We begin with Althea escaping her cruel master on a plantation in Barbados. He has her ankles in chains so that she is unable to run, but this night has the perfect circumstances for her escape. A gruff, but not evil captain sees her circumstances and helps her to escape to Charleston. Changing her name to Adalia, she now has to find some kind of employment and pray that she is never found.
Morgan is a plantation owner and a bit spoiled. He doesn't realize that slavery is a bad thing and Adalia thinks that she is the one to teach him and bring him back to God. Morgan is entranced by this common woman who is immune to all his charms. He eventually gets her to attend some parties and events with him, where his friends are less than happy to see a commoner, especially a lady that has had her cap set for Morgan for a long time.
Adalia works for a pious doctor that reads his Bible all the time but yells at his servants like they are nothing. Adalia, being one-fourth African American, sees the wrongs in slavery, but since she passes as a white woman, she never reveals her heritage. She falls in love with Morgan, and he with her, with all her secrets between them. Nefarious people push the issue to where it has to be dealt with.
I have to admit that I was happy when I was done with this book, and not because I enjoyed it. It was one of those that I trudged through just to see what happened at the end. I really didn't like the holier-than-thou character of Althea/Adalia. She spouted God at Morgan while she had stuffed Him into a corner herself. Acting like she had it all together, she would almost make wrong decisions and a man in a white suit would magically appear and spout Scripture at her before disappearing. Something about those encounters just didn't sound right.
I have taken the other books by this author that I was tracking off my list, save one. The third book in the Surrender to Destiny series I will still watch for. I really did enjoy the first two. I had thought that maybe this was one of her earlier books, the writing didn't seem to flow very well, but ultimately it's her latest book. This one just wasn't my cup of tea.
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