Banished Saga #8
Ramona Flightner
Historical Romance
Published in 2018 [requested review]
H/h - Colin Sullivan/Araminta
Setting: Boston and Montana, 1918.
Read in September, 2018
My rating:
[spoiler alert]
My dear Savannah,
In the past 8 installments of Banished Saga, I’ve come to know you so well; felt we’ve become friends as much as I found myself feeling the same for every other member of the McLeod/Sullivan family introduced in this series. I have to admit that initially I found you to be snotty and rather irritating and I liked Clarissa better. :) I wasn’t sure of your match with Jeremy, but despite it all, you’ve found love in one another. And over the course of these 4+ yrs you’ve proved me wrong over and over again.
I knew you’ve found love, but the serenity of life eluded you even when you were with Jeremy. I knew you craved a child so badly that I prayed your wish would come true. Even when it didn’t happen that way, I’d hoped you’d find peace with Jeremy and Melinda in your life. In this installment, I was so excited for you that I can’t even explain. Hoped that finally, after all that you’ve been through, you’d have your wish fulfilled. You’ll finally find peace within yourself and be at peace with life itself.
But alas, that was not to be.
I don’t know if you’re finally at peace now that you’re somewhere no living being can reach you. I just hope you’re doing well as Melinda accompanies you there too.
Abiding Love is the
8th installment of Ramona Flightner’s Banished Saga series. It’s one of
my favorite family-centered series, which is also quite aptly titled as
we find our favorite characters going through ups and downs like any
normal couple will weathering incidents bound to test their love for
each-other. This is also one of the more unique attributes of this Saga;
that the story of a couple isn’t finished with the HEA. As we find new
things to appreciate in this series, the Saga continues as it should
showcasing their lives with all its glory, as well as its difficulties.
The
Banished Saga, when it began, was onset of suffragist movement of
Boston 1901. Along the way we met many characters, including our
favorite, the first couple of the series Clarissa and Gabriel in Banished Love. Their story was ongoing in books 2 and 3, Reclaimed Love and Undaunted Love.
We also met Clarissa and Gabriel’s family. Clarissa’s own brothers
Colin, and Patrick who wasn’t introduced until much later. Her cousin
Savannah and best friend Florence, both avid suffragettes and worked
with Clarissa throughout. Gabriel’s younger brothers Richard and Jeremy
were also introduced, as was their long lost uncle Aidan. Later in the
series, Jeremy and Savannah found love, while Richard and Florence, who
had an ongoing rift between them, mend it and decided to marry.
The story started to veer away from the original couples when it jumped 10 years in book 4, Tenacious Love.
The spotlight had shifted on to the second generations of
McLeod/Sullivans. New characters and couples their contemporary were
introduced. By then Clarissa-Gabriel, Savannah-Jeremy, Richard-Florence
were married with children and settled in Montana. Aidan had his long
lost love Delia back in his life, bonus with a daughter, Zylphia whom he
didn’t know existed (he was a sailor and had not been around Boston for
years). Each had come through a long, arduous journey to find their own
standing in life and the men or women they loved. I’ve been a fan and
had loved every single moment of it because it always felt like I’m a
friend, and not just a spectator of their lives.
The next few
installments introduced some new characters like two of Zylphia’s
suffragist friends, Parthena and Rowena. We found Rowena to be
romantically involved with Lucas but that association comes to an end
because of her money hungry father, who also despised her suffragist
activities. She’s quite forced to marry Morgan Wheeler, a successful
business, on her father’s dictates. Though she’d known him since they
were young, it seemed there was this odd, almost ambivalent attraction
between her and Morgan which is also what saves their marriage in the
end. Parthena’s immediate younger sister, Genevieve, is also threatened
by their father with a marriage worse than her own, so Lucas comes to
the rescue. If you’ve read the first few installments of the series,
you’d know what happened to Savannah, Lucas’s sister. He’d always felt
guilty for not doing enough to save her from a
nightmarish marriage, and so, even with the shimmering enmity between
him and Parthena-Morgan, he agrees to help Genevieve. Thankfully, along
the way, he figures out that his association with Parthena was a mistake
to begin with. They travel to Montana to live with the extended family
but decide to settle in Butte.
