Book Review: Tanglewood Plantation by Jocelyn Miller

Tanglewood Plantation

Author: Jocelyn Miller

Paperback: 240 pages

Publisher: Eagletalon Books (July 22, 2011)

Amazon Link

Note: I received this book free from the author, Jocelyn Miller. The review posted below is based on my personal thoughts while reading the book.

Ratings:

★ ★ ★  

My thoughts:

Summer Woodfield left her job in the city right after receiving the news of her inheritance, the Tanglewood Plantation, from her Aunt Ada. From the old photos she saw back when her father was still alive, it was a very beautiful plantation. However, Summer's dreams fall apart when she sees the town of Bluebell and the plantation. She expects the plantation to be old but not that old, the plantation is now one big dilapidated house and surely, it needs to be renovated but she doesn't have the money to bring it back to livable condition.  The first time she spends her night at the house, she sees an old man hanging by the neck from the fountain. The following day, she can hear someone moaning at the fountain. After seeing and hearing the ghosts of the house, she is thinking of going back to the city but according to the will, she needs to stay at the plantation for a period of one year for her to inherit the plantation and all her Aunt Ada's money. So she has to stay and deal with the ghosts of the plantation.


The book had a good storyline. Summer is transported back to the past and she was Evaline, one of her ancestors. Evaline is the daughter of Charles and a slave named Jamaica. She saw everything and discovered all the secrets of her ancestors. I enjoyed reading the story and I liked the way the story of the slaves is told. I now have an idea what it feels like to be a slave. Reading this book is like watching a Spanish telenovela. I wanted to slap and drag Elizabeth, Charles wife, by the hair many times. She is so mean to Evaline and to all other slaves.


While I liked the story, there were some parts of the book I had to skim. I was pretty annoyed with the slang dialogue of the slaves. I found myself reading them slowly and back again to understand them.  Overall, if you want a good horror book and do not mind the slang dialogue, pick up this book. 


About the book:

Chicagoan, Summer Woodfield, is in for the surprise of her life when she inherits the family estate in Georgia. Not only is the antebellum plantation a dilapidated relic, but comes complete with a haunting cast of characters--characters long dead! Convinced by the estate lawyer to fulfill the requirements of her inheritance, she reluctantly sets up house in the haunted mansion. An investigative trip into the attic leads to the discovery of mid-19th century love letters written by the son of the overseer to Evaline, a mulatto slave on the plantation. Summer is drawn to the mystery of Evaline, and taunted by a thumbprint purposely placed on one of the letters by its author. When she touches the thumbprint, she is whisked back in time to the Civil War, not as the mistress of the manor, but as a slave--a servant to her own ancestors! Trapped in a time warp, she experiences the horror of the Civil War as a slave, while the secret of her inheritance is exposed, awakening a forbidden love story lost in the annals of time.

About the author:

Jocelyn Miller has traveled extensively throughout Europe, Canada, Mexico, the Yucatan, the Caribbean, and the United States. Her early childhood opened the door to the diversity of the human race, spending her primary years learning to read and write in Spanish while living with her family in Puerto Rico, and then St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, absorbing the colorful and rich history of the Caribbean. In contrast to island life, her teen years were spent in the Scottsdale, Arizona desert, amidst the intermingled cultures of Hispanic Mexico, Native Americans of the southwest, and the cowboys and ranchers of the vanishing desert vistas. An interest in genealogy and early American history catapulted Jocelyn to her present-day vocation; to write of the lives of women of all class and cultures throughout the early centuries of civilized America. An avid student of colonial, frontier and Victorian history, Jocelyn has dedicated many hours and travels to the research of historical facts and details pertaining to the lives of women of these eras. Born to talented and artistic parents, Jocelyn was encouraged from an early age to pursue creative endeavors. Her artistic abilities blossomed in the form of writing, modeling, drawing, poetry, and creative costuming, at which she spent several years creating award-winning costumes for an east coast dance company. Jocelyn, Co-Regional Coordinator of the Eastern Shore Writers Association, has published in History Magazine, and Heritage of the Toe River Valley, Avery, Mitchell and Yancey Counties N.C. Jocelyn writes from Sanibel, Florida, and from Chesapeake Bay on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where she lives with her husband of thirty-three years, two Yorkie rascals, and a very loud parrot.