
Jennifer Taylor is a friend and one of the finest writers I know. Her books flow with lyrical, beautiful prose. This month I’m featuring her because I love her novels and think you will too. Reading this series will take you on a fascinating journey even if you’re staying at home. Here is my review of the first book in her Rhythm of the Moon Series, Mercy of the Moon: Mercy of the Moon, Jennifer Taylor’s elegant, engrossing novel of a midwife in eighteenth century England, compels the reader to turn page after page. Maggie Wilson, the midwife who the townspeople of King’s Harbour consider a spinster workhorse, cares for the women of the town as they labor and deliver, always putting their needs ahead of her own. However, when her pregnant sister’s time arrives, Maggie is away and cannot assist with the delivery. When she comes home, she learns of the tragedy—her sister died during childbirth. When Maggie visits her grave, she encounters an intriguing man whose mournful singing reduces her to grief-stricken sobs. Ian Pierce has returned to England from a trip abroad, only to discover his brother, the town apothecary, died during his absence. As he sings a lament for his brother at the cemetery, he meets Maggie, who soothes his compulsions with her presence. He walks her home and cannot stop thinking of her. Mercy of the Moon is an enchanting historical romance with a hint of paranormal, which adds a fascinating layer to the tale. Jennifer Taylor does a magnificent job of bringing the place and time to life, incorporating eighteenth century terms into her lyrical style, so the reader feels transported, and sees, hears, smells, and tastes what it must have been like there and then. She also presents an accurate medical picture of Ian’s “affliction” and the treatment for it. I picked up this book while dealing with an episode of insomnia. Reading about Ian’s struggle with his condition, which included insomnia, helped me pass the long, dark, hours. I felt like I had a companion to share my misery. I couldn’t have put it down, even if I had been sleepy. Be warned: read Mercy of the Moon in the daytime, or risk staying up all night to find out what happens to Maggie and Ian. Buy from Amazon Blurb: Strange things are happening in King’s Harbour. Midwife Maggie Wilson vows to find the person who almost murdered her sister. When her sister’s behavior ignites old superstitions, the townspeople threaten to send her to an asylum. Maggie turns to handsome Ian for help in a town where everybody is against her. Apothecary Ian Pierce wants nothing more than to feel whole, as he does when he is near the beautiful midwife, singing to her soul with his music. Only then can he forget the horrors from his past when false accusations sent him to Bedlam. When they unearth the deeds of a sinister killer, Ian’s most daunting battle will be to safeguard his sanity . . . and win Maggie’s heart. https://www.amazon.com/Mercy-M… Jennifer Taylor is the award-winning author of the Rhythm of the Moon series, historical romance set in an 18th Century English port town. She blends love, music, humor, and the supernatural with a lively, lyrical voice similar to Diana Gabaldon and Susanna Kearsley. Jennifer spent her childhood running wild on an Idaho mountainside, and has worked as a roofer, a stay-at-home mom and a professional dancer and singer. Music plays a huge part in her books, and she can often be heard singing at her desk… unless her heroine midwife is delivering a baby, and screaming is more appropriate. She lives in rural Florida with her husband of thirty-seven years, and an entitled Great Dane. |


