Happy Book Birthday: The Sound of Diamonds

Full Disclosure: I haven't finished this book yet; but I wanted to make sure I was drawing your attention to it.

I love featuring debut novelists and Rachelle Rea's passion for excavating the Reformation period in a genre and market that often fails to delve into this part of history is very exciting indeed.

From the publisher: 

Her only chance of getting home is trusting the man she hates.

With the protestant Elizabeth on the throne of England and her family in shambles, Catholic maiden Gwyneth seeks refuge in the Low Countries of Holland, hoping to soothe her aching soul. But when the Iconoclastic Fury descends and bloodshed overtakes her haven, she has no choice but to trust the rogue who arrives, promising to see her safely home to her uncle's castle. She doesn't dare to trust him...and yet doesn't dare to refuse her one chance to preserve her own life and those of the nuns she rescues from the burning convent.

Dirk Godfrey is determined to restore his honor at whatever cost. Running from a tortured past, Dirk knows he has only one chance at redemption, and it lies with the lovely Gwyneth, who hates him for the crimes she thinks he committed. He must see her to safety, prove to the world that he is innocent, prove that her poor eyesight is not the only thing that has blinded her but what is he to do when those goals clash?

The home Gwyneth knew is not what she once thought. When a dark secret and a twisted plot for power collide in a castle masquerading as a haven, the saint and the sinner must either dare to hold to hope...or be overcome.

(pick up a copy at Amazon) 

Rea captures the gritty depth and dark religious fervour shading the Reformation period.  She sprinkles her prose with an imaginative tint and ensures that she infuses her words with the right amount of romance and intrigue. 

Her spirit and passion for grammar and the written word are evident ten-fold in the parts of Sound of Diamonds I have had the privilege to read thus far.

 Rachelle wrote her first historical romance novel the summer after her sophomore year of college. Two years later, only a few short months after graduation, she signed a three-book deal to release that novel--and its sequels. Times gone by snatch Rachelle close. So she reads and writes about years long ago. 

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Rachelle at Melissa Tagg's blog