Author: Hannah Fielding

Publisher: London Wall Publishing

ISBN: 978-0-9932917-3-9


                                           Soulmates?

A beautiful, intelligent girl half-American, half- Spanish, in her mid-twenties, called Luna meets a young, debonair, muscular and virile Spanish man called Ruy. Both are violently attracted to each other. Both have excellent minds, trained within an academic research milieu. Both of them are constantly thrown into each other’s company by the hands of Fate. One of them is caught in a maelstrom of dilemma between her head and heart, finding it difficult to trust and let her heart take over her decisions. And then, finally, after a lot of dithering and shadow boxing, they both get to fathom each other’s needs contra their own.  Subsequently the wellsprings of the emotion that they had withheld from each other, are unleashed, leading to a blissful and happy ending.

Worth a read? If you said “no”, think again.

This is the third and last in the series by the author called the Andalucian trilogy. In this book, the action takes place in Cadiz, a picturesque town in Southern Spain, on the shores of the Atlantic. Each of these books in the trilogy is a full romance  and can be read on its own. The hot summer sun in Andalucia, coupled with the vibrant colors of the vegetation, the flamboyant gypsies dancing the flamenco to the beat of castanets, gypsy fortune-telling, the aroma of seafood and freshly prepared paella and of course, the ocean never very far away, all blend together as a passing backdrop to the quicksilver, intrigue-revelling temperament of the characters in this series of books, especially in this one. In this book, however, the gypsy community is much more accepted today by the society at large, unlike their predecessors in the earlier books, though they still live and  celebrate together in their camps, allowing access only to people with strong gypsy connections to their ceremonies. It is this skillful creation of a genuine Andalucian ambience that makes this book so very readable, despite its relative length.

There is another feature to this book that appealed to me at a personal level. One of the main characters, Ruy, is very interested in researching herbs and their efficacy in healing diseases. This is a result of having access to the gypsy community and their understanding of the use of herbs in curing bodily malfunction. Incidentally, Luna comes to Ruy’s Institute with the intention of exposing their work on alternative medicine as not being scientifically valid. Nevertheless, the author’s own decree, at least going by the events in this book, is that alternative medicine should come out of the closet and be investigated as its’ effectiveness in certain situations cannot be ruled out.

This book is grounded in an upcoming worldview that is on its’ way as more and more people follow their hearts instead of their minds and are learning about the workings of Destiny and the concept of soulmates. The latter has not been mentioned explicitly, but it is that very concept that has been left implicit as Andalusian Ruy courts half-Spanish Luna, invoking the workings of an unseen Destiny to facilitate their union. If you believe in the existence of the supernatural, and that there is only one who is the true love of your soul, then you will enjoy this concoction of the good life in Spain, intrigue and explicit love scenes.

It might also be mentioned that the love scenes might appear a shade too long and make arduous reading. Also at times, the pace could drag more than warranted. Otherwise this is a splendidly readable novel, the last in a series spread over three generations of aristocratic Spanish families.

Warmly recommended.