HOUR OF DREAMS (The Unholy Angels 1) by Kat Le Veque

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date September 24, 2024

A vibrant, intense story of good and evil, of a doomed love affair, and of the lengths a family will go to in order to protect – and discover – the harrowing truth.

1933 Pea Ridge, Mississippi – A black man is allegedly murdered for the unspeakable crime of loving a white woman. Six months after his death, a mixed-race baby is born but the child vanishes. The most feared family in town is involved in these two incidents, but they are mysteries no one will speak of. To mention such things can only bring trouble, or worse…

Present Day – Beau Meade, former CIA agent and now county sheriff, is back to civilian life after years of serving his country in the most dangerous way possible. On a chance meeting with Lucy Bondurant, daughter of an old family nemesis, Beau finds himself swept up in a mystery that Lucy’s family hoped would stay buried forever. As they race against time to put the pieces of the puzzle together, Beau and Lucy come face to face with a love story as beautiful and as enduring as time itself.

HOUR OF DREAMS is all things bittersweet, tragic, and triumphant.

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REVIEW: HOUR OF DREAMS is the first instalment in Kat Le Veque’s contemporary, adult THE UNHOLY ANGELS romantic suspense series focusing on three former CIA agents: Trace Rocklin, Reed McCoy, and Beau Meade, a deep ops undercover group known as the Unholy Angels. This is attorney Lucy Bondurant, and Pea Ridge Sheriff Beau Meade’s story line.

NOTE : Due to the nature of the story line premise there may be triggers for more sensitive readers.

Told from omniscient dual third person perspectives (Beau and Lucy), following three time lines HOUR OF DREAMS focuses on the search for the truth. In 1933, Pea Ridge Mississippi, a young woman fell in love with a black boy, and the ensuing spiral manifested in pregnancy murder, cover ups, and hate in a time when interracial relationships were illegal. Fast forward to present day attorney Lucy Bondurant returns to her home town of Pea Ridge in the wake of her great grandmother Victory Hembree Bondurant’s death but her grandmother’s journals and a letter for Lucy are about to reveal a decades long secret that she refused to take to her grave. With the help of Sheriff Beau Meade, a former CIA operative with close connections to the past, Lucy will slowly unravel the truth about what happened years before. Two families tied together by the sins of the past, and a town that refuses to acknowledge what happened and why.

The world building follows several times lines;1933, early 2000s, and present day. The story line flashes between the past, a time when racism, prejudice, discrimination, murder and a brush with slavery endured; when the murder of a black man was tossed to the side. Present day focuses on Lucy and Beau’s search for the truth: a journal with a haunting story of love and loss, a town that refuses to talk about what happened in the past; and a stalker who won’t leave Lucy alone.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful, enthusiastic and determined secondary and supporting characters. We are introduced to Lucy’s extended family including her parents Bill and Mary, Aunt Dell and Cousin Clyde, as well as several townsfolk with long memories and even longer hate.

HOUR OF DREAMS is a story of secrets and lies, love and loss, power and control, family and relationships. The premise is dramatic, heart breaking and dark; the romance is subtle; the characters are charismatic, determined and dynamic.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy