Banished Saga #5
Ramona Flightner
Historical Romance
Published in 2017 [requested review]
H/h - Theodore Goff/Zylphia McLeod
Setting: Boston, 1915.
Read in January, 2017.
My rating:
[spoiler alert]
After
three years and 5 installments later, I’m so glad that the Banished
Saga by Ramona Flightner is continuing on quite strong. Though the Saga
is told from many characters who were introduced throughout, it all
started with the original couple, Gabriel and Clarissa and their journey
for a love that seemed impossible to fulfill at first.
As the
name of the series suggests, it indeed, is a saga of the McLeod/Sullivan
family which sort of reminds me of Downton Abbey. Don’t get me wrong;
even though DA is set almost at the same time as Banished Saga, the
storyline, setting and the characters aren’t the same. What in Banished
Saga reminds me of Downton Abbey is that this too shows the growth and
continuation of one family into future generation. You start from one
family then you get to learn more and more of this family, their
relatives, friends and well-wishers, who also become a part of this
journey just as much as you are. You see new faces, romance, marriage,
children etc. And it’s an ongoing process.
Clarissa and Gabriel met on the onset of the suffragist movement in Boston of 1901 in the first book, Banished Love.
Clarissa, a budding suffragist at that time, has suffered more in her
life than she ever should’ve. She had a well-educated background so her
romance with a “lowly and poor carpenter” Gabriel had all the thorns
provided by the judgmental society. They both suffered and conquered
hardship and after 2 long years when they finally marry, life has
changed drastically for both. But their love for each-other kept them
going.
Along the way, we’re introduced some new faces like
Clarissa’s cousins Savannah and Lucas. Her brother Colin who has been a
part of her journey since the beginning, though, Patrick, the older
brother, hasn’t been seen much as he left his family suddenly a long
ago. We also meet some vicious and nasty characters like Gabriel’s Aunt
Masterson and Clarissa’s step-mother, Mrs. Smythe. Both made their lives
miserable any way they could until Clarissa and Gabriel fled Boston.
Savannah, whose story can be read throughout Undaunted Love,
too has suffered just as much, if not more, than Clarissa but she had
also found love in Jeremy, Gabriel’s youngest brother. They also moved
to Montana from Boston to start anew. The only couple to remain in
Boston was Richard, the middle McLeod brother and his wife, Florence.
They thrived well with time. Clarissa’s elderly suffragist friend, who
helped both her and Savannah to find their way, Sophronia or Sophia
Chickering, is still around.
In the 3 years timeline of these
installments, we met many more faces but with the focus first on
Gabriel-Clarissa’s romance, then moving on to Jeremy-Savannah.
Richard-Florence were much more lucky in the sense that they didn’t find
themselves in any big trouble. The whole Saga has its twists and turns
that would surely keep you hooked. You can check out my reviews for the
prequel which tells you the story of the McLeod brothers’ tragic
childhood, also books 1, 2, 3 and 3.5 to get an idea. There are 2 free
subscribers only short stories worth reading for additional enjoyment.
I’d always recommend that you read the series from the start to get the complete enjoyment, even though from book 4, Tenacious Love,
things have shifted quite bit from the original storyline. It jumps 10
yrs. at the least and we find a lot has changed in between. Gabriel and
Clarissa, who had a good marriage so far, again facing some trouble that
life brought them. Savannah and Jeremy having their own heartaches...
their adopted daughter, Melissa, who is also Clarissa’s much younger
stepsister, has grown to be a jolly young girl. Colin is still single
but may have a sweetheart.
In Boston, Florence and Richard are
happy with a big family of 5 rambunctious boys. We also find Aiden,
Gabriel’s uncle, who was reunited with his long lost love Delia and
their only daughter, Zylphia, now have a life together. Aiden, a
successful businessman, had married Delia. Zylphia has got the striking
dark haired, blued eyed McLeod goodlooks and a successful painter.
However, she’s had some difficulties meshing in with the upper crust of
the Boston society in which she was thrust into when she took the McLeod
name at the age of 18. She’s also self conscious about everything
because of her poor background and lack of training like those Boston
socialites. Inspite of it all, Zylphia has managed to do good for
herself. She has 2 other friends who are introduced as secondary
characters—Parthena and Rowena. We also meet some prospective suitors
for the girls. The prominent two of them would be Theodore Goff and
Morgan Wheeler.