In another part of Butte, Patrick,
Clarissa’s long lost brother, who was absent for a long time, then
returned to them, was settling down with his own family; his wife Fiona
and her daughter Rose. Fiona has her own sad story that was the cause of
marital discord among her and Patrick. However, he was patient enough
to work with it her ‘issues’ because he loved Fiona that much and
accepted Rose as his own. In book 7, Resilient Love, we finally
find them making peace over it. After an incident that almost took
Patrick from her, Fiona comes to term with the fact that without him her
life would shatter in a way she can’t recover from. I was really happy
for them because this was a long time coming.
Zylphia had been
married a few years by then to a man she called her friend, Theodore
Goff. Their marriage hasn’t been a bed of roses either, with some major
ups and downs, you can blame a war for that, also Zylphia’s own
headstrong nature. She being the social butterfly and an active
suffragist and he quite fiercely reserved. Yet Teddy loved her as
fiercely as one can his wife. Zylphia had been confused about her
feelings towards Teddy, though she’d come to accept that she loved him
since he went away to war and almost lost his life. In book 7, we found
them still fighting for the marital harmony that forever seems to be
eluding them for one reason or the other. It’s not like they don’t want
to be together, but Zylphia can be really stubborn sometimes, to the
point that she loses focus of what’s more important in her life. Her
suffragist activities almost ended her marriage once, it was almost
going to happen again. Only their love for one-another saves it for
them.
In this new installment, Ramona tried her best to mention
every couple and the status of their lives. If you haven’t read the
previous installments, let me tell you that there’s a lot going on that
can’t be summarized in a review. There are always new twists and turns
that come out of nowhere, seemingly to challenge the families featured
in this series anew. I generally like to mention a little from
everything so anyone new to it reading my review knows what’s going on.
But even I can’t cram it all in so I’ll encourage you to read from book 1
to enjoy the most out of this series.
In Abiding Love, we meet all the families as they deal with new ups and downs, challenges coming their way.
But there were good news too. Teddy and Zylphia’s relationship was on
the mend, as were Morgan and Parthena’s, with the news of a new baby for
them no less! Zylphia’s parents, Aidan and Delia, were as supportive as
ever of every single one of their relatives as well as their own
daughter. We found Lucas and Genevieve doing mighty well with the new
addition to their own little family; a daughter named Lizzy. Patrick and
Fiona found themselves as well and I was so happy to finally hear that
their family will expand too. In Montana, Clarissa and Gabriel’s family
was thriving, as was Jeremy’s. Or so I thought.
At this point, my
main worry for the past few installments was over Colin’s relationship
with Araminta, an orphan girl Clarissa brought with her when she moved
to Montana all those years ago to settle down with Gabriel. She had been
a nanny cum house help to Clarissa, though over the years she’d become
more of a family member than anything else. Clarissa and Gabriel had
always treated her like a younger sister. Colin, who also moved to
Montana in support of Clarissa and Gabriel’s marriage (there’s loooong
and difficult history behind it that’s featured in the first 3
installments of the series), had been affectionate towards Araminta. In
the beginning she was a bit too young for a Romantic association and
Colin stayed away. But even when she grew up to be a fabulous young
woman, don’t know why Colin never approached her. It was very much known
knowledge that there was something going on between them but neither
really worked on it. The misunderstanding between
them went to the point that Araminta finally accepted a beau. THAT’s
when Colin felt it was now or never; that he needed to step up his game
or lose the woman he loves.
There was quite a bit of drama
regarding Colin and Araminta’s relationship. What we missed out on the
previous installments, I’d say, we were compensated for all that and
more. Even though Bart wasn’t a favorite character, I ended up feeling
sorry for him but not so sorry to find him in cahoots with one of the
McLeod’s greatest enemies. I think Bart here is as much of a victim of
manipulation as anyone else had been under the influence of that
particular piece of trash. I just hope he finds his way to break out of
this whole thing though I don’t know if he ever will.
