Tainted Harvest by E. Denise Billups - Book Tour & Review

Tainted Harvest  By E. Denise Billups

Book information

 

·        Amazon link: http://mybook.to/TaintedHarvest

·        Genre:  Southern Gothic/Historical Fiction

·        Print length: 116 pages

·        Age range: This is an adult book but suitable for mature teenagers age 16+

·        Trigger warnings: Allusion to rape; racism and slavery issues; disrespectful language

·        Amazon Rating: New book, not yet rated (5 star on Goodreads)

 

About Tainted Harvest

She escaped servitude for a worse fate. Now she wants everyone to know what happened.

 Travel writer Simone Doucet is searching for a meaningful life, but she hasn’t found a purpose yet. But after she accepts an assignment that takes her to Magnolia Sunrise – a historical bed-and-breakfast on the bluffs of Natchez, Mississippi – strange events begin to take place.

 Frightful images of a young slave girl, Delphine, haunt her nights. The first night at the B&B, Simone is transported to 1863, antebellum Natchez. Through spectral eyes, Simone sees Delphine’s history; the horrors she witnessed and was subjected to.

 Delphine wants everyone to know what happened to her, and she won’t stop haunting Simone until she tells her story. But why has Delphine chosen Simone, and will this awakening bring new purpose to her life, or open up more untold mysteries to be discovered?

 

Praise for Tainted Harvest

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Billups has a marvelous way of building plot, characters, and tone in a method that brilliantly creates the images in your head with minimal effort, all wrapped together in a package filled with intrigue. Goodreads review

 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.

There were moments in the story where I had to take a breather and dab my eyes, emotional and heartbreaking scenes that, despite being fiction, depicted the hard reality of slaves in that time period. The writing is descriptive and colorful, the setting coming alive as one read, the emotions evoked strong. Goodreads review

 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The fairy-tale beauty of Natchez, Mississippi comes alive, as does the flip side of darkness when a geographical area just outside of the city is revealed for what it is, a place of devastation, a place of deep sorrow and a place that history forgot…. This is not easy topic matter, yet somehow the talented author managed to make the story flow and engage, it was the dead opposite of reading a textbook and made me think about a lot of things. Goodreads review

 

MY REVIEW
Tainted Harvest is a fascinating paranormal/supernatural read. It's tragic. It's spooky. And it's overall a really good read.
The story follows Simone, a travel writer who pens articles for a bridal magazine. She's just returned home from France when she receives a new assignment: travel to Natchez, Mississippi, and cover Magnolia Sunrise, a historical bed-and-breakfast. Sounds delightful, right? Wrong.
Not long after accepting the assignment, strange things start happening to Simone. She's having weird visions, but that's only the beginning. 
Once at the B&B, Simone is transported back in time, and she discovers there's a story demanding to be told. The ghostly slave girl, Delphine, is determined to get Simone to tell the world about what happened to her. But why Simone? And why now? 
How does it all play out? You'll have to read it and find out. 
I thought this was a pretty good story. I enjoyed the creepy aspect of it, while also finding it both sad at times and anger-inducing at other times. There are some possible triggers, so readers who are sensitive may want to proceed with caution. 
I liked Simone. I thought she was a fleshed out character who was written well. 
The plot is easy to get sucked into, and the pacing is good. It's a relatively quick read that pulls no punches.
I'd recommend it to fans of spooky time travel/Gothic fiction. 
4 stars!

About the Author

E. Denise Billups is an author with a rare mixture of Southern and Northern charm. She was born in Monroeville, Alabama, and raised in New York City, where she currently lives, acquired an MBA, and works in finance and as a freelance columnist.

A multi-genre author of fiction, she’s published four novels–Keepers Of The Gate: Twilight Ends (Book1), Kalorama Road, Chasing Victoria, and By Chance. She’s also written several supernatural short stories, Off The Grid, Ravine Lereux: Unearthing A Family Curse, The Playground, and Rebound. As an avid reader of mystery, psychological thrillers, historical fiction, and supernatural thrillers, she was greatly influenced by authors of these genres.

Currently, she is writing a paranormal historical fiction novella to be released in late 2021.