Theodore, or Teddy in short, wasn’t a suitor at
first. He was more of a recluse who loved experimenting in his little
lab and everything that spells finance. He’s a great financial adviser
and helped many Boston elites find their groove where money was
concerned. Zylphia didn’t know much of that though, and didn’t really
find the tall, lanky guy attractive in the beginning. Even though she
was fond of him and enjoyed his companionship, she wasn’t about to
confess to anything else. Plus, being a budding suffragist herself who
was active in every cause under the tutelage of Sophie, marriage was a
word Zylphia refused even to consider a possibility. And I can’t blame
her. She wanted to succeed and evolve, not get stunted by the law that
requires her to become a chattel to her husband. The very thing she was
fighting against. But in her fear, she refused to
really look at Teddy to realize that his every regard
for her was genuine and the fact that he supports her causes. Her
decision was rash, her treatment of him was so rude that Teddy leaves
Boston and joins WWI. He had his own baggage, thanks to his cold and
snotty family who always enjoyed undermining him. That mixed with
Zylphia’s words (which specifically hinted she found him to be too
nerdy, for the lack of better words) and subsequent rejection of his
marriage proposal... it was not a good place for him to be. They’ve
already been physically intimate once but that was the end of
it.........or so we thought.
Soon though, Zylphia starts having
doubts in her hasty judgment, which became full blown panic when she
finally realized that she had loved Teddy from the beginning but was too
blinded by everything else to acknowledge it. When, finally, news
reached Teddy to be MIA, the ramifications of what she may have lost
started settling on Zylphia.
In Unrelenting Love, the
Saga is even more focused on the second generation of McLeod/Sullivens
and their friends. I was sad to see that our friends in Montana weren’t
featured at all but only by mention through letters. I ALWAYS enjoy a
visit with that gang (Clarissa-Gabriel, Savannah-Jeremy etc.). This
installment mainly features Zylphia’s seemingly doomed relationship and
Teddy’s fate. It’s been about 2 years since Zylphia and Teddy’s meeting,
a while since he’s been MIA in the war. To keep herself from worrying
over it, Zylphia is now strongly involved in the movement for women’s
voting right. It’s proving to be a challenge but Sophia, Florence,
Zylphia, Parthena and Rowena, with hundreds of like-minded sisters, are
willing to take that challenge. They know that back in Montana, Clarissa
and Savannah are also hard at work on the same cause.
Zylphia
expresses a wish to visit the war torn countries in order to search for
Teddy, which is vehemently denied by Aiden for good reasons.
Fortunately, one of Teddy’s cousins soon writes to her saying he’s been
found and now recuperating in England at his grandparent’s place.
Zylphia is overwhelmed but happy. Teddy’s own letters makes it even
better. Through it all, it was quite apparent that he was badly injured
and things aren’t as it seemed.
In midst of it, Parthena, whose
father is a douchebag and a failed businessman to boots, forces her to
marry Morgan Wheeler; a rich businessman who was also a childhood friend
of hers. But she never liked him and now more so because Morgan isn’t a
cheerer of women’s enfranchisement, or the suffragist movements that
she’s so involved in. In fact, she already knew if she marries him,
she’ll have to stop all of it in order to make him happy. And Parthena
wasn’t sure she could sacrifice such a big part of her until her father
blackmails her into it.
Now I wasn’t expecting Parthena’s story
but I knew she’d be featured when her very palpable dislike for Morgan
was seen in the previous installment. What I DID NOT expect was that she
was also seeing Lucas (Savannah’s brother) in secret. Lucas is a very
accomplished piano player, Parthena is also keen in piano, which is how
they met and started sleeping together. If you know Lucas’s story,
you’ll know that his mother is a b!tch of the first order (not much
worse that Smythe or Masterson) and made their lives hell. No one could
ever make her happy and she found pleasure in blaming everyone for her
own problems. Lucas’s life would’ve been stuck at his father Martin’s
clothing store, had he not gotten out to pursue his dream. Martin
supported his decision but Matilda still b!tches about it every chance
she gets. She was one of the big reasons why Savannah fled Boston to be
with Jeremy and doesn’t keep in contact much.
