendously for Victor and I did not appreciate her obtuse attitude towards him at times. Nevertheless, this is an repellent read and recommend it to anyone who enjoys romance novels with a solid plot.

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As a first novel this book is very well written. It is setbin the south in the 1800's. It is a story of a mulatto slave, Thandie. Her brother, Isaac. Tom and Victor who are rich plantation owners.
Tom, Thandie, and Isaac are childhood friends that grew up together. It is the south and there is a definite station in life. Where you are is where you belong.
The characters are distinctive, and mesh well togethet The storyline goes well with what was happening in that time. Interesting.
5 Stars

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Wow! I love books with forbidden love, but this one had a bit much of the forbidden if you know what I mean lol. Other than that slight thing, I must say this book was very interesting. I loved the view into the past and I grew to love Victor. Overall a great read that I would recommend to all.

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Unfortunately I got this book by clicking on a link on Twitter. I tried to read it the same but it is not my genre and I did not liked it.

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I normally don’t read historical romance. But something about this book just called to me. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down. It was beautifully written, and I could really feel the characters emotion.
I would definitely recommend this book.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley. My thoughts and opinions are my own

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