Natchez: An Historical Romance

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Summary: Timeless Tales review
Review: by TT reviewer Nancy Arant Williams

Rebecca Bennett is stunned to learn that her father is forcing her to move from the only home she's ever known. She would do anything to stay in Savannah where, at age twenty, she'd have a better chance of finding a suitable husband. But with dreams of making it big, he has sold his mercantile, and is planning to purchase a cotton plantation in Natchez, Mississippi.

Rebecca realizes, aboard the riverboat, that she is easy prey for men when she is accosted repeatedly, only to be protected by a handsome and mysterious stranger. She can't believe her father could be foolish enough to cart a trunk full of gold aboard the boat, but he refuses to trust in banks, and she's no help at all when she accidentally lets his secret slip in front of a room full of strangers. When the riverboat collides with another, and sinks, the same stranger selflessly risks his life to dive into the water to retrieve her father and his gold. When, as a result of his heroic rescue, the man becomes terribly ill, she climbs into his bed to keep him warm, where eventually . . .

When her father is killed and his gold stolen, she not only feels responsible, but also can't imagine how she'll manage alone. As it turns out the handsome stranger is Oliver Sebastian, the man whose cotton plantation her father planned to buy. The chemistry between them is immediate, and Rebecca falls desperately in love, but there's just one small hitch. He's a married man, and he's moving back to England, which is the reason he sold his plantation in the first place.

The reader might lose hope of these two star-crossed lovers ever getting together, with twists and turns that will keep you guessing, but hold on, because Deb Crockett's characters will have you rooting them on.
Though NATCHEZ has several unlikely scenarios, and some dialogue that doesn't fit the era, it's still a good read, and definitely worth your time. Rated R.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Read
Review: Deb Crockett is a writter that knows her stuff. NATCHEZ was a terrific read and really can heat up a room. I couldn't put it done nor did I want to. Her writting makes you feel as if you are the main heroine, a woman that took a horrid situation and turned it to her advantage. It is a wonderful love story with intricate twists and turns to keep your attention and wanting more. Hope more are coming from this new wonderful writer!

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Summary: A Leading Lady Worthy of the South!
Review: Natchez, by Deb Crockett, Historical romance, 1998, by Domhan Books, 180 pps., ISBN 1583450084

Glimpses of the early South and voices from the past seem to pull you into Natchez, a new historical romance by Deb Crockett. It is easy to picture the fateful steamboat trip from Savannah to Natchez, Mississippi, as Rebecca Bennett travels with her father to purchase a cotton plantation and begin a new life. Crockett has an easy style of writing that makes you "pull up a chair" to sit and immerse yourself in her story of love, death and treachery.

At first, you think the story line is somewhat predictable, but the slight twists and turns provide sufficient diversion to keep you reading. Rebecca Bennett is a 20-year-old unmarried daughter whose father has sold his mercantile store so that he can invest and become rich in the thriving cotton business. Not trusting in banks, Mr. Bennett places approximately $30,000 in gold in a small chest, planning to guard the chest himself. Needless to say, the drinking and gambling to be found on the riverboats draws Mr. Bennett in, and before the trip is over, he has been killed and his gold stolen.

Rebecca, in her own way, has been busy as well. Upon meeting the men with whom her father begins to gamble, she immediately begins to receive unwanted attentions of one of those men. Then, via a late but exciting route the man from whom they plan to purchase the plantation boards the ship and Rebecca finds herself strongly attracted to him and becoming intimately involved with him very quickly.

Lack of communication, even in these "good old days," results in a personal crisis for Rebecca. For Oliver Sebastian assumes Rebecca knows all about him and his reasons for selling the plantation and returning to England, yet when he has the chance, he quickly accepts and enjoys her love. The arrival in Natchez and Mr. Sebastian's home results in his introduction of Rebecca to...his wife. Dare we consider that dear Oliver has taken advantage of the fair damsel? Rebecca's devastation of this news does not stop her loving Oliver. Being in the Sebastian's home is both a haven and a horror, as they handle details for her father's funeral and, as Rebecca and Oliver's wife, Charlotte, become friends, Charlotte proposes that Rebecca accept the position of her companion. Oliver and Rebecca consider this; Oliver wanting her to go with them. Then a young boy finds the two lovers kissing and innocently tells Charlotte, who quickly asks Rebecca to leave the house.

Once again alone, Rebecca remembers that she also met another woman on her trip to Natchez. Mary, who is known as "Red" owns Elysian Fields, a bar in a place referred to as "Natchez-Under-the-Hill--the wrong side of the tracks, in other words. Turning to this one other person seems to be the only choice available and, by helping as a waitress in somewhat of an emergency, Rebecca finds herself quickly involved with gambling, drinking, and receiving the personal attentions of a professional gambler. Seeing a way to acquire money to buy a home, she "uses" Jim to learn how to play to win, deciding that she will cheat only other professional gamblers.

Having succeeded in her efforts as a gambler, outwitting professional gamblers, Rebecca quickly earns sufficient money to buy her home--the one of her dreams--the plantation that was to be purchased by her father and which had belonged to her lover, Sebastian. But all to soon, Jim finds Rebecca and, without knowing it, brings into her home the man who killed her father--the two of them having committed the robbery and subsequent murder.

Deb Crockett, in Natchez, has successfully merged an historical story of the old south with action, suspense and a leading lady that risks everything to make it on her own...and to keep her true love. Rebecca grows up quickly, using the resources she has available, but yet brings to the reader an innocence and honesty that carries through even her sexual interludes.

Here's hoping that Crockett carries this leading lady into further adventures in the future. Until then, get a copy of Natchez for a delightful fast-paced trip down to Natchez, Mississippi!