Anyhoo, I mentioned
it cause ultimately Lucas found himself to be pretty alone. He had
fans, women who pretend to like him cause of his sublime piano skills,
his fame but not for who he really was. In Parthena,
he thought he’d found someone who understands him. He thought they loved
each-other but of course, he wasn’t as important to Parthena, a fact
that hurt him quite a lot. He tried to change her mind but she was
adamant to marry Morgan to save her sisters from being sold to the
highest bidders by her father. Morgan had the money to stop it whereas
Lucas, though wealthy, wasn’t as filthy rich. I didn’t like their
involvement to begin with, unfortunately I also dislike love triangles a
lot. But then comes the next shocker for me. I’ll get to that in a bit…
In
her marriage, Parthena finds that she’s not too immune to Morgan’s
attraction to her. She had no idea he, indeed, wanted her so much for a
long time. He knew her dislike for him so he managed a way to simply
acquire her. It started becoming a very confusing relationship. Parthena
disliked him, or tried but couldn’t entirely. Morgan figured out soon
that if he’s to have harmony in his married life, he’d have to agree to
his wife’s suffragist ventures. Well, he wasn’t so easily convinced
about it and continued to endure the jibes coming from Parthena, who was
becoming even more exasperated in this ‘prison’ where she couldn’t do
what she wanted. She started defying him by attending lectures and
meetings with Sophie and Zylphia but Morgan never tried to stop her in
that sense, so I guess he really cared for her. But it was difficult for
him to support things that his forefathers never did. He was
traditional and wasn’t sure if he could change his mind overnight so
their relationship sort of stood at an impasse.
Morgan also knew
about Parthena’s affair with Lucas. He figured out soon enough for
obvious reasons. It made them instant enemies and they remained that way
for the better part of the story. However, when Morgan began softening
up about Parthena’s causes and interests, including the piano playing
which was a no-no before that, a new development occurs. It seems,
Morgan’s hefty sum of money wouldn’t stop Parthena’s father from selling
her next sister Genevieve to a guy they all despised. When she asked
for Morgan’s help, he decides it’d be better to whisk Genevieve away to
somewhere their father won’t find her. Maybe in Montana? Maybe Lucas can
help in the matter? I’m not sure why Morgan instantly thought of Lucas
but he did. Lucas was already contemplating going there to have a
respite from everything that’s been happening in his life lately.
There
I was, rather shocked to find Morgan asking Lucas for help. Not only
that, he suggests Lucas marry Genevieve beforehand so her father loses
any legal hold on her. On Parthena’s entreaty (uh, why does Lucas even
care? Definitely not his problem!), Lucas even begins considering a
marriage to Genevieve, whom he has never met before. But from all I
could see, she will have to compete with her more vivacious sister’s
shadow for the rest of her life if she goes down that path. Um, NOT a
good idea. Plus knowing he was involved with her sister... kinda eww for
me. This whole business is turning out to be one big mess that I’m not
sure I’ll appreciate the outcome of. Martin does warn Lucas about it at
one point when he stops by to ask his father for counsel. His wise words
struck home because Lucas didn’t want a marriage where he’d come to
resent his wife and live a miserable life. Much like his parents’. Does
he want to marry someone he barely knew and be stuck for the rest of his
life? Would he be happy marrying the sister of someone he thought he
loved, but since come to realize, that it wasn’t the case? What does
Genevieve want?
Genevieve is still a new character, about whom we
don’t really know much but that she’s reserved and considers herself
unattractive. Parthena’s bold, outgoing personality didn’t help matters
for her but it was still apparent that the sisters loved each-other.
Lucas is obviously a far better choice than the man she will have to
marry if she stays in Boston but really, I don’t know. The story ends
while they’re all contemplating this matter and what their next step
will be...
According to Ramona’s newsletter, the next one will be
a novella on Lucas, which didn’t surprise me. I’m sure we’ll know more
in that installment. And no matter my feelings of the whole thing, I am
eagerly waiting to see what transpires between him and Genevieve. Or if
Ramona has something else up her sleeve to surprise us even more! Plus
I’m hoping for a visit with our gang in Montana and really wanna know
what’s going on between Colin and Araminta. 4 stars.
I received a complimentary copy from the author, thanks Ramona! x
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