Colin and
Araminta’s relationship was one of my favorite bits of the story, the
other one was Rowena’s own HEA. She had been such a wallflower that it
was easy to forget her. In their trio of friends, she was the reserved
one and wanted to be left alone to her devices. It was more to do with
the fact that her self-confidence took a beating not only because her
father the nasty a$$hole always called her ugly but also because
everyone else found Zylphia with her dark hair and striking blue eyes or
Parthena with her blonde and blue eyed looks more appealing. The brown
eyed, auburn haired girl felt she wasn’t good-looking enough to attract a
man. Not that this made their friendship suffer but Rowena had sort of
come to terms with her spinsterhood. Life should’ve gone on for her, had
she not been found by Perry Hawke. Perry is Lucas’s good buddy and a
popular contemporary singer. But his own past of poverty and whatever it
took him to survive the darkness of it all made him a pariah too. I
mean they all craved his attention. They all wanted him to perform for
them. Women wanted to have affairs with him but that was all. He was not
good enough for anything else and it was something that had eaten him
from inside because Perry wanted to shine. He wanted someone to love him
for who he was. He’d thought Rowena was far too high
in the social ladder for him to pursue, but when it’s love, anything’s
possible. Though not without struggle, Rowena and Perry finally finds
their own HEA. While reading about him, I thought Perry would make an
excellent hero for a single novel of his own instead of being a
supporting character.
But my most favorite part of the story was
when all the families, except for Clarissa’s family in Montana, gather
at a sea-side vacation home rented by Aidan for the summer. I was in
heaven having them all together, at the same time wishing
Clarissa-Gabriel could join them too. Would I knew I’d have my wishes
somewhat fulfilled but in such a drastic manner that I’d end up hoping I
never wished that to begin with.
It all began when Savannah
found out she’s pregnant. After having a few miscarriages doctors had
deemed her too frail to go down that road again. So even though she
ardently wanted her own children, she and Jeremy had decided it was for
the best that they let go of that dream. They’d already adopted Melinda,
who is also Clarissa’s half-sister (though later found that she’s her
niece - another convoluted story I’m not going into but another reason
why you should read the series). She needed a home and Jeremy-Savannah
gave her one. A loving one at that. Clarissa would’ve taken her in
anyway but Savannah had already lost a little girl from her first
marriage and she needed this stability. Melinda filled in the gaps of
their lives and they’d been happy. Even when trouble reared its nasty
head, they’d been strong as a family. I’d hoped that was all they needed
to be together as a family. But oh lord, that was not to be...
Savannah,
Jeremy and Melinda traveled to Boston so she could have better doctors
looking after her; for a better chance of survival of her and her baby.
They were already under a huge pressure, worried and scared. They didn’t
need this too! When they all gathered by that sea-side house for family
vacation, no one knew what was waiting for them... A damning illness
was already spreading around Boston of 1918 at the same time.
I’ve
known that Banished Saga is almost at an end for a while now. There’s
maybe another book in this series before it closes its chapters. Even
knowing that, Abiding Love felt like farewell to me, mostly because of
how tragedies overshadowed everything in this story. It was so
overwhelming for me that I was on the verge of an emotional breakdown.
Yes, I grieved the passing of two of my beloved characters; something I
NEVER saw coming. It caught me so horribly off-guard that for 2 straight
days I had the urge to cry. Simply grieve their passing. My letter to
Savannah is something that came to me right after I finished the book. I
wasn’t sure if to include it in my review because it’s something I’ve
never done in a review before. But, in the end, the letter simply won’t
leave my mind. I feel like I’ve lost a friend... sh!t, I’m getting
teary-eyed as I even write this review.
I don’t know if whatever
I wrote in this review even makes any sense because I wasn’t really
thinking clearly. Also because, initially, I thought there’s no way I
can do a review of this book. It seemed like a challenge to let it all
out, but at the same time I didn’t want it to be a rant filled review.
I’m sure Ramona did what she thought was the best for her plotline,
though I’ll always wonder why Savannah needed to go as well. :'( I felt
the same kind of sadness when her little daughter died a few
installments back. She was like a ray of light for Savannah’s battered
soul, then taken away too soon, lost to another illness. Now this?
Jeremy
is now all alone. And he now has a little baby to look after, a little
reminder of Savannah; their son Breandon. I don’t know how the Saga will
end leaving him lonely and miserable. That’s simply NOT done. I can
only hope the next installment, if it’s the final one, gives me
something to look forward to because there’s no one in this world needs
an HEA more than him. Though September 2019 seems quite a bit far away,
I’ll continue to hope and pray for him. 4.5 stars.
Review copy received, thanks Ramona! :